Animation Critique: Joseph Barbera - Essay Example

Hanna and Barbera received eight Emmy and seven Academy awards. Hanna-Barbera in 1967 was acquired by Taft Broadcasting at a value of $ 12 million. Hanna and Barbera headed the company up to 1991 when Turner Broadcasting System bought it. In 1996, Turner Broadcasting and Time Warner merged; Hanna and Barbera performed advisory roles in the new company. The animator applies philosophical aspects of semiotics, ritual, psychology, aesthetics, and myths in his works. Semiotics involves creating meaning through symbols or signs.

The meaning illustrated in most animation works is funny entertainment; for instance Tom and Jerry. Aesthetics entails beauty appreciation. The Jetsons majorly applied the aesthetics concept. Myths explain traditional issues or stories. For instance, The Flintstones shows the ways of life of the historical stone age or caveman. Psychology involves understanding the mental functions or human behaviors. The animator applied this concept in identifying funny issues in society that can be applied in animation.

For instance; the jokes illustrated in Tom and Jerry or Scooby-Doo. Ritual entails a sequence of related activities done in sequence; for instance, the laboratory tests illustrated in Dexter’s Laboratory (Lenburg 43). Joseph Barbera applied three significant animation principles in his work. These are; squash and stretch, anticipation and staging. The objective of squash and stretch is to illustrate features of weight and flexibility in drawn objects. This is illustrated in works like Dexter’s Laboratory (Mallory 107).

Anticipation is applied in preparing viewers for action and ensures the action seems realistic. This concept is applied in film versions like Scooby-Doo (2002). The staging principle is used to attract and direct the attention of the audience, to the important aspect of the animation. The main focus of attention in the work The Ruff and Reddy Show is the unlikely friendship that exists between the cat and the dog characters (Maltin 51). The cartoons Barbera and Hanna produced involved partnership and friendship. This theme is evident in works like Tom and Jerry, and The Jetsons Family.