Animation across many Asian demographics was, in its infancy, greatly inspired by the works produced by American animation powerhouse Disney (Lent, J.A., 2000), with Snow White, Felix the Cat, and Bambi being most eminent among them. In the year 1923, the four Wan brothers of China developed a strong interest in Western animation and its styling (Lent, J.A., 2000), later implementing the technical nature of foreign productions in order to create their own animations. However, it was decided by the brothers that imitating the totality of Western animated productions was not in the best interests of China's national identity, and so they strove to embellish their works with traditional elements of humour and sensibility at it pertains to Chinese culture (Lent, J.A., 2000).
In time, animation in China came to incorporate artistic techniques of an indigenous nature (Lent, J.A., 2000), moving farther and farther from commonplace Western forms of artistry, allowing for distinctive works independent of their Western counterparts that would later become classics (Lent, J.A., 2000). In Japan, where animation remains a much beloved medium, the renowned animator Tezuka Osamu, creator of Astro Boy and Jungle Emperor Leo, began his career in animation after viewing Bambi as a sixteen year-old, re-watching it no less than 100 times (Lent, J.A., 2000), and was so inspired by it that all his subsequent works came to embody the Disney style of animation. Many accredit Tezuka Osamu the title of 'God of Manga' and is credited with the creation of the 'large eyes' style that is now a requisite of all anime in Japan. Even famed Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki has listed Disney as a major source of inspiration for his works, with many calling his production studio, Studio Ghibli, the 'Disney of the East', lending credence to Lent's theory that many Asian animators seemingly revel in the 'Disney of Asia' association (Lent, J.A., 2000).
But, as outlined by Lent in his article Animation in Asia: Appropriation, Reinterpretation, and Adoption or Adaptation (2000. AnimeResearch.com), there were many determining factors of the influence of Western animation on Asian demographics than first meets the eye. According to Lent, the sheer prevalence of Western-made animation (Lent, J.A., 2000) meant that to acquire the skills necessary to produce animation, one must imitate the only known source of its origin and reproduce it in order to propagate one's own visual style. In many ways, this is comparable to modern fanfiction writing: fanfiction writers take key aspects of the original story and re-purpose its structure so as to engineer the story in other ways or forms. At first, the author/artist follows the originating template established by the pioneers of writing/animation quite closely; but later, they move farther and farther from the established template and engineer their own. Even Shakespeare was considered to be somewhat of a plagiarist, retooling the classics that inspired him and re-purposing their fundamental components to create altogether unique and striking literary dramas.
It has been said that the people of Asia are hyper visual, particularly the Japanese, and it is not uncommon to see big name brands pushing their wares within the region in advertisements accompanied by cute animated mascots; perhaps this is a key indication of the success of animation in the East as opposed to the West. One need only look at the glittering metropolises of Shanghai or Tokyo to see the visual embellishments of architecture and neon-lit signage that permeates those world-renowned urban landscapes. As Lent describes it, animation has since been adapted to "fit" Asian culture and society (Lent, J.A., 2000), and has cropped up in countries like Vietnam and the Philippines as politically motivated propaganda (Lent, J.A., 2000), while the animation industry as a whole has served to generate foreign capital for countries within Asia (Lent, J.A., 2000).
The demand for up-and-coming Asian artists with an eye for detail has risen sharply over the recent decades, with many being commissioned by major publishing houses such as Marvel Comics in the graphic novel/comic field, while animation production studios have established training programmes for budding artists to fine-tune their aesthetic talents (Lent, J.A., 2000). In the past, according to Lent, such training offered by foreign animation studios had imparted the Western sense of artistic merit and greatly influenced the popularity of the West's animation sensibility (Lent, J.A., 2000). Now, Asian artists are sought out deliberately to impart their own sense of aesthetic quality in order to promote Western animation in the East; popular children's cartoon, Ben 10, for expample, even employs the 'large eyes' style seen in Japanese anime. For once, it seems, Western animators are eager to imitate the style of popular Asian animations in spite of what was true in the reverse more than five decades ago.
But while animation today is largely regarded positively, it had not always been so. In Korea, Japanese anime was banned outright for fear that it promoted Japan's "imperialist culture" (Lent, J.A., 2000), and Disney's Aladdin managed to upset the entire Muslim community by sparking outcries of racism (Lent, J.A., 2000), or in the case of Singapore were heavily censored due to risque sexual innuendo or blatant themes of violence (Lent, J.A., 2000). Adding to this discontent is the dominance of Western animation pervading the television broadcasts of many Asian countries, most notably in Beijing, where 66% percent of children's television is comprised of foreign cartoons, half of that percentage belonging to the Disney Corporation (Lent, J.A., 2000). This market domination may impact upon the cultural identities of Asian national groups if allowed to escalate, which is perhaps an indication of Japan's resolute denial of foreign writers keen to try their hands at anime script writing, which they claim is beyond emulation by non-Japanese writers.
Overall, it appears that the balance between Western and Eastern animators remains rather skewed, but has levelled out in more equal terms during recent times; whether animation is colonial in nature, low-brow entertainment, or culturally stimulating art is left, largely, up to its viewers to decide.
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