The big rooster chicken that Hanna-Barberra came up with during the 1960’s is still as big as life to me. Atom Ant can still conquer the world and Underdog is still the cutest! But today, animation has taken on a whole new meaning. Most animation today is supported by the use of computers. This life-like demonstration of animals with humanistic characteristics is embodied in the creation of Shrek, The Beast, Nemo and others. These depictions of animals with human qualities attract a whole new audience of furry fans. The very idea that animals can walk like humans, talk like humans and think like humans takes the imagination places it was never meant to be. Animals do not interact with humans in like manners…no matter how much of a dog lover you are, they really aren’t humans!

The furry fandom is a new age subculture that celebrates the creation of animated animals that act, talk and think like humans do. This allows the viewer to imagine what it would be like to interact on a human level with animals. It allows the mind to imagine what would be said by an animal in a certain situation and how an animal would react to something they didn’t fully understand. Furry fans watch animated animal films and read furry comics. The furry fans are known around the world as many things, sometimes, they’re known just as “furs”, not furry fans usually. But this is a highly intelligent, well-developed group of people whose ages are not indicative of their interest.

When Walt Disney was alive, I believe that he tried to embark on this adventure and did so successfully, just not this successfully. His interest was not in making the animals so humanistic as it was in making the humans more suited to the animals. Computer animators have taken the foundation that Walt Disney laid and stacked brick upon brick until the complete picture has taken shape: computer animated animals that mimic adult human behavior. We see cartoonists putting their pencil and paper away and opting for the latest and greatest computer animation software. Will the skills of drawing fade into the background as we thrust forward into the future? Is this really a forward movement? I feel that everything comes full circle and this is no exception. The creation of animation allows the creative geniuses of our time to unchain their imaginations…this is not entirely good.

We have little Ants cussing in motion pictures that little children watch. We even have television commercials in which a person dressed up as a junior hamburger is back talking his father, the Whopper. Knowing how impressionable our children are and how much time they spend in front of the television, no matter how you try to restrict it, these are minds to which the creative geniuses have no regard. The almighty dollar is singing and it’s not their job to protect our children.

Allow creativity to surface, even explode if you will. But speak to your children about what is real and what is not. This altered sense of reality can be dangerous if not recognized and dealt with.