The subject of anthropomorphism by definition is to assign human like characteristics such as behaviours, motivation, thought and feeling to an animal, inanimate object or a natural phenomenon.
The question this essay will be approaching towards this is ‘how to turn an object into an anthropomorphic character?’ what would you have to do to an object to turn it into a character that can be likened to that of a human being?
The world of animation of all varieties features characters that can be recognized to have feelings and emotions, even though they are objects which in the real world would merely be inanimate; The Brave Little Toaster, The Annoying Orange, Luxor Jr – these are all characters we watch and can relate to because they have been given feature that humans have.
Figure 1 (The Brave Little Toaster, 1987)
You can clearly see in figure 1 that this character, The Brave Little Toaster, has been humanized by being given a face, his handles being used as arms and lastly a cape to essentially give him an outfit.
So how could we achieve this effect with an object ourselves? Well first you need an object, with the power of animation literally anything without life can be given it; cars, phones, lights, anything really. Take a pen for example, a regular ball point or Berol now how would an artist or animator give this pen life? This firstly can be achieved by giving it a human like face, eyes, nose and a mouth, this gives the pen the ability to show expression, thought and emotion, but can we leave it there? Really with good story telling we do not even need to add a face to the pen – maybe just narrate its inner thoughts to the audience, Jhonen Vasquez showed his audience that even objects with a face, even if it is inan...
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...t the characters actions were, and we can say that that there are many ways to approach the creation of an anthropomorphic character; by giving it motion, arms, legs, a face and a voice are definitely effective ways to create the character – but it can also whittle down to just giving the object a narrative.
Works Cited
Adventure Time. 2010. [TV] Directed by Patrick Mchale, Cole Sanchez, Adam Muto & Nate Cash. United States of America: Frederator Studies.
Beauty and the Beast. 1991. [Film] Directed by Gary Trousdale & Kirk Wise. United States of America: Walt Disney Pictures.
Cars. 2006. [Film] Directed by John Lasseter.: Disney Pixar.
Su, H., 2011. Alive Character Design. Cypi Press.
The Brave Little Toaster. 1987. [Film] Directed by Jerry Rees. United States of America: Walt Disney Pictures.
Vasquez, J., 1995. Mr Eff and Psycho Doughboy. Slave Labour Graphics.
The use of personification by the author displays the animal’s likeness to humans and therefore further aids to establish the future bond between the two, somewhat foreshadowing the ending to the story, where the humans inherited their somewhat slanted eyes from the coyote. This personification also gives depth to the animal characters, such as coyote’s laziness, or mole’s hotheadedness toward coyote and he hardworking personality. Personification like the
It is important to create complex, progressive characters. Characters should speak with intent and purpose. You can establish who a character is through tone and what they say. You can also reveal character through thoughts and background information. Not all characters have to have an origin; they can just be there. You should have conflicting traits between the characters. Challenging your characters adds
Cinderella. Dir. Clyde Geronimi, Hamilton Luske and Wilfred Jackson. Perf. Ilene Woods and Betty Lou Gerson. Walt Disney, 1950. Film.
Burton, Tim, dir. Big Fish. Writ. Daniel Wallace and John August. 2004. Sony Pictures, 2005. DVD-ROM.
Many authors use the personification of inanimate objects to symbolize the feelings and expressions of their characters. One example of this is in John Cheever’s short story, "The Enormous Radio." Although critics argue that the characteristics of the radio are the opposite of those of Jim and Irene Westcott, the radio actually reflects the couple’s life.
As far as the human body is on the real and the anatomical features it fails to give an Idea of the human body in depth but an idea nonetheless. The painting in general is very proportional and in a way the people are proportional as a whole to the center; Jesus Christ. The main body part that seems to alwa...
Victor’s determination of creating “life” made him ignorant of properly preparing for how to control his creation. Victor became increasingly immersed in his research, spending “days and nights of incredible labour and fatigue” working towards his goal of “bestowing animation upon lifeless matter” (38). Victor did not think about nor concern himself with anything besides his work, for he was deeply engrossed in his occupation (42). As he became more disillusioned with the thought of bringing life to a motionless figure, he did not ponder what his actions should be after his experiment was complete. Once his creature had been b...
The Princess and the Frog. Dir Ron Clements and John Musker. Perf. Anika Noni Rose, Bruno
While communicating with another human being, one only has to examine the other’s face in order to comprehend what is being said on a much deeper level. It is said that up to 55 percent of a message’s meaning can be derived from facial expression (Subramani, 2010). These facial manipulations allow thoughts to be expressed in ways that are often difficult to articulate verbally, with the face demonstrating “the thoughts of the mind, and the feelings of the heart” (Singla). Many expressions are said to universal, particularly those showing happiness, sadness, fear, anger, disgust, and...
Hand, D. (Supervising Director) and Disney, W. (Producer). (1937). Snow White and the seven dwarfs.
The meaning of being human is often questioned and argued by almost everyone. Of the many mysteries that surprise and delight us, understanding what makes humans human, is the most common and compelling. But what do we, as human beings, consider a human to be? Some say that humans, in comparison to animals, are self-aware, possess feelings, and contain flaws that make them imperfect. Others believe that being human means to have faith in religion or a higher being. There is not one certain way to justify what it means to be human since every individual has his or her own beliefs. To be human is to be able to have your own beliefs in spirituality and morals.
In society today, we are conditioned to believe certain sets of ideals. We use these ideals to interact and get along with the other people we surround ourselves with. These ideals are often the societal norms that form common ground amongst individuals. However, living life based off these basic and unchanging beliefs is not beneficial to humanity, nor does it make life any easier to live. In fact, holding on to the most accepted beliefs holds back society as a whole. Judith Halberstam, in her essay “Animating Revolt and Revolting Animation” challenges these societal norms through the analysis of animated movies and, in doing so, carves a path for a new way of thinking.
Although I possessed the capacity of bestowing animation, yet to prepare a frame for the reception of it, with all its intricacies of fibres, muscles and veins, still remained a work of inconceivable difficulty… As the minuteness of the parts formed a great hindrance to my speed, I resolved, contrary to my first intention, to make the being of a gigantic stature; that is to say about eight feet in height, and proportionately large. (52)
Victor was aware of their stares upon his magnificent creature and he didn’t hesitate to stop them and boast about his creation. “I have created life outside of the womb and I name myself father of this beautiful creature,” exclaimed Victor. With the crowd forming, Victor instructed the creature to perform basic activities. Although the creature did not possess language he was able to perform activities by following subtle cues given by Victor. Victor ended the show with a flash of the creature’s smile and the crowd cheered loudly. Never had they seen such a gigantic figure appear so affable— a human that size was typically frightening. Victor noticed how much his creature intrigued ones passing by. Their feedback on the small show put on in the middle of the street gave Victor an idea. He noticed the crowds interest in beings who appeared different and began pondering the idea of how he could showcase his creation along with other monstrosities.
What does it mean to be human? Sure, one must have the usual physical features such as fingers, eyes, arms, hands, feet, etc., but what does it really mean? Must the human be able to speak? To take upon the actions of themselves? Whatever it means, it can be interpreted in any way from anyone. The physical attributes of any human can be compared to those of our evolutionary ancestors. However, it is possible to believe that there are many characteristics that make a human, but only six define the true, ideal human.