The animation of psychology

This thesis investigates 'Frankenstein', in the light of Cultural Poetic practices and modern psychological theories, illustrating the pivotal role it played in the transition of developmental psychology from philosophy to science. Drawing on Locke, Rousseau and Godwin, Shelley presents the monster as an exaggerated case study of the danger of ineffective nurturing.

Lynsey Martin: A case study in 1970s Australian experimental animation

Lynsey Martin’s short experimental Animations remain largely unknown internationally. His graphic 16mm films Approximately Water (4 minutes 1972), Whitewash (1973, 4 minutes), Interview (25 minutes 1973) and Leading Ladies (1975 5 minutes) are analysed for their technique and cultural position, artifacts of a productive if marginalized period of artist made films. These graphic films stand as critical works at the heart experimental filmmaking in Australia and speak through their design and production method to current trends in digital media. Martin’s work includes the use of collage and its erasure, the grain of the photographic image and handpainting and drawing imagery directly on the film surface. Martin deals with the graphic and material elements of the filmstrip, the nature of filmic movement and the nature of photography in public space. For martin his films deal with films deal abstraction and illusionism, elements of chance, the deconstruction of film language, the diary film and process as content. These films stand as historic aesthetic traces of an immediate hands-on approach to image making that came into crisis in Australia through the disappearance of technical education in the 1980s when Martin taught graphic design in technical schools.

Bibliotecas Públicas Provinciais e desafios da acção cultural em Moçambique

A partir do conceito de ‘acção cultural’ proposto por Freire (1982), de actividade dialógica, consciencializada, educativa e libertadora, este estudo procurou perceber em que medida as Bibliotecas Públicas Provinciais moçambicanas desenvolvem acção cultural e que impacto estes sistemas apresentam no desenvolvimento humano da sociedade moçambicana. Procurou-se identificar, especificamente, os aspectos normativos destes sistemas, descrever os respectivos processos de acção cultural; explicar o envolvimento dos utilizadores nas diferentes actividades; e, por último, verificar qual o impacto das Bibliotecas Públicas Provinciais no desenvolvimento humano. Com recurso a técnicas de inquérito por questionário e a entrevistas, foram inquiridos os dirigentes das Bibliotecas Públicas Provinciais e algumas personalidades ligadas ao Livro, Leitura e Bibliotecas, sobre o contexto das políticas culturais existentes em Moçambique e sobre o funcionamento destes sistemas a fim de responderem às necessidades informacionais da população moçambicana. Os dados analisados permitem concluir que apesar de se poderem observar algumas dinâmicas inovadoras, as actividades das entidades supra mencionadas se centram mais na animação e menos na acção cultural. Pode constatar-se, também, que tais actividades são levadas a cabo de forma isolada, sem periodicidade regular e sem qualquer plano político-estratégico para a sua realização. Verifica-se, por outro lado, a carência de quadros com competências e formação em áreas de gestão administrativa, programas informáticos e projectos culturais que possam constituir a base de uma estrutura funcional. A ausência de funcionamento em rede destes sistemas é outra das omissões constatadas face às recomendações internacionais. Paralelamente, foi possível concluir que, as Bibliotecas Públicas Provinciais têm funcionando como peça fundamental de todo processo de ensino e aprendizagem, contribuindo, assim, para o desenvolvimento humano desta população.

Hardware gimmick or cultural innovation? Technological, cultural, and social foundations of the Japanese video game industry

This paper examines the role of creative resources in the emergence of the Japanese video game industry. We argue that creative resources nurtured by popular cartoons and animation sector, combined with technological knowledge accumulated in the consumer electronics industry, facilitated the emergence of successful video game industry in Japan. First we trace the development of the industry from its origin to the rise of platform developers and software publishers. Then, knowledge and creative foundations that influenced the developmental trajectory of this industry are analyzed, with links to consumer electronics and in regards to cartoons and animation industry.

Reframing Chinese animation: from classicism to postmodernism in post-1949 non-commercial Chinese animated films

This thesis focuses on Chinese non-commercial animated films produced from 1949 to date, with the aim of remapping and reframing Chinese animation in the light of existing theories, critiques, and frameworks drawn from studies in animation, film, and screen media. I suggest that Chinese animation has experienced three aesthetic transformations since 1949, primarily influenced by traditional Chinese culture, by Western modernist art and literature and, most recently, by postmodernism, respectively. Thus, the research traces and thoroughly investigates these three distinctive phases of Chinese animation in chronological order, from the classical period (1950s– 1980s) to modernism (1980s–2000s) and postmodernism (after 2000s). More in detail, I first rethink and re-evaluate the success of classical Chinese animation and the Chinese school of animation and, at the same time, I explore the influence of the political situation of the time on Chinese animation. Through careful analysis of A Da (1934–87) and other Chinese animators’ practices and theory, then, I argue that a remarkable modernist transformation took place in Chinese animation between the 1980s and 2000s, mainly driven by Western modernism and the Chinese “cultural fever” movement. Finally, through a discussion of the latest non-commercial animations produced after 2005, and especially those of Bu Hua (1973– ), for the first time I classify and theorize contemporary Chinese animations within a postmodern framework. By reframing existing views and broadening the scope of the analysis to encompass new areas and frameworks, this thesis aims to provide the reader with a comprehensive and systematic understanding of post-1949 Chinese animation and to offer an original contribute to scholarship, also working as a starting point for further research in this area.