Theory of Animation

Well's Theory of Animation is a nice crash course into the realm of animation and the unexpectedly complex and valuable role it plays for the artists involved.  What I found to be most interesting is the different levels of abstract animation and their difference in novelty.  So often when people think of animation, thoughts of Saturday morning cartoons and comics come to mind, but there is a much bigger world that animation calls home.  I found value in the distinction between orthodox animation and experimental animation. I never really thought about the fact that Disney cartoons, such as Mickey Mouse or Goofy, had socially normal narratives and were psychologically normal to the viewers because they were familiar animals doing familiar human tasks, and even though the two are not normally together, it never seemed odd to me.  I love the idea that animation is now looked at with more potential and expression in art.  Subconsciously, animation and cartoons never really registered to me as an art form comparable to paintings in galleries, but they very much are similar in many ways.  Even though Wells states that orthodox animation is much more straightforward, I feel that a lot of the story and narrative, as well as cartoon character's attributes such as wardrobe, dialogue and props used in the cartoon can also be subject to detailed analysis for their double meaning and high context value.  I feel that this is also comparable to many of these expressionist styles, though experimental tends to be more complex, I'm sure other cartoons have been made with stylistic choices to metaphorically represent social aspects in a similar way experimental animators do this.  I just think that experimental tends to stand out more and is more frequent in their high context technique, so it is much easier to notice, but I do not think experimental animation stands alone in this quality.  Quite possibly more in depth analysis on cartoons within the orthodox realm may have more to offer than meets the eye.  Maybe "semi-orthodox" could be a good term for some of these animations deemed "orthodox."