CHILDREN’S ANIMATION: THE NEW TECHNOLOGY

Children’s Animation: The New Technology

Jacob Claussen

Language & Literature Department, State College of Florida

ENC 1101: Written Communications I

Professor Anastasia Bojanowski

November 18, 2020

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Children’s Animation: The New Technology

Children’s animation films offer viewers an opportunity to view content that is cute and

warm but also offers a message. Behind all good children’s animation looms a message.

Children’s animation films revolve around some common themes. “Children enjoy music, and

strategically inserted numbers help to hold the attention of young viewers.” (Booker, 2010 p.2).

The songs are geared towards the message of the movie. Another theme is the use of “animated

animals (presented so as to appear friendly and unthreatening to humans) have an innocence that

makes them especially appealing to children. These animals can serve as stand-ins for children,

and thus the films need not have children as characters.” (Booker, 2010 p.2). The use of the

animals brings an innocence to the film. A third common theme for children’s animation is the

element of violence. “While a certain amount of violence and danger help to keep children

interested in the plot, all threats must be successfully banished, leading to a joyful, happy

ending.” (Booker, 2010 p.2). The fourth common theme is the technology is depicted with

warmth and humor. “Ultimately, though [ ], is all about the animation and about the ability of

Pixar’s animators to produce impressive, convincing computer-generated visuals that are full of

warmth and humor.” (Booker, 2010 p. 79). The final common theme amongst children’s

animation films is individualism. Being true to oneself as core value. “In Disney films,

individualism tends to mean being true to the person you really are despite the pressure imposed

by others.” (Booker, 2010 p.55)

Don Hall and Chris Williams’film, Big Hero Six (2014), is a three dimensional film that

updates the classic children’s animation film genre. The film depicts a futuristic look at potential

technology possibilities with the use of robots who can feel, just as humans can. The film should

stand the test of time because its themes are ones in which we experience throughout our lives.
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The themes throughout this film are friendship and family, processing grief, and violence is not

the answer in solving problems. Audiences can live through the main characters’ adventures and

emotions as their own.

Music sets the stage for a film. It’s lively upbeat tunes creates the tone for the entire film.

Music can shape the emotional responses of the viewers. In Big Hero 6 when something

exciting is about to happen like when Hiro is presenting at the university, gentle background

music is playing. On the other hand, when something sinister is about to happen like when

Tadashi, Hiro’s brother runs back into the university to save the professor, the music is hard and

raucous. Music is used through almost every scene in the movie in some form. It keeps the

viewer involved in the movie with catchy songs.

One of the keys to Disney’s success with animation through the years has been taking

non- human characters and permeating them with empathy. The use of animals and in this case,

robots as a means to portray innocence is evident with the main character Baymax. Baymax is a

large inflated marsh mellow robot created to be Hiro’s personal healthcare companion. He is

especially large and has a soothing voice that keeps viewers at ease. He is a nonthreatening,

huggable kind of robot. He is interesting as a robot as he was created solely to be a caregiver

and he cannot deactivate until Hiro says he is satisfied with his care. In a video interview with

Don Hall, one of the directors for the movie, he is quoted as saying “ I wanted a robot that we

had never seen before and something to be wholly original. That’s a tough thing to do, we’ve got

a lot of robots in pop culture.” (Guerin, 2015).

Violence is depicted throughout Big Hero 6 but keeps with traditional Disney films to

maintain that there ultimately will be a happy ending. Several scenes in Big Hero 6, demonstrate

violence. In one of the first scenes in the movie, Hiro attends a bot fight. This scene depicts
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robots fighting one another while spectators urge them on and gamble to see who will win. The

scene is not scary but it shows a sign of violence that someone could liken to dog or cock

fighting. Another scene shows the death of Baymax. Hiro must tell him that he is satisfied with

his care so that Baymax can deactivate. While Hiro is mourning the loss of his friend, he

discovers that he has the memory chip for Baymax. This chip will allow Hiro to rebuild

Baymax, and he returns to life.

The use of technology to create a futuristic view in this film was remarkable. The scene

in the movie where Hiro is demonstrating his nanobots and all that they would be able to do,

provides viewers with moments of questioning whether those types of things are really in our

future. The possibility of controlling robots by wearing a head band that acts as a

neurotransmitter is something that we can all look forward to. Another scene in the movie is

after the death of his brother, Hiro gets together with his brothers’ university friends to create a

suit for Baymax. The suit is equipped with jet boots that allow him to fly and is magnetic that

allows him to connect directly with Hiro. Another use of futuristic technology used in the film

are GoGo’s magnetic levitation discs. They are connected to her wrists and ankles and serve as

rollerskates and shields and throwing devices.

Individualism as a key element in children’s animation is depicted in this movie. Big

Hero 6, looks at the character Hiro and having him stay true to himself despite the

circumstances. He is very angry teenager. He has experienced great losses for a child of 14. He

is out for revenge for his brother’s death. He wants whomever harmed him to pay for what they

did. He goes so far as to take out Baymaxs’ healthcare chip and orders him to kill. Those orders

overrode Baymax original purpose and that was to be healer. In the end, Hiro finds acceptance
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over his grief for his parents and for his brother’s death and is able to move forward with going

to the university as his brother wanted him to.

In conclusion, the directors Don Hall and Chris Williams, update the classic children’s

animation genre by allowing audiences to experience the loss of a loved one, the journey through

grief and the importance of friendship. This movie uses the key themes music, technology,

individualism, violence, and the use of non-human characters to stick with its basic life lesson

entertainment delivery. Not all life experiences are happy and sometimes the journey to get to

the happy ending takes an individual through a crazy adventure.

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References

Booker, M.K.(2010). Disney, Pixar, and the hidden messages of children’s films. (pp. 2-112).

Praeger. http://web.b.ebscohost.com

Hall, D. (2015, February 02). Big Hero 6 director Don Hall. [interview by H. Guerin].

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gu58zOfERn8

Hall, D., Williams, C., Conli, R., Lasseter, J., Roberts, J. Baird, R.L., Gerson, D., Walt Disney

Pictures. (2015). Big Hero 6.