Entergalactic and the untapped potential of adult animation

Visual albums are a great way for bands and artists to promote their songs, using songs from new releases to long-running soundtrack productions. This has resulted in some amazing, amazing and incredibly impressive projects like Prince’s purple rain, Beyonce black is king, And the Pink Floyd wall. The latest release of this kind, and rather interesting, is the animated film of Kid Cudi enterococcus; It was released on Netflix on September 30, and was created by Scott “Kid Cody” Miscody And the Kenya PressAnd the Intestinal It shows the amazing and untapped promise of modern adult animation. It’s a story in six chapters that follows Jabari (Miscodi), a street artist who just got a job at a comedy studio, who meets his new next-door neighbor and instantly falls in love with him, a photographer named Mido (Jessica Williams), and he must reconcile his new love with an old flame (Laura Harrierand his creative ambition.

This is a story that could have easily been told in live action, but the choice to animate this movie with a vibrant color palette and New York City setting is reminiscent of spider man inside the spider world, It’s been a feature showing the mature animated features that have been missing for a very long time, and something we need more of.

RELATED: Scott “Kid Cody” Miscody and Jessica Williams Talk “Intergalactic” and Create a Fantastic Animated Melting Pot for Music, Fashion and Art

Animation: Not just for kids

Fortunately, the old idea that animations are only for children is something that society has developed, or is developing in the past. However, the reputation of adult animation in general is somewhat polarized; There is a stereotype that for animation to be mature, it has to be explicit for adults. This is usually done in one of two ways: The first is to make it as explicit as possible, with sex, violence, and/or a pathological sense of humor, which can be done so well or badly to the point of becoming unbelievably good. childish. The second method, the one that receives more critical acclaim, is to use animation to tell bleak and shocking life stories, sometimes historical, other times autobiographical but always heart-warming. There is of course a place for movies like this, this spectrum The Haunted World of El Superbeasto And the Bashir’s dance But there is another option that can unfortunately be overlooked.

Sometimes real life can feel like a cartoon, when you step inside your mind and perceive the world around you. Sometimes world-changing dramas aren’t required to tell a compelling story, even in animation. There are films that balance the depiction of life and political turmoil at once, such as the wonderful animated film Persepolis, But films with the former are only few and far between. Marie and MaxAnd the US $9.99, And the Anomalysa All are wonderful claymation quests that explore the connections between people and the meaning of life, but Intestinal It gives us something we don’t really get in animation: the joys of adulthood.

Being an adult is a bad thing sometimes; It is full of hassles, financial struggles, and personal struggles that make you pray for your childhood days. But at the end of the day, there is a reason we are so excited about becoming independent adults at the time, because as stressful as it can be, being an adult is also really fun. Intestinal It brilliantly depicts the life of young creative people in a big city, the excitement of a job opportunity, the charm of a new romance, going to the pub with friends, eating the perfect burger, putting on some good music and kicking in your apartment. It shows the simple pleasures of living an independent life, and in a sea of ​​films about the oppression that marginalized people go through, seeing a group of predominantly black characters casually win life is like a breath of fresh air.

Lives of Animated Artists

This movie, while sex, swearing, and occasional drug use make it candid for adults, is one of the most positive, life-affirming features to be released this year. It is a homage to modern positivity, almost instructive in the ethic of the search for love and meaning. It’s a romantic movie, both romantic in that it’s romantic, but also romantic in its optimistic perception of life.

There is always pressure, when making adult films with a medium meant for children, to show the bravery of reality. Whether it’s a conflict on a global scale, or an existential crisis for one person, with too muted colors and a lack of elements that can make a movie look “too cartoonish”. So what’s great Intestinal Is that this doesn’t try to hide the fact that it’s a cartoon, and leans heavily on the freedom that animators give to the creators behind the movie.

Exploring new love in New York City is something that has been done many times in live events, and it would make sense for Miscudi to make a live visual album as many have. Choosing to make it an animated movie not only features an amazingly curated soundtrack in and out Intestinal The album itself, but also shows the inner world of the hero. Jabari is an artist, and the whole movie is about the nature and professions of artists in large urban areas. Struggle to comply with consumer standards, or step out of their comfort zone to promote their work, so we see the world through the eyes of a cartoonist, with his own persona, Mr. Rager (Keith David), come to life on the walls. The emotions that Jabari feels, the stories he tells, are shown in different styles of animation, the explosion of color when you lay eyes on someone you instantly love, and how fast it feels to ride a bike on the road like you’re flying. There are some amazing sequences in this movie that are bright and full of colour, showing off the vibrancy that New York City has to offer.

There have been some great pieces of adult-oriented animation in recent years, such as Hollywood dramas Bojack Horsemanand comedic celebrations of friendship such as Toka and Bertieor surreal discussions of philosophy such as Midnight Gospel. Netflix has particularly won in this regard with projects like the aforementioned series and hidden gems like Cut along the dotted line. Entergalactic animation for adults takes a step forward from this, hitting the step Toka and Bertie In her combination of positivity and depth. This movie is a cut above many adult animated films by giving it highlights, allowing the animation to be colorful, allowing the character designs to be softer, showing off the beauty of the characters and the world around them.

Intestinal Up there with great visual albums for the 21st century, that’s what “animation for adults” should mean, and hopefully others will take inspiration from it in the future.