South Korean Cartoonists Cry Foul Over Edgy Simpsons Intro 299
theodp writes "When asked to animate a dark commentary about labor practices in Asia's cartoon industry — the edgy title sequence for the Simpsons' episode 'MoneyBART' — staff from the South Korean production company Akom raised a rare protest. Even after being toned down, the sequence created by British graffiti artist Banksy depicted a dungeon-like complex where droning Asian animators worked in sweatshops, rats scurried around with human bones, kittens were spliced up into Bart Simpson dolls, and a gaunt unicorn punched holes into DVDs. The satire, Akom founder and president Nelson Shin argued, gave the impression that Asian artists slave away in subpar sweatshops when they actually animate much of The Simpsons every week in high-tech workshops in downtown Seoul. Still, South Korean animators make one-third the salaries of their American counterparts, and Shin declined to comment on the full extent of the work his company has outsourced to SEK, a state-run animation studio of North Korea. Some argue that the Banksy sequence's gray and forlorn atmosphere more accurately depicts the sweatshop-like conditions in North Korea."
Re:Asians (Score:5, Interesting)
Being a colorist is not easy, but it's hardly in the same league creatively with the folks that do the writing and modeling for the series. It sounds like it's away of pointing out that it's like working in the salt mines of the cartoon industry.
Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)
Or maybe... (Score:4, Interesting)
...it's just another Simpson's Halloween "horror" story.
Even cheaper (Score:2, Interesting)
Actually, I moved from Toronto to a rather small town too. One thing I've found about the big city is that you really get *screwed* if you're working on salary (which is pretty much the norm). So while you may be making less per-annum, you may actually be making more overall depending on how much extra-time you put in.
As for the costs. Food seems a bit more where I am (no local Chinese market), but not incredibly much. A car may cost the same or a bit more, gas is a little higher, but the cost of insurance is nearly *HALF* that of a bigger city. Houses are obviously cheaper, and parking is free, but that does come as a trade-off for crappy transit. Not that I consider the TTC to be overly great, but at least it took me under an hour to get to work downtown by transit (despite being almost in Scarborough, at the edge of Toronto).
Another big factor is the people. In many big cities the overall attitude seems to be "everyone for himself" followed by that others are fair game. In a smaller city, choices are less, but those who actively screw over the customers tend fare less well. Customer-friendly businesses also tend to get good word-of-mouth.
There are some things I miss about the bigger city, but there's a lot to be said for smaller places too.
I rather think this targets China (Score:4, Interesting)
Without knowing much of the detail provided here, I would have assumed the depiction was China. But the general impression I get is that much of Asia's mass-labor forces are more or less like this... well not exactly like this, but the impression is about the same when compared to any remaining mass-labor forces in the U.S. I happen to work for a Japanese company at present and I have to say, they are a LOT less fun. In fact, my boss is Korean and he seems to feel very strongly against the notion of "convenience" when working as he has said quite specifically that the company is not here for our convenience, that we are here for the company's convenience. That philosophy speaks volumes to me.
My company is most certainly "less fun" because of the asian notion of what a workplace should be like. And yes, "overtime" is expected and nearly everyone is exempt.
Re:Why not in America? (Score:3, Interesting)
Isn't it a little late to be getting pissy? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Asians (Score:4, Interesting)
That cost of living index is for American Expatriates. Additionally, the most expensive city is in Angola. From the article's intro:
"29 June 2010: Angola's capital city Luanda has replaced Tokyo as the most expensive city in the world for US expatriates according to the latest Cost of Living Survey from Mercer." I mean, they even have Shanghai ranked higher than NYC.
Having lived in Seoul for 10 years very comfortably on what can be described as a typical salary for the Korean middle class, I will tell you that the cost of living for people who aren't gouging their companies' expense accounts is much cheaper than comparable cities in North America.
