Dichotomies of Control: Animated Labour,Stoic Philosophy,and the Animatronic

Abstract

While many scholars have challenged the place of animatronics – as a combination of animate and electronics – within traditional definitions of animation, this article engages the relevance of animatronic technology to the medium as a frame-by-frame technique of illusion. While the labour of animatronics might recall techniques of cel-, computer-, or stop-motion animation whereby characters are endowed with the ability to execute any conceivable action, animatronics as a form of digital puppetry introduces new elements rooted in the real-time interaction between animator and animated. To reflect on the compromise position or designation of animatronics between multiple forms of animation, this article stages a multidisciplinary exploration of storytelling, technology and philosophy in the 12-minute short film Song Sparrow (Farzaneh Omidvarnia, 2019). The film blends live-action and recorded ‘live’ puppetry with extensive animatronics in a narrative that portrays the plight of a group of refugees. Song Sparrow’s application of animatronic technology ultimately prompts a profound reflection on the delicate balance between freedom and limitation, considered here through the philosophical implications of control that dramatize the concealed operations of animatronic mechanisms. By drawing on the principles of Stoic philosophy and the values that it places on the inherent constraints that individuals face in shaping their destinies, this article suggests that philosophical reflections on the limitations that define human existence are well-supported by both Song Sparrow’s refugee narrative of mobility and the unique creative possibilities engendered by its animatronics as a particular illusion of the animate.