Animation's Technological Contradictions and Future Speculations in Art and Media

Animation acts as a speculative art form that exposes contradictions in technology, as theorists such as Scott Bukatman have pointed out that historical tools influence future perspectives. Bukatman examined William Gibson's Neuromancer, which was composed on an analogue Hermes 2000 typewriter in 1984, in 1994. Notable Japanese anime from the late 1980s and 1990s, including Katsuhiro Otomo's Akira (1988) and Mamoru Oshii's Ghost in the Shell (1995), redefined the portrayal of human bodies. Earlier films like Forbidden Planet (1956) and René Laloux's Fantastic Planet (1973) contributed to the visual language of modernity. Recent works, such as Mamoru Hosoda's Belle (2021) and Makoto Shinkai's Suzume (2022), further develop visual intricacy. Artists like Ian Cheng and Bob Bicknell-Knight investigate digital obsolescence, while Takayuki Tatsumi promotes a 'multicultural and transgenic poetics.'