Let's not make is "too" real

The term caricature (according to google) is a picture, description, or imitation of a person or thing in which certain striking characteristics are exaggerated in order to create a comic or grotesque effect. This effect is usually used a lot of animation, be it tv shows, movies, or video games. To avoid delving into a realistic take on things, some characters have over-exaggerated body parts, such as their hands, nose, legs, etc. On the other end of this spectrum, we have realism, which is the movement or style of representing familiar things as they actually are. In today's post, I will provide some examples of both of these forms of animation style, starting with caricature.

One of my favorite animated movies that crosses both of my favorite things (Disney and video games) is Wreck-It Ralph. This movie does an excellent job at using the caricature style on the main protagonist (or antagonist? I mean, he is a villain). Ralph's hands are comically huge compared to all the other characters in the film, but they have a purpose! They're huge because, as the title says, he wrecks stuff. It wouldn't make sense if a normal man used his normal hands to break down breaks, and that's a good thing because this movie strived to reduced realism because it took place in a video game world where anything goes. As one can see, Ralph also has big feet, a barreled chest, and a pretty big lower jaw, emphasizing more and more that he isn't meant to be compared to the real world. Since I mentioned it, I'll start up an example of realism to show what the other side is like.


Going back to video games, Final Fantasy 13 has some pretty realistic (and fashionable) main characters. The one I'll be focusing on, however, will be the character Lightning. Lightning, as you can see from the picture provided, looks like a human woman. She has average sized body, with average hands, average feet, and etc. This is realism in animation. Lightning can be pretty relatable to real-world females, which makes her more likable. There's not much else I can add to this, but I would like to put in my opinion that the caricature style is much more fun to see in animation rather than the use of realism.

The reasoning behind my choice is that sometimes realistic looking animation can lead to making things look a little "too real" and make me uncomfortable. This phenomenon is called the Uncanny Valley, and if you have the time, you should read more about it. Anyways, caricatures allow more freedom in animation, where as realistic characters are set to the physics on humans. It's more fun that way, less restriction.