A Love Letter To An Disregarded Medium [Video]

Aren’t cartoons the same thing as animation? What is animation? And why is the distinction heartbreakingly important?

Animated films are merely for kids, right?  

In fact, if you think back on the movies that (in some way or another) shaped your childhood, chances are that at least a few Walt Disney Animation movies, Looney Toons shorts or Pixar films are on the list. 

These are all animated productions, and because of how they’ve targeted younger audiences, most people nowadays think of animated films as mere kids’ movies, or simply “cartoons.” But what if animation is more than that? What if it’s not just for kids? Moreover, what if animation was originally just another film medium?

Believe it or not, animation initially wasn’t seen by the general public as a mere “genre” of children’s film, or a film form at all particularly geared toward kids as it unfortunately is nowadays. The first animated short film, Émile Cohl’s …