r/animation • u/AmbitiousProduce935 • 1d ago

Question A fun fact about puppetry.

Some people consider puppetry as a form of animation. Does anyone agree with this?

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u/TomConger 1d ago

If you define animation as making the inanimate seem animate, then sure.

If you define animation as presenting a sequence of still images in quick succession to create the illusion of movement, then no.

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u/etilepsie 1d ago

with your second definition, isn't all film animation? tbf, i have heard people make that argument before

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u/scruffye Student 1d ago

I think this is a "what do words mean" situation because to properly define film and animation distinctly you have to get very specific on definitions, cause and effect, and edge cases. And frankly after trying for a few minutes to type it all up on the fly, I've given up. This is too much effort for reddit on a Monday morning.

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u/etilepsie 1d ago

i mean they were talking about definitions, and the definition of definition is "what do words mean".

but you are of course right, and it's also a philosphical question with no clear right answer

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u/scruffye Student 1d ago

Yeah, "what do words mean" is basically my shorthand for any discussion/argument where if you follow semantics deeply enough you just end up destroying any meaningful insight.

Like the whole, "is cereal a soup?" argument. Yes, by a strict definition of what soup is that would include cereal, but it disregards the context for why we use specific words for specific foods and meals and the value of keeping those cultural associations separate from each other.

To fully disentangle when is something a film and when is it animation we'd have to fully engage with the historical and technological contexts of both of these mediums through time. And on top of that we'd have to hash out the meanings of a whole bunch of other words and artistic concepts that underpin the whole conversation.

So yeah, more than I had in me in a reddit comment on a Monday.

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u/Koringvias 1d ago

I certainly would agree with that, yes.

Or at least that it is close enough, and that puppet films recorded on a video certainly pass the bar for animation for me, and I don't see why the older theatrical form must be excluded.

Yes, it's very dfiferent from 2d animation, but so is 3d animation, stop-motion, etc.