INTRODUCTION: THE SEARCH FOR ANIMATED DOCUMENTARIES

The reception of animated nonfiction is complex. ‘It's interesting … but it's not real!’ is a frequent comment I have heard since embarking on research into animated documentaries. An extensive discussion of possible definitions of ‘animated documentary’ clearly exceeds the scope of this chapter. But, in order to clarify, I refer here to animation as ‘moving imagery only visible on-screen’ and my research focuses particularly on non-naturalistic aesthetics within this overarching definition. This definition may draw criticism since it seems to sidestep the specificities of animation techniques and styles. Specific styles matter and can signify, misrepresent or emphasize different aspects of the information portrayed. However, it is not my intention here to analyse animation styles which are as varied as the techniques and levels of creativity of the animators. This classification encompasses the wide variety of animation techniques and styles whilst most clearly differentiating animation from pho-tography: as imagery that is generated rather than recorded. As we shall see, this is a central and recurring issue in animation's use within nonfiction works.

On one hand, those familiar with one or two animated documentaries (usually, Ari Folman's Waltz with Bashir [2008] and Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud's Persepolis [2007]) generally agree that they are thought-provoking. But on the other hand, when people try to explain why this is so, their chosen terminology often becomes muddled with that frequently used to describe photographic imagery. Judging by popular press coverage (film reviews, filmmaker interviews, awards ceremony reportage) of the Oscar-nominated Waltz with Bashir, it very often seems that the film's photographic imagery alone is considered ‘real’, whereas the rest is ‘animated’: as if only a photographically indexical relationship to a material context could constitute documentary footage of ‘real’ phenomena (see Harsin 2009; Davidson 2009; Garrett 2010; Peaslee 2011). This reinforces the conventional distinctions frequently made between animation and photography, as well as those drawn between animation and reality. By contrast, this essay starts from and works with the proposition that animated nonfiction in fact questions and challenges the conventionally perceived difference between animation and photography.