Analyze how a character's animation can be used to convey some of his/her traits. For example, in Up, Carl is drawn as boxy and square, which signifies his containment within his house and within his memories of Ellie.
Yes, Pixar and other kids movies do a great job of secretly symbolizing character traits in how they are represented. Not in this article but perhaps in another one this same idea could be explored in anime, times when certain symbolic colours are used and how the shrinking of eye size is usually an age indicator (thought not in someone like Brock from Pokemon's case). – Slaidey9 years ago
Fantastic idea, really interesting to think about :) if you're interested in a more 'academic' angle Conceptual Metaphor Theory (Lakoff and Johnson, 1980) could be interesting to look into. They (and other CMTers) argue that how we think, our 'conceptual system', is very based on metaphorical thinking e.g. thinking about an ARGUMENT as a WAR ('your argument is indefensible', 'I will defend my opinions', 'I attacked his position on the topic'). Such conceptual thinking could tie in to why the use of animation is effective in transmitting ideas about character traits, because it could draw upon ways in which we already think (based on our experiences as bodily beings within a society/culture etc.) – Camille Brouard9 years ago
