Disney vs. Anime

It is a very silly question, I know, but I asked it to myself anyway; which is better, Disney or Anime? Perhaps that is the wrong question though. Disney movies are overwhelmingly geared towards a younger audience - take Cinderella, Snow White, and even classics like Beauty and the Beast. Thus Disney's animation is oftentimes beautifully done and the films are engaging, yet they seem a little puerile on occasion. Therein lies the difference, I think. Anime is most certainly not geared towards a younger audience exclusively - Eva, Death Note, Princess Mononoke, Lain, and films like Paprika are very much intended for mature audiences. Who in their right mind would let a six year old watch the final episodes of Eva? Not I! I would slap an R rating on Eva immediately and without second thought. This difference means that anime is free to explore adult themes and complex issues that would evade the mind of a six-year-old. Such a child could easily enjoy an anime classic like Spirited Away but be lost, terrified, and confused in Death Note.

On the other hand, the classic Disney movies (Fox and the Hound, The Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, Robin Hood, The Jungle Book, Bambi, etc.) never lose their innocence and beauty precisely because they are intended to be enjoyed by young children. Even now can I watch those films and deeply appreciate the themes treated in them; friendship, responsibility, love, service, maturity, loss of innocence, and so on. Some part of those works will impact me in some way the anime never will, usually on an emotional level. (I still wish to weep when I watch The Fox and the Hound)

However, anime causes me to think in ways I have never thought before. Death Note, anyone? I am still distressed by that series, and though I'll probably work my way through it again in the fall, it horrifies and entrances me. Lain. Paprika. Princess Mononoke. Grave of the Fireflies (almost unviewable). All these films stirred my intellect and forced me to look at things in a different light; there are no hard and fast answers to the questions they pose and the themes they explore, whether or not they do so at the child's level.

Thus I conclude: my opening question was patently absurd. Disney and anime are far too different to be accurately contrasted though they share the same medium. How can childlike innocence (which all Disney classics display proudly) be compared with the rigorous intellectualism (oftentimes not appropriate for the child) of anime? (I am conveniently ignoring anime films geared towards children like Howl's Moving Castle, Castle in the Sky, etc.) I am convinced they cannot. The very element that makes Disney films themselves is precisely the limitation that anime removes whenever it is convenient. Sometimes both Disney and anime fail at their intended target when creating films or television series, but there can be no dispute over the clear distinction of their methods.