Animation Blog #6

Ch 6 Appeal, 14 Points, 12 more points 

Blog 6 Ch. 6a. If the body follows the mind, as in chapter 5, then the audience follows the heart, at least according to chapter 6. Here’s a question that concerns all mass media in general and animation in particular. The LCD, lowest common denominator, of mass appeal is often considered a “dumbing down” of content so that so-called ordinary people can “get it.” But what if the LCD was not a dumbing down (of the mind), but a warming up (of the heart)? What do you think (is this “true” of mass media or something Disney brings to the table)? Does your selection support your thesis (understanding that it’s only one selection and not a representative sample of anything)?



The animator should always keep in mind that the viewer cannot always understand how the character is portrayed, which is why the usual lowest common denominator is dumbing the character down for the viewer to understand. But the viewer will always have an easier understanding of things that "warm the heart." Anything that can evoke an emotional response would be a better lower common denominator. Emotional response equals a way for the viewer to remember that scene or movie. The idea of emotion being the lowest common denominator started with the Disney Company. Walt Disney stated, " we seem to now when to 'tap the heart', others have hit the intellect, we can hit them in an emotional away, those who appeal to intellect only appeal to a very limited group," meaning that if you did dumb down the character and try to appeal to the audience it would be only be marginal Always remember that the audience cannot feel when you are dumbing down a character but they do feel an emotion when it is portrayed. Such as the selection I picked to use for my example.


My example is the scene from Beauty and the Beast when Belle is crying over the Beast. I chose this specific scene because when I was little it was such a substantial scene, the Beast is "supposedly" dead and you feel so bad for Belle. With the emotional reminder I can remember this scene very well. In the end emotion always plays better because you can show your audience so much more rather than just dumbing down a character so it is easy to understand why they are there and what they are. Complex characters are what make movies more interesting as well.