Do you remember when you were a kid and waking up early Saturday morning with no obligations, no school or homework that you cannot put off until another day, and turning on the television for your morning cartoons? How about when you grew up and still found yourself as an animation lover exploring shows and movies alike with great substance. Unfortunately for those of us who have a love for the art of animation may have to be prepared for an unfavorable summer, because the way things are going now, in a not so distant future, animation may be dead.
The rise and fall of animation has been a topic of discussion in recent years since Streaming Services has taken over modern day cable and television. In order to gain more contact for their services companies have made it their goals to compete and buy out anything that they assume will make them a profit. This is how Disney has ended up owning large franchises from Marvel to Fox, Hulu and in recent years even some Japanese Animation Titles.
Companies such as Netflix have made attempts to compete with other streaming services by offering short series, and attempting to blow out animations at rapid speed, only to cancel them if they do not reach record breaking numbers upon release. These major companies have been killing the animation industry, funding content and pumping it out only to make money without placing any sort of care into it, which makes most of them mediocre, and in turn nobody is interested in them, causing the company to cancel these animations left and right. However, even if they are doing well, but not on the level of all time favorites such as One Piece, which is one of the World’s most popular animes, they are also canceled and not even given a chance to gather a community, enhance their writing, or build up to any sort of story let alone ending.
Over the years there has been almost no animation that has been allowed a natural and proper ending without being canceled abruptly with no closure, or canceled suddenly forcing the creators to rush some form of ending for their content that was meant to have more time to explore their concept and characters. A reality that the creators of many shows such as the one for Summer Camp Island had to come to terms with. It was a show that was ready to release their final seasons to complete their overarching story only for them to be written off as Tax Deductibles, forcing their creation to never see the light of day again.
It does not stop there either, within the last couple of months HBO Max and Cartoon Network have found themselves under new management. In an attempt to make more money quickly, their new CEO began to write off many beloved animations as Tax Deductibles, meaning they can never be shown again on any platform, this includes future continues. Any animation or content that is written as a Tax Deductible is placed in a metaphorical vault or graveyard to never be revived again. Something that creators unfortunately have no say in.
This was only for the CEO to make quick cash, but in turn for this unwise decision of destroying foundations to their animation department, lost more than what he could have ever made back in the write-offs. Due to these companies and their CEOs with no interests other than quick and easy profit, the future of animation is looking rather grim. People are not willing to invest time and energy on shows and movies that even their companies, or the writers themselves have no faith or passion for.
Which is why artists, animators and original content creators from all platforms need to be aware of this issue, and purging of beloved animations. Not only do they need to be aware but they need to stop falling for large companies and their promises to take care of their passion projects. Animators need to either try to remain independent or sign only contracts with favorable outcomes for themselves and their creations, with overall ownership of their shows that will leave companies with the inability to drop them into a void such as Tax Deductibles. Keep your art and passions alive, for Adult, Family and Children animated shows and movies are all in for a long battle in the coming future.
Kyana Zayas
Tri-Lite 