The first thought that comes to your mind when we say animation would likely be ‘The Simpsons’, ‘Family Guy’ or ‘Rick and Morty’. These shows have established the adult animation genre for the past decade and evolved animation from PG-13 kids’ entertainment genre to a radical, sophisticated entertainment for adults.
The evolution of animation has been slow yet steady until the arrival of streaming giants such as Netflix, Disney + among others who have produced and released several animated series such as ‘Bojack Horseman’, ‘Big Mouth’, ‘Star Wars: The Clone Wars’ and pushed the genre to a global forefront.
Infact the globalization of content as well as an adventurous palette of viewers has introduced various animation series from foreign countries such as Japan and France. Anime shows have been known to pursue stories that don’t just stick to comedy but also complex and meaningful stories of loss, friendship, love and much more giving a new meaning to animation itself.
Meanwhile there’s also the rise in reboots of nostalgic ‘80s and ‘90s classic animated films that the adults have grown up watching which also helps in developing the genre further. All of this has given streaming platforms an edge over traditional cable because they don’t have to adhere to the same censorship guidelines and neither do they have to cater to a strictly young audience, this gives them liberty to explore diverse themes and narratives to personify real world problems through caricatures and silly monsters. It gives a humorous relief but maintains an urbane approach.
While animation is on the rise for global dominance, why is India severely lagging behind?
Firstly, India is still under the rock that animation is only for kids. Most of the animations produced and made cater only to children and they’re marketed as such. There’s an association of animation with “childish cartoons” among viewers and only mythological stories have been portrayed on screen such as 1992 ‘Ramayana: The Legend of Prince Rama’ which have set a precedent for audiences for the genre and it’s hard to shake off that tag just yet.
American and Japanese anime have superior animation and VFX quality that Indian series have not even achieved yet. This lack of talent coupled with mediocre storylines has made it difficult for the booming genre to be successful here.
The way forward is to break the notion of “kids only” and start making TV series that can popularize animation to a widespread audience, one that is able to compete with global standards.
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