The Influence of Counterculture in America in 1960s and Psychedelic Aesthetics on selected animations from 1960s–1970s in America

Abstract

Counterculture was a cultural and political phenomenon, which appeared in the late 1960s and ended in the beginning of the 1970s. Counterculture wasn't a particular movement, it united different movements, new traditions and aesthetics. Followers of it stood up for women's rights, freedom of speech, LGBT rights, new perception of sexuality, and other progressive movements, as well as being anti-war and against nuclear arms race. The aesthetics of the Counterculture combined within itself experimentation with psychoactive drugs, a changed perception of sexuality, and rejection of the family institution. Counterculture influenced not only the lifestyle of its followers, but also art (movie, animation, music, etc.) As a result, Counterculture became a decisive factor which split the United States in two parts: some people believed in it and hoped for a new future, while others considered Counterculture as the betrayal of tradition and accepted norms. The appearance of new lifestyles, moral views and ideas of progressive Counterculture followers reduced the influence of censorship. As a result, people lost their interest in cinema and television, considering them as a source of lies and advertising. That fact pushed cinematography onto a new way of producing, when the people involved in it, in their artworks, started to depict the actual life and topics which interested people in the 1970s. Counterculture influenced the world sexual revolution not only on the level of life choices but also in art, where censorship became a thing of the past and art was not restricted. From that time, movie and animation directors started to show naked bodies and sex scenes in their pieces. That's why animation became split into a before and an after period. Ralph Bakshi made the first X-rated animated movie “Fritz the Cat”, which changed the perception of animation and brought the genre of animation not only to children but also to adults. Using the example of “Fritz the Cat”, I discussed a lot of the references to Counterculture and analyzed how Counterculture inspired Bakshi to make his animation on important topics and in a more realistic manner. “Fritz the Cat” is a great example of how an animated movie can discuss serious and current-day problems in the world in a sarcastic manner, depicting animal characters which symbolize particular emotions (black people — Ravens, policemen — pigs, and etc.) Psychedelic aesthetics and drug usage inspired animation artists to experiment on visual effects and techniques in their pieces. “Fritz the Cat” was the first animated movie which depicted drug trip in a detailed fashion (Fritz smoking marijuana). Bakshi tried to show the scene not only from one perspective but from different ones. Bakshi created the style of communication with the spectator in animation making it more realistic, emotional and interactive, with different visual effects. Just as adherents to Counterculture tried to see the world from different perspectives, not only the way government presented it. The challenge of my practical part was to create an animated music video about hedonistic way of observing the world trying techniques of emotional influence by visual accompaniment. The importance of my research lies firstly in its cultural and historical value. I want to analyze the connection between the cultural movement and artistic inspiration. Keywords: Counterculture, censorship, animation, sexual revolution, animated music video. Psychedelic aesthetics, Fritz the Cat, movie analyzing.