The Anime Machine: A Media Theory of Animation
Presents a foundational theory of animation and what it reveals about our relationship to technology Despite the longevity of animation and its significance within the history of cinema, film theorists have focused on live-action motion pictures and largely ignored hand-drawn and computer-generated movies. Thomas Lamarre contends that animation demands sustained engagement, and in The Anime Machine he lays the foundation for a new critical theory for reading Japanese animation, showing how anime fundamentally differs from other visual media.
Lamarre approaches the topic of Japanese animation from a more technical standpoint, focusing on how certain techniques typical of anime trigger emotional responses from the audience, going beyond thematic analysis.
Theorizes animation as the machine with Japanese anime brought into focus. A crucial point is the author’s use of the notion of machine that author uses drawing on Deleuze and Guattari to overcome apparatus theory that places technology and ideology in a fixed relationship. Japanese translation also available.