A Visual Analysis of Folklore Animation

Animation is not the art of drawing that move, but rather the art of movement that are drawn, what happens between each frame is more important that what happens on each frame (solomon 1987:11) The translation of ideas, stories and concepts are the oldest form of visual forms, Wikipedia defines visual communication as: "Visual communication is the communication of ideas through the visual display of information. Primarily associated with two dimensional images, it includes: art, signs, photography, typography, drawing fundamentals, colors and electronic resources." Since the beginning of communication, people have been transmitting information in a form of visuals. Starting from the basic medium such as drawing at wall cave' to writing, human modes of expression evolved in new medium and they used these forms as symbolic production and symbolic understanding, through which they create new meanings to their world, these can be called myths. Stuart Hall argues that culture is about shared meanings, as meanings don't have meanings in themselves, we socially attach meanings to them and meaning are perceived through social knowledge at first level as Roland Barthes Define as "denotation and connotation, as most signs have one minimum meaning of subject, these are called denotation, it is shared knowledge, there is also subjective meaning attached with subject it's called connotation

(http://www.scribd.com/doc/47831041/Representation-%E2%80%93-the-production-ofmeaning-through-language)". How meaning is produced, for instance, when viewers of an visual decode the sign according to their particular socio-cultural contexts and experiences, so the experience for children of different backgrounds of watching the program could be important in creating/preserving culture.

As Marshall McLuhan coined the term "Medium is the message" the form of a medium has itself a message that medium has its own creating culture relationship. Animation is medium/form of visual communication as Hoffer define "animated film is concerned with metaphysically reality not how things look, but what they mean (Hoffer, 1981:3) so it have myth quality in itself, as Paul Well differentiate audio-visual and animation "how meaning is generated by the unique vocabulary available to the animator which is not the province of live-action film-maker (Paul Wells, 1998:11), so animation is the medium to experience/portray metaphysical meaning. Visual analysis disciplines traditionally occupied with visual forms like art history and media studies is a fixed element of Cultural Studies (http://www.qualitative-

research.net/index.php/fqs/article/view/1170/2587). Myth, Folklore, Legends, Fables is all around us and can be found in stories, songs, toys, foods, festivals, jokes, dances, games. All communities preserve their identity through folklore proudly present to others. "Myths grant continuity and stability to a culture. They foster a shared set of perspectives, values, history -- and literature, in the stories themselves. Through these communal tales, we are connected to one another, to our ancestors, to the natural world surrounding us, and to society; and, in the myths which have universal (i.e., archetypal) themes, we are connected to other cultures." (www.mythsdreamssymbols.com/importanceofmyth.html), as Hannes Rall write "Fairy-tales, folk-tales, and legends have always been a prime source of story material for animation. In particular, the titles of Walt Disneys feature films read like the canon of European fairy-tales (Snow White, 1937; Cinderella, 1950; Sleeping Beauty, 1959, Beast and Beauty, and now these developed countries has produced new myth for digital age, STAR WARS,).... In addition, a collection of Malaysian legends inspired Rudyard Kipling to write his Jungle Book (Muthalib, 2009)." so Animation is best medium to portray Myth, Folktale and

preserve them in digital world. as The renowned Malay animation scholar, Hassan Muthalib, concludes that So far, only literary writers and researchers have forwarded suggestions for the preservation of the nations folktales, legends and mythologies through feature films but nothing has materialized in a big way can animation be used as an alternative or support media form for educating culture to children through popular media forms? To what extent can form of animation be used in representing cultural diversity to children of different cultural backgrounds? This research is not reclaim the animated film as an important art form, but as the study of the medium, to study animation is to acknowledge its place in mass media history and properly evaluate its potential, important and influential medium as mass media medium in Pakistan in cultural context