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Animating Community: Reflexivity and Identity in Indian Animation Production Culture

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Animating Community: Reflexivity and Identity in Indian Animation Production Culture Animating Community: Reflexivity and Identity in Indian Animation Production Culture Timothy Graham Jones Submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) University of East Anglia School of Art, Media and American Studies Submitted September, 2014 © This copy of the thesis has been supplied on condition that anyone who consults it is understood to recognise that its copyright rests with the author and that use of any information derived there from must be in accordance with current UK Copyright Law. In addition, any quotation or extract must include full attribution. Abstract: Timothy Jones, University of East Anglia, 2014 Supervisors: Rayna Denison and Keith Johnston Animating Community examines the cultural practices of animators in India, and particularly the role of practitioner testimony in conceiving and negotiating social structures underpinning the nascent Indian animation industry. Recognizing a tendency in practitioner accounts towards theorization of contested industrial discourses, this research takes as its object the reflexive practice of animators in trade texts and interviews. These reveal how local practitioners understand production culture as an emergent phenomenon, resulting from learned processes of negotiation and collective action. However, practitioner testimony also reflects dramatically different degrees of agency in cultural production and discourse. Focusing on the identity work of diverse creative professionals – corporate elites, freelancers, teachers, and students – reveals underlying tensions between global industrial constraints and local social capital. Based on discursive analysis of testimony, this thesis asks how Indian animation practitioners conceive of their creative activity and identity in relation to negotiating a culture of animation production, and how the shared discourses and modes of engagement that result both shape and are shaped by institutional structures. These questions are addressed through practitioner accounts in three sectors of Indian animation: first, the context of production – considering large outsourcing firms and smaller studios; second, the provision of education – instruction in skills and social norms supplied by the public and private sectors; and third, the creation of dedicated community structures – professional organizations and trade information networks. Animating Community is most interested in how local media professionals articulate different discourses from aesthetic to economic value in order to approach an imagined sense of cultural identity. This sheds light on the way practitioners make sense of their creative and professional worlds. Ultimately, the conclusions offered in this project argue for a more nuanced conception of the relationship between critical practice and creative labour, and greater understanding of the different contexts where this may emerge. 2 Table of Contents Notes for the Reader:........................................................................................................ 7 Statement of Word Count: ............................................................................................... 7 List of Tables and Images: ............................................................................................... 8 Acknowledgements: ....................................................................................................... 11 Introduction: .................................................................................................................... 13 1. Indian Animation Culture ....................................................................................... 15 2. Definitions and ‘Sensitizing Concepts’ .................................................................. 17 Reflexive Practice ....................................................................................................... 18 Identity Work .............................................................................................................. 20 Culture, Community, and Industry: ............................................................................ 21 3. Literature review: .................................................................................................... 23 Critical Industry Studies ............................................................................................. 24 4. A Grounded Production Studies Methodology: ...................................................... 30 Research Design ......................................................................................................... 30 ‘Integrated’ Production Studies Approaches .............................................................. 32 Inductive Industry Studies – Constant Comparison ................................................... 37 A Note on the Ethical Conduct of this Research ........................................................ 41 5. Chapter Organization: ............................................................................................. 43 Part One: ..................................................................................................................... 44 Part Two: .................................................................................................................... 45 Part Three: .................................................................................................................. 46 Part One: The Situation of Cultural Production .......................................................... 49 Chapter 1: Globally Oriented Discourses – From Outsourcing to Transcreation .... 51 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 51 The ‘Future of Communication’ ................................................................................. 52 Approach .................................................................................................................... 53 1. Initiating Global Engagement ................................................................................. 55 Rethinking Outsourcing .............................................................................................. 55 From Isolation to Overreach ....................................................................................... 58 The ‘Feature Bubble’ .................................................................................................. 61 2. Coproduction and the Assimilation of Global Industry .......................................... 63 Acquiring ‘Creative Sensibilities’ .............................................................................. 64 Becoming ‘Geographically Agnostic’ ........................................................................ 68 3 3. Engaging Global Brands ......................................................................................... 72 From Legacy Content to Localization ........................................................................ 73 Conclusions .................................................................................................................... 78 Chapter 2: Discourses of Self-Sufficiency – From Local Ecosystems to Personal Animation ......................................................................................................................... 80 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 80 Approach .................................................................................................................... 82 1. The Artisanal Work of Boutique Animation .......................................................... 84 Niche Production ........................................................................................................ 85 Autonomy ................................................................................................................... 86 Differentiated Design ................................................................................................. 88 Self-Funding ............................................................................................................... 90 Organizational Authority ............................................................................................ 92 2. A Local Animation Ecosystem ............................................................................... 94 Educating Stakeholders .............................................................................................. 98 Audience Reflexivity ................................................................................................ 100 3. Discourses of Passion ........................................................................................... 101 Cultural Specificity and Continuity .......................................................................... 103 ‘Personal Animation’ ................................................................................................ 105 Conclusions .................................................................................................................. 108 Part Two: Animation Education .................................................................................. 111 Chapter 3: Towards Indigenous Education – The Design Institutes ........................ 112 Introduction .................................................................................................................
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