Why are animators so bitter and/or crotchety? (Yes, I know this is a broad and wildly unfounded generalization, but bear with me…) Is it because they’ve been Rejected so many times? Or maybe it’s just because bitterness and rejection are amusing topics. I mean, is it all just false advertising or do they really think that it’s some kind of contest? You’d think that things would get a bit sunnier as these guys get older, but no! Anyway, it seems like as long as there are new ways to offend animators, there will be plenty of animators to be offended.
In preparation for “The Oscars,” the National Film Boards of Canada, have made the film Ryan [ High-res | Low-res ] available on the internet, for your viewing pleasure. Ryan is up for the Best Animated Short this year, and it’s the autobiographical story of a troubled animator who tracks down and interviews his hero, Ryan Larkin, a troubled animator who was nominated for an Oscar in 1968 for his short, Walking. Since his nomination and subsequent, brief fame, Larkin has been plagued by depression and drug addiction, and ended up panhandling on the streets of Montreal. Surprisingly enough, he comes off as kind of bitter in the film.
It’s funny you should mention the whole bitter animator thing – the head of the modeling department at work was the head of production on the film, (he was the teacher who helped/managed the students who actually animated it), but because there was so much bickering and bad blood between his crew, the NFB (took them nine months to cough up the money they had awared to the project), and the company that marketed and distributed the film, (who supposedly claimed it as “their” creation), he got sick of the whole thing, and decided to give up his ticket and not to go to the Oscars tomorrow. It’s almost like all the complexities in Ryan’s life were mirrored in how the production and post-aftermath played out…