Walt Disney started anime

[Chocolate]

So does anybody knows the history of cartoons/comics? I can google it but nothing on the Internet is 100% accurate. I watch it on a documentary, somewhere, and in it; it states that anime is actually inspired by Walt Disney. So where did Walt Disney get his inspiration from? On another note, I find it kind of ironic that some people hated anime even though it is inspired by an American animator... Anyway, moving on to my topic... If you guys have any information on this; that'll be great. Please give me a history lesson on cartoons and comics please.

[Doubtcent]

As far as I know, Walt Disney was a staple when it came to animation. Before Warner Brothers, before Dreamworks, there was Steamboat Willie, there was Felix the cat. Anime at that point didn't exist, and there wasn't a lot of animation in the first place to draw inspiration from.

To say that Japan was inspired to make anime, like Astro Boy and Speed Racer, it's not far fetched. The only difference is that Anime had a different idea in its production, using similar frames to save money, and barely moving lips to make the animation easier for the animators.

[PotooGryphon]

There's a long rich history of animation. Walt Disney did not invent animation, he's just been one of the most successful animators in the industry.

Here's a Wikipedia article on the history of animation.

Starting with sequential motion drawings on pots

to spinning discs that show motion when spun (called Phenakistoscopes)

Then there was Zoetrope

Flipbooks

Praxinoscope

First piece of projected animation (In fact Disney is presenting it here) Charles-Émile Reynaud's Théâtre Optique

And on and on. Disney didn't start anime. He was just an animator that build an animation dynasty that has lasted the ages.

One might even go as far as to say, comics invented animations since it all started with a series of sequential images.

[AnnaLandin]

I watch it on a documentary, somewhere, and in it; it states that anime is actually inspired by Walt Disney.

As @CyndiFoster said, this is not true - HOWEVER, it is true that Walt Disney inspired some of Hayao Miyazaki's work. Not all of it, but certain projects and certain aspects. So that's where this mistake might be stemming from.

[Chiper1811]

Hi @Chocolate,

Walt Disney is not a person who invents the animation as a medium itself. He was visionary, though. Even though artistically there were a lot of artists who were more talented than him at the time, he had the knack of finding great talents, guided them and channelled his vision through those talented artist. If my memory serves me right (I wrote a thesis about this 13 years ago!) he was one of the first animators who used rotoscoping in full length animation feature. Rotoscoping is an animation technique in which an animator traces live action reels to make animation. The result is amazingly smooth, but it is definitely labour intensive as you have to trace the movement frame-by-frame.

@AnnaLandin
Although Disney inspired Osamu Tezuka, I don't think he really inspired Hayao Miyazaki completely. Even though Miyazaki employed movement realism in his animations, he is opposed to Disney's hyper realism that is often evident in his original full-length features as a result of rotoscoping. His reason of not using rotoscoping is because, even though it is easier to achieve realism using rotoscoping, the technique could not depict the reality of the emotions. He reasoned that rotoscoping is so closely linked to reality that it doesn't leave enough room for exaggeration or caricature. So in a way he has set himself apart from both Disney-influenced animators and Japanese animators in general.

[AnnaLandin]

@Chiper1811 - Ah! Sorry, that should show me not to get my artists mixed up! >.< I could have sworn I'd read an article on the Disney-Miyazaki thing, but I might have been mixing that up a bit.

[Chiper1811]

@AnnaLandin Haha don't worry about it. But as Disney had his influence on the father of the Japanese animation, so in a way he also influenced Miyazaki to some extent, don't you think

BTW I found this one about Disney's influence on anime if you're interested in reading it How Walt Disney Influenced Anime

[ToonDoctor]

If you were live in person,I would provide you with hours of lecture on the history of animation. This is a topic that I know inside out. Disney did not create animé. Animé s inspired from older Japanese prints and caricatures, early Disney cartoons, and manga. Manga has a symbiotic relationship with animé. They evolved together through the work of early Disney-influenced cartoonists like Osamu Tezuka. Tezuka worked in both animation and comics on the same properties. Miyazaki and other Japanese creators have similar practices. There is a bit more back and forth between cartoons and comics in Japan than in North America or Europe, but the same osmosis can be observed in the work of Alex Toth.

Time to hit the library. There are tons of good books on the history of animation. Don't settle for the Internet! Visit your local library!

[allenthomas]

Well anime in of itself is just cartoons. It's just Japanese cartoons. To an extent I could believe that in some way Walt Disney inspired Japanese animation in the same way that alot of cultures get inspired. However I'm not even sure of the actual origins of animation to begin with, but I'm almost positive that there are animations that predate Walt Disney. I took a class in the history of animation that discussed this sort of thing but it was so long ago I can't remember.

[ToonDoctor]

Gertie the dinosaur by comic strip artist Winsor McCay is one of the first animation produced that was recorded! McCay is the creator of the popular comic strip Little Nemo in Slumberland. Again, there is a strong link between cartoons and comics!

[Chiper1811]

Well anime in of itself is just cartoons. It's just Japanese cartoons.

Hmmm.... I feel that the term cartoon is so limited when it's used to describe anime. It somehow has the connotation that animation is only intended for children, which was not the case at all before the World War II.

[ToonDoctor]

Interesting perspective. For me all cartoons include animés. I refer to myself as a cartoonist wh9ich has none of the connotations about being kid-only material. My work is not exactly kid-oriented.

[UzukiCheverie]

and barely moving lips to make the animation easier for the animators.

Not only that, but many Japanese anime become localized in North America, so doing the lip syncs as simple up and down movements like they usually do prevents the translation voice overs from looking weird when "matching up" with the animations (because it costs way too much to re-animate the lip syncs, lemme tell you); you don't really see this happen a lot on the reverse end though so it's not really an issue for North America as much (it's more of a case-by-case basis for NA where it's a more generally accepted practice in Japan).

[Chiper1811]

@ToonDoctor Lol! That's probably because I grew up in a society which views cartoon as an entertainment that is intended for children only. Professionally, I think cartoon is a medium of expression fit for audience of any age, but you've got to admit that there are people out there that still think of cartoon as a children-only entertainment. And of course, it's hard to convince them otherwise, because they never read/watch cartoon. If I remember it correctly, this might due to the sanitation of the content of animations after the WWII (Mickey Mouse used to be much more wicked and Donald Duck swore). I still remember the controversial reviews on the violence in anime in the late 90's (?) which helped cement anime's reputation for a good portion of the next decade or so.