Posted in: Adult Swim, Cartoon Network, Opinion, streaming, TV, TV | Tagged: Adult Swim, animation, cartoon network, opinion
Animation Workers Ignited’s Adam Conover & Alex Hirsch-voiced #RIPCartoonNetwork animated short ignited a strong social media response.
Here’s the thing about the current state of the animation industry. It’s very Jekyll/Hyde. On the surface, it would seem like 2024 is a “golden age” for animation with the success of shows such as Prime Video’s Invincible, Disney+’s X-Men ’97, Adult Swim’s My Adventures with Superman. Later this year, things are going to get even more exciting with the return of Netflix’s Arcane for a second season and the debut of DC Studios’ Creature Commandos. But as we mentioned earlier, that’s all surface. Because as great as each of the shows is or will most likely end up being, they have one thing in common – they’re all based on a larger company’s IP. And that’s when you see what a mess the studios and streamers have made of the animation industry – the creative heroes who stepped up to save the day during the global pandemic when there was a desperate need for quality, original content.
Once things started to get back to normal, the studios and streamers were forced to face the reality of the mess that they had collectively made – all in the name of wanting to beat Netflix. In order to pull their respective metaphorical assess out of the metaphorical financial fires and make nice-nice with Wall Street, the studios and streamers began slashing budgets, shuttering departments, laying off lots of people, and writing off works of art for tax breaks. And guess who got it the worst? Yup, the animation industry – the same industry that came to their rescue only a few years earlier. To be clear, the studios and streamers will try to smoke-and-mirror their way out of it by attempting to deflect the blame to the pandemic or last year’s SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes. Thankfully, the animation industry has organizations and set-ups like Animation Workers Ignited to push back with the facts – and it got a social media movement going today with its #RIPCartoonNetwork campaign.
In the animated video below, Adam Conover and Alex Hirsh walk us through the brutal realities of how the studios and streamers have treated those who make up the animation industry in what we’re hoping will be a bigger “call to arms” for fans and the rest of the entertainment industry to defend animation. Here’s a look at the animated video posted by Animation Workers Ignited earlier today, along with a rundown of the team that put it together, as well as a link to the survey for The Animation Guild (TAG) members:
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