Comment on “Philosophical perspective on artistic development and historic animation thinking”

Fang Fang[1]

Commented article: WANG, Z. Philosophical Perspective on Artistic Development and Historic Animation Thinking. Trans/Form/Ação: revista de filosofia da Unesp, v. 47, n. 5, “Eastern thought 2”, e02400159, 2024. Available at: https://revistas.marilia.unesp.br/index.php/transformacao/article/view/15071.

The development of philosophy is the evolution of thought, which can manifest as the social trends of an era or region and inevitably influence the literary and artistic works of that time or place. As a modern art form, animation conveys the creator's thoughts and emotions through images and stories, inherently containing perspectives and viewpoints on society. Wang (2024) attempts to trace the origins of animation thinking from a philosophical perspective, thereby better understanding the relationship between culture, art, and philosophy. The promotion of China's animation industry is accomplished by incorporating China's rich traditional culture and unique philosophical ideas.

If we trace the origins of Chinese philosophical thought, it begins with the descriptions in the "I Ching". The concept of the unity of heaven and man originates from this text, while the mythological story of "Pangu Creating the World" serves as a vehicle to express this idea. The author is not very clear on the distinction between philosophy and mythology. The section "About 'Beginning and End'" discusses the Chinese philosophical views on life and death, which have varied across different eras. The concept of living in anticipation of death emerged during the Han Dynasty, influenced by the belief in immortality. People held high hopes for their existence after death.

Additionally, the concept of the phoenix's nirvana in this section is not from Indian mythology; the Chinese mythological system and the Indian mythological system are entirely different, and the concept of nirvana comes from Buddhism. The concept of the phoenix's nirvana comes from Mr. Guo Moruo's homonymous work, expressing an indomitable and tenacious spirit and a brave and strong will to struggle (Guo, 2014, p. 93).

In "About 'Who am I'," the concept of "rectification of names" is one of Confucius's important ideas. At the end of the Spring and Autumn period, rites collapsed, and society was in a state of chaos with unclear rites and moral decay.

Confucius believed that the root cause of social chaos, such as the emperor not attending court, vassal lords fighting, despising royal power, and arbitrary killing, was the collapse of rites. Therefore, Confucius proposed the theory of "rectification of names," attempting to rebuild the deviant social order by reiterating the names of rites and music, standardizing people's behaviour and concepts, thereby achieving the goal of a well-governed world (Tang, 2023, p. 130).

This is a social standard, that is, a set of moral ethical systems. Confucianism has traditionally held a prominent role in Chinese philosophical thought, which is why ethical and moral issues are frequently included in animation.

Xiang thinking as Chinese traditional thinking, by Wang Shuren took the lead in putting forward its concept, Wang Yongyan courtyard soil, etc., talking about Xiang thinking is a kind of see that know the inner nature of things, perceiving the source of things thinking method, is a kind of “people can always be clear and quiet heaven and earth are all return” of the object I unity.

The proposal of “Xiang thinking” is very clearly used to distinguish it from conceptual thinking.

Unlike conceptual thinking, whose muse-making intention is universalized, static, higher-order objectified, and reflective after the fact, Xiang Thinking is a way of thinking that allows one to follow a dynamic generative process, and possibly participate in that process by following it, thereby triggering new styles of consciousness (Li, 2006, p. 142).

Modern academic discourse is shaped by conceptual thinking, and in a sense, any critique of conceptual thinking can hardly avoid the paradox of relying on conceptual thinking itself to accomplish this. Xiang's thinking is particularly difficult to formulate, and almost all of its work can only be arrived at through conceptual thinking. The qualities of Xiang's thinking can only be determined by evaluating the characteristics of conceptual thinking and making comparisons. The deeper logic is that Xiang's thinking can only be expressed in comparison with the meaning of conceptual thinking. “In the modern sense, although we can position traditional Chinese thinking as Xiang thinking, it is not an inherent problem in the history of Chinese thought. Because this categorization of thinking comes from the West, it is a product of the reconstruction of Chinese history with modern Western philosophical discourse. One could argue that Xiang's thinking is intrinsically unable to resist the consequences of conceptual thinking, and there is no inherent imbalance between Xiang's thinking and conceptual thinking. Furthermore, Xiang's thinking is insufficient in itself to fully characterize the way Chinese philosophy thinks. Nonetheless, we should not deny the “Xiang Thinking”.

Expressing the spirit through form is deeply rooted in the soil of Chinese thought and culture, especially nourished by Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism's theories of mind and nature, the concepts of form and spirit, and the concepts of speech and meaning, and has developed into an important part of the spirit of Chinese aesthetics.

The aesthetic tradition of writing God in form echoes the creation and criticism of art over thousands of years. Writing God in shape has five layers of aesthetic connotation: the meaning of poor shape and the artist's physical work is related to the body of objects, inseparable from the observation of life and the observation of the object; Transfiguration of writing is the aesthetic ideal of artistic creation, depends on the intervention of aesthetic emotion, the need to create the role of consciousness; with the object is a generalization of the laws of art form, the implementation of the artist to show creativity in the process of “writing”; with the object is a generalization of the laws of art form, implemented in the artist to show creativity “writing” process; with the object is a generalization of the law of art. In the process of “writing” in which the artist shows his creativity; the two forgetfulness of form and spirit points to the aesthetic realm of the blending of mind and object, the object and I are not the same, between intentionally and unintentionally for the wonderful transmission of God; the game of ink and brush is the aesthetic interest of lively and free, letting nature run its course, and in the Zen ideology of nourishment, the creation of art becomes a way of revealing the nature of the self (Tang, 2022, p. 172).

Applying this aesthetic concept to animation works, we can see that animation is not only a series of static images played continuously but also a dynamic display of life.

Digging into the traditional Chinese philosophical concepts and fully utilizing modern technology, so that cross-cultural communication and innovation in animation creation will be developed.

References

GUO, M. R. Phoenix Nirvana: Selected Poems and Prose by Guo Moruo. JX: Nanchang Century Publishing House, 2014.

LI, A. Z. Chinese Wisdom under the Perspective of "Image Thinking" — Reading Wang Shuren's Recent Work "Return to Original Thinking". Academic Research, v. 12, p. 142-143, 2006.

TANG, L. Y. The Aesthetic Implications of "Expressing the Spirit Through Form" in Chinese Art. Journal of Southwest Minzu University (Humanities and Social Sciences), v. 43, n. 07, p. 171-179, 2022.

TANG, M. Confucian "Rectification of Names" and the Ideology of "Rectification of Names" in "The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons". Chinese Classics and Culture, v. 02, p. 130-140, 2023.

WANG, Z. Philosophical Perspective on Artistic Development and Historic Animation Thinking. Trans/Form/Ação: revista de filosofia da Unesp, v. 47, n. 5, “Eastern thought 2”, e02400159, 2024. Available at: https://revistas.marilia.unesp.br/index.php/transformacao/article/view/15071.

Received: 12/08/2024 – Approved: 16/08/2024 – Published: 30/09/2024

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College of Arts and Creativity, Anhui Vocational & Technical College, Hefei, 230011 - China. ORCID: 0009-0009-8930-9103. E-mail: animatorfang@163.com.

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