【文章內(nèi)容簡(jiǎn)介】
voices as well! Forging a national identity Forging a national identity that reflects the art, culture and traditions of the peoples of Malaysia has been problematic, given the many races in the country, but it is something that the Government has been addressing. However, how far this can be achieved is not easy to determine. Students and practitioners (and the general public), are bombarded with foreign films, TV series, books, magazines and merchandising that are being aggressively marketed This influences their lifestyle, including the work they do. And it shows. Keluang Man (UAS Animation 1997) is a prime example. The main characters are based on the ic book creations of Batman and Robin , and do not represent anything mon to the dialogue gives any indication of its local origin. All the series are in Bahasa Malaysia, the national language, but some of them use a Malay dialect mon to some of the states in Malaysia. This goes down well with the majority of the Malay audience, but is unintelligible to a nonMalay one, thus effectively reducing its wider circulation. Malaysia’s folktales and legends abound with superheroes and most are well known among locals. Perhaps for thisreason, all three animation feature films The Malaysian mousedeer (Sang Kancil) had every potential to bee as popular as Mickey Mouse or Pluto. Because of its small size and agility, the mousedeer has acquired a certain mystique, and at the same time, became a metaphor for the little guy who has to survive in the cruel world. If the character had been taken up by the private sector, it could have generated ine in many forms, including merchandising. Advertisers, too, would have scrambled to the TV stations to sponsor the show as ratings would have been high. With consistent showings, the mousedeer could have gone into the collective memory of the nation and bee an icon, just like Hollywood’s cartoon characters. Foreign influences on Malaysian animation A tendency to copy foreign animation, especially Japanese animation (anime), can be seen in the design and animation of TV series such as Anakanak Sidek (1999), Yokies (Filem Negara Malaysia 1997) and Sang Wira (Jutakira 1996). One of the reasons is that most of the animators who were involved were once trained by Japanese has its own unique characteristics, and is very different from Western animation and design. The character of Sang Wira was a modified copy of Doraemon while one of the subcharacters in Edi and Cici looks suspiciously like Pikachu Ngat dan Taboh (Alternatif Entertainment 2020), portraying the antics of a bear and a bee, has much better animation than the majority of the series, but the storyline had obviously been modelled after Tom and Jerry . However, Kampong Boy (Matinee Entertainment 1997), based on the characters of the internationally known cartoonist Lat, is seen as one that best portrays the country’s image in terms of its culture and traditions. This was mainly due to Lat’s personal involvement in the project, which was developed in the USA and animated in the Philippines. The feature films, Silat Legenda and Mann Spider,too, have strong anime influences in their character design and background paintings. The new wave of animators Local training institutions do emphasize study and research for finalyear students’ animation projects. A number of these works reflect