500 Word Essay Comparing The Hand and Surogat!

There are several elements that distinctly tell these animations apart, also a few more subtle things. In this short essay we will investigate both animations in a technical and psychological view. I will try not to put a biased view on the analysis due to the lack of fondness I have for one due to its underlying messages.

                Firstly lets introduce the animations themselves, The Hand by Jiri Trnka from 1965, a very politically smelling animation that describes a disconcerting protest against authoritative violence, human rights and freedom. The plot is as follows: a puppet like humanoid is determined to make a plan pot for his flower but is beset by the ever lingering Hand which is much larger than him that makes him instead construct a monument towards it.

                If we analyse this animation it is a very political protest, as it was created in Czechoslovakia who have suffered as a nation, the animation seems to be a submission of rebellion, the way the characters act, especially the hand with its strong presents and its aggressive controlling behaviour, show the struggle that the country could have experienced. But what gives this away is towards the end, a very powerful gesture that resembles that of Adolf Hitler, the arm extended cast outright, which is a big give away that the animation is a plea for awareness of the matters at hand.

                This brings me to the second animation in question, Dusan Vukotic and Zagreb Film, Surogat (Ersatz), 1961. A brief summary of the plot is this: a very plump looking man (bearing in mind this was animated using a very simple look using block colour and basic textures) drives to the beach, and everything he brings is inflatable, he pumps everything up to enjoy his time at the beach. Including his companion, but after disapproving of her physical appearance he decides to pump a different companion up.

                Similarly to the previous animation, it does hold a very strong social protest, this word also being used to describe The Hand. this protest is the uprising of sexism in culture across the country/ the world, if we look at the animation, the main male character dislikes the look of his companion so he blows a different one up, this is very controversial due to the social aspect of that era, the tradition of being married by your parents has started dissipating and the option of choosing your life partner more predominant, it seems as though this animation encapsulates this but also infers various stereotypes.

                The first stereotype is that of the newly blown up companion, this character is very arrogant and goes for an equally arrogant character, a muscular male, rather than the ‘less than muscular’ protagonist, this also brings us on to the issue of appearance and how people judge eachother on their appearance and that when you marry someone it is based on looks, this is not the case.

                So both animations have a very strong message that are very different but can be related by its following of the time, and what is happening socialy and politically, this is seen a lot in animation and these two animations are a very good example.