ABSTRACT
Animated composites and human-animal hybrids render the body’s boundaries as porous and malleable. In the world of animated creatures, where the distorted contours abound, collapsing clay figures, muscles about to burst, mutating avatars, and uncanny synthespians matter. Working as technological extensions, the animation’s automatisms stimulate the spectator’s neural networks. The structure of engagement strengthens the assemblages of affects, technical automatisms, and conventions orchestrated by the animation machine. An orientational metaphor such as happy is up can imbue an animated sequence with a cheering mood. The imaginary transposition of oneself into the place of an animated character is an important aspect of the structure of engagement. It initiates a merging of the spectator’s perspective with the character’s perspective in ways that blur the strict separation between self and animated other. By aligning the gaze of the spectator with the gaze of the monstrous animated hybrid, the animation machine composites the spectator’s perception into the animated world.
