Why are we so in love with Animation?

Animation: Bringing the World to Life

Right from childhood, we start our lives animating the world we experience.

As kids we watched cartoons every saturday for as long as our parents would let us. Our favourite childhood movies were animated. The books we wanted to read had pictures, then as we grew older we became obsessed with comic books whether they were Archie and gang, or the X-Men.

The truth is animation is much more than cartoons, picture books, and Disney movies. Animation is all around us, it’s everywhere.

For example, this wintery morning as I was walking to my bus stop, I could see the wind come to life right  in front of me. The night before it had snowed and the wind was made visible by the hundreds of thousands of unique little snow flakes floating on the winds cold back. I could see the wind and it was alive. It was being animated.

The Works of Souther Salazar

We are in love with animation because it shows us what is normally not visible. It allows us to see a concept or create something that was birthed in the imagination. It brings emotions to life or preserves it for the future.

Why do we like to look at old family pictures? Because it brings memories of that time to life. Why do we like to watch a music video? Because we not only hear the music, but the performance is brought to life. Why do we watch Disney movies? Because the characters that we know from books and fables are brought to life. They dance on screen, love, get lost, cry, and sometimes turn into real boys.

Animat

The works of Souther Salazar

The word “animate” comes from the latin root word “animat” which means, “instilled with life.” We bring new life by creating art, we bring new life to concepts, and we bring new life to characters and so much more. We as people are constantly bringing life into this world.

Is your work bringing something to life? Does your cooking at home evoke a response? Does your writing create detailed characters that readers fall in love with? Does your music illustrate heartbreak or falling in love?

Some of my favourite animation:

Chipotle Scarecrow

Chipotle Scarecrow from Wendy Lau on Vimeo.

Foo Fighters

Nostalgia

[Looney Tunes] Duck Amuck (1953) from Arnaud TISSEYRE on Vimeo.