Animation &Independent Animation &Story & Storyboards 11 Aug 2007 07:43 am
Uncle
– After seeing Ray Kosarin‘s film Uncle, a couple of years ago, I could only say that I was ecstatic that finally someone had made a REAL political cartoon that stated a REAL opinion. (It also helped that I agreed with the opinion.)
It wasn’t like the JibJab let’s-laugh-at-everyone’s-expense-without-stomping-on-any-feet kinda film. Ray had something to say; he said it with humor, but he pointedly told what he saw. A political cartoon in the best sense. Jay Leno isn’t going to show his film.
Ray Kosarin has worked within the New York Industry for years. He started out in my studio and animated brilliantly on many of my half hour films. He directed on MTV’s Daria, Beavis & Butthead and spent a bit of time at the Mutant Ninja Turtles. It’s exceptional that he did this political film in his nights and weekends, and you can see the high cost of production on the screen as this short plays. It’s not a second-rate Flash piece but a REAL animated film, and it employed many key animation people in town.
Now that Uncle has been picked up by local PBS outlet Thirteen’s ReelNY series which highlights independent filmmaking, it means that you can watch a clip on line as well as view an interview with Ray. Here’s a working animator who put a lot of his own money on the table to make a serious and dark political commentary. He hired a lot of friends to help, and made a first rate film. You should check it out, if only to support this type of filmmaking. The political statement is also high reason to see the film. If you have access to ReelNY on the East coast, keep your eye out for it. (I’ll definitely give a heads up when it’s about to air. It’s a work well done.
I’ve asked Ray to share some of the art from the film, and he sent me these stills and storyboard drawings. He deserves as much attention as he can get.
(Click any image on screen to enlarge.)
_Still(s) from UNCLE, animated film by Ray Kosarin, © 2004 Kosarin Productions, Inc.
on 11 Aug 2007 at 12:34 pm 1.Erik Westlund said …
Most people who are not involved in politics professionally, and who only engage in political discourse on occasion when current events become truly bothersome, are really and truly bad at making political statements. They fail to pay attention to how such messages need to be crafted. Most don’t know how to setup an argument much less make a friggin’ point.
I see bad (as in inept) political statements on the left and I see them on the right. Mostly, on the left. I all cases of poor political art, the author(s) seem to get lost in a kind of myopia, forgetting to speak to where the audience they want to persuade actually is on the subject. Its a kind of arrogance… “I know I’m right, and now I’m going to tell you what you should think if you were smart like me.”
Michael Moore films for the most part don’t impress me as great political messages, or political satire, and don’t seem to have a consistent and effective rhetoric… partly because of what I said about ‘being right’ and also because Mr Moore can’t seem to get himself out of the picture. And yet, there was this juicy little animated piece in the middle of Bowling for Columbine that was short, sweet, and on message… ‘violence and brutality in ‘European cultures is born of cowardice mascaraeding as manliness0′. Bullseye.
Disagree if you like, the message was communicated.
The others such as Jib-Jab are largely a political in my view. Their opinions are more about politics than they are of or in political rhetoric. They just seem to be aping what is going on to show off how entertaining they can be. Who knows if they have any political opinions at all, they just want attention.
And poor Fox. Trying miserably to ape the Daily Show… with poorly written jokes that require canned laughter. Pretty sad when political cuts at your opponents require recorded laughter.
Its good to see an artist who knows how to communicate, whether you like his message or not.
on 12 Aug 2007 at 11:57 am 2.Michael said …
Political cartoons have been running in newspapers for hundreds of years. The most influential ones have been completely biased – see Daumier’s complete body of work or Thomas Nast’s serious work.
In animation, the cost of the medium has forced most cartoonists to try to go for the largest audience rather than make a forceful statement. JibJab falls decidedly into this category, and they try to “jab” both sides without having any real opinion worth a damn.
Ray Kosarin’s film, UNCLE, was done in 2003 years before most people were willing to say that Bush was unjustly attacking another country and violating our civil rights. This message may be deemed “liberal,” but I prefer to say that it’s screaming that the Emperor’s new clothes don’t exist.
on 12 Aug 2007 at 4:32 pm 3.Tim Rauch said …
Thanks for sharing these, its really great to see the production work you put up on this site from Disney and the Hubleys but getting to see something from someone contemporary and little-recognized (at least by me!) is great. If you read this, great stuff Ray! Hope to see more like this in the future.
on 22 Nov 2016 at 8:06 am 4.Site de X said …
Thanks a lot. You make a great post.