Re:Asians (Score:2, Interesting)
I haven't seen it, but I'm curious as to why virtually all cartoons these days are colored in South Korea. Strikes me that depicting it in such an allegorical way is somewhat appropriate. Being a colorist is not easy, but it's hardly in the same league creatively with the folks that do the writing and modeling for the series. It sounds like it's away of pointing out that it's like working in the salt mines of the cartoon industry.
Interestingly, a lot of Japanese animation (which, in the past, was traditionally outsourced to Korea) is now being outsourced to places like Vietnam. Not sure if that indicated the Koreans have their hands full doing American animation, or if the other countries are simply cheaper.
Re:Satire. (Score:3, Interesting)
Poking fun at animation sweat shops may or may not be funny, but it isn't satire. The whole point of that is to mock or exaggerate negative things to educate and/or cause change. When has Korean/Asian animation studio practices needed to be scrutinized for controversy and corruption? It'll need to be pretty blatant if folks in the West know about it.
So if it aint satire what exactly is it? I'd go for needless negative portrayal of Korean/Asian animation studios analogous to criticizing American labor issues by portraying us as slaves. Too over the top to be taken seriously perhaps, but not a good thing either.
Re:Asians (Score:3, Interesting)
Meh, even in that sense I say it's a fail. For some useful info on North Korean animation studios something like "Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea" (where the author actually lived and worked with N. Korean animators) exists.
Re:Banksy is right and you know it. (Score:0, Interesting)
Re:Modern South Korea (Score:5, Interesting)
if korea (et al) are successful, fine; but its not successful on honorable reasons. it has been stealing jobs and there's no way to compete when you NEED healthcare in the US and that, alone, is enough to disbalance things unfairly.
I sympathize with your frustration, but have felt this for America likely long before you. The small Kansas town in which I grew up (pop. 150) flourished in my father's lifetime with a bank, hotel, drug store, barber, etc. But by my youth in the 1960s, only two repair garages and a tavern remained; essentially it was a ghost town, and even lost its high school. Thanks to the automobile and better roads (an ICBM station nearby got us asphalt roads), almost all the jobs were "outsourced" to the big city, Tokpeka. Then in my late adolescence the same happened to Topeka, when the Goodyear tire plant (once the largest in the world) scaled back its production, putting Topeka on the skids and the economic energy went to Kansas City, Chicago, and the coasts. And this was the 1970s. This hollowing out process due to changing technology, mobility of capital and labor has continued in the U.S. for the past century and likely will continue apace globally, as borders become less relevant. Some companies, such as Apple and Catepillar have been able have been able to adapt and create products desired around the world, others such Zenith and RCA have fallen into senescence.
I'm not sure what you mean by "honorable reasons", but the meme that Asians cheat at trade hasn't really been a fair observation since even the GATT says in the 1980s and certainly not since the WTO began in 1995. Basically the reason South Koreans got ahead was because even though they have few resources they worked harder than everyone in the world, saved as much as they could, and sacrificed for higher education. Among other things they created world-class steelmaking, shipbuilding, and semiconductor industries out of nothing, using mostly Japanese capital and technology, since the U.S. viewed them as foolish to have such ambitions from the 1960s.
At present, South Korea does more trade with China than the U.S., and they are one of the few countries that manage a balance of payments surplus with China because they produce goods that the Chinese want to buy. Moreover, the largest group of foreign students in China are South Koreans and the largest group of foreign students in South Korea are Chinese. South Korea remains firmly in the U.S. camp militarily and is grateful for the troops stationed here (though they get almost no credit in the U.S. for the sizable contingent of troops they sent to Vietnam and Iraq), but over time, the U.S. is gradually becoming much less important to the nation's future, as evidenced by the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) they recently signed with the European Union, while the prospective one with the U.S. is stalled, largely due to protectionist sentiments.
South Korea is by no means perfect and they go overboard at time on anti-American issues such as fears of beef BSE contamination, but on the whole they are a hard-working, highly educated people who deserve the success they have achieved by dint of great efforts over decades.
Re:Asians (Score:3, Interesting)