![]() When Ralph Bakshi decided to leave commercial animation to make films, he found the lack of variety and innovation " depressing." A traditional hand-drawn animator, Bakshi lacked both the time and the resources necessary to produce a feature-length fantasy epic like Wizards, yet he also was compelled to innovate. However, with perfection came a uniformity of style that put constraints on storytelling. ![]() These techniques were eventually perfected by animation houses at Disney, Warner Bros., Hanna-Barbara, and others, allowing them to mass-produce content of varying quality (depending on whether it was intended for film or television). The two primary forms - stop-motion and traditional hand-drawn animation - were extremely time-consuming and expensive to produce. Until the digital age ushered in three-dimensional computer animation, and computing power and freeware gave everyone the ability to make Flash and "paper motion" videos at home in a matter of minutes, animation techniques were fairly static for about 50 years. His army is met with little resistance from the peaceful creatures of the good lands and their light side magic, swords, and spears. Now outfitted with 20th century machine guns, cannons, and tanks, technology begins to tip the balance in Blackwolf's favor. That is, until he turns to pre-apocalypse technology. But Blackwolf is unable to keep his troops motivated or inspired, and they are continually defeated. Elders in the good lands teach their young that nature is the only true technology and that man-made technologies are "perversions" that "ancient dictators used to enslave the masses," and this theme recurs throughout the movie.Īfter his own magic proves inferior to Avatar's, Blackwolf spends 5,000 years studying the black arts and using his new powers to raise an army comprised of enslaved creatures, mutants, and the souls of the damned. Right from the opening scene, it is made clear that the fate of the world will be decided by the forces of magic, which are seen as good, and technology, which was responsible for nearly destroying the planet and is therefore evil. Vowing he would not stop until the planet became a place where "mutants rule," Blackwolf retreated into the badlands to plot his revenge against his brother and the fairy folk of Montagar. Yet Avatar's grief gave him the edge he needed to defeat Blackwolf. The two dueled with their magics, but they were so evenly matched they nearly took each other's lives. When Delia passed, the uncaring Blackwolf sought to claim her throne as his own and rule Montagar, which enraged his devastated brother Avatar. Both were wizards born, but opposites in appearance and nature: Avatar was cute and kind and used his powers to amuse and entertain his ailing mother, while his brother, Blackwolf, was a hideous mutant who neglected his mother and used his powers to harm and mutate small animals. Under the influence of some unexplained force, Delia was impregnated and gave birth to twin boys. Ralph Bakshi's Wizards proved that animated movies with adult themes could be something extraordinary and meaningful, opening up the door to many animators who followed.ĭuring a festival celebrating 3,000 years of peace in the good areas, now known as Montagar, dark clouds descended upon the revelers and caused their ruler, Delia, queen of the fairies, to go into a trance. ![]() Opened only in limited release in theaters, the movie was nonetheless a financial success and has since become a cult classic.īlending multiple film and animation techniques to tell a post-apocalyptic story spanning millions of years, Bakshi created a trippy sword-and-sorcery movie that was sometimes beautiful, sometimes repugnant, but nonetheless thrilling, with no less than the fate of the world on the line. It took the courage of pioneering visionaries like Ralph Bakshi to push the envelope of what animation could accomplish and the types of stories it could tell.īakshi put his commercial career on the line to write, direct, and produce animated stories with adult themes and messages, tackling previously taboo topics like combat, social injustice, sexuality, and drug use in a series of "urban films" before turning to the fantasy genre with Wizards in 1977. ![]() For more than three decades, the Hays Code and its moral guidelines all but eliminated adult content from mainstream animation, giving rise to the notion that animation was an art form limited to family entertainment. It has never been easier to be a fan of animation, and there are now animated series and movies for just about every age group, genre, and interest you can imagine - but it wasn't always this way. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |