Destabilizing Animation - Structures of Agency and Uncanny Animacy in Animated Media - Master of Arts Thesis

Aug 26, 2026

Uploaded by Quinn

Destabilizing Animation: Structures of Agency and Uncanny Animacy in Animated Media examines how digital media unsettle hierarchical distinctions between human and nonhuman agency by producing perceptible “animacy” traits such as agency, awareness, mobility, and liveness. The thesis analyzes one webtoon and two video games that fold technical or computational forces into character animation, generating a resistant, uncategorizable sense of agency. It challenges dominant media-theory frameworks and proposes an animist logic that destabilizes animacy hierarchies and associated binary oppositions.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages111

Reading Time4 h 40 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Destabilizing Hierarchies of Agency

Animacy in Digital Media

Case Studies: Webtoon and Video Games

Media-Technical Forces and Animation

Doubled Meaning of “Animation”

Resisting Categorization and Media Control

Reader, Player, and Database Frameworks

Animist Logic and Destabilization of Binaries

Destabilizing Animation: Structures of Agency and Uncanny Animacy in Animated Media Cole Armitage A Thesis In The Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema Presented in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements For the Degree of Master of Arts (Film Studies) at Concordia University Montréal, Quebec, Canada June 2020 ãCole Armitage, 2020 CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY School of Graduate Studies This is to certify that the thesis prepared By: Cole Armitage Entitled: Destabilizing Animation: Structures of Agency and Uncanny Animacy in Animated Media and submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (Film Studies) complies with the regulations of the University and meets the accepted standards with respect to originality and quality. Signed by the final Examining Committee: Chair Examiner Dr. Joshua Neves Examiner Dr. Alexander Zahlten Supervisor Dr. Marc Steinberg Approved by. Dr. Marc Steinberg, Graduate Program Director 2020 Annie Gérin, Dean of Faculty iii ABSTRACT Destabilizing Animation: Structures of Agency and Uncanny Animacy in Animated Media Cole Armitage This thesis examines the destabilization of a hierarchical ordering of human vs. nonhuman agency found in digital media which present a surge of “animacy” – perceptible qualities of“agency, awareness, mobility and liveness”(Chen 2012). It examines one webtoon (The Bongcheon-Dong Ghost 2011) and two video games (Undertale 2015 and Doki Doki Literature Club 2017), which push at the boundaries of their respective media forms by channeling technical/computational forces (e.g. Javascript or memory storage) into character animation;“animation” in a doubled sense: both as the fusion of discontinuous instants afforded by the mechanical succession of images as well as the production of a social Other possessing qualities of life and agency (Silvio 2019). The result is a perception of agency (and thus animacy) that resists the categorization of both the character and the media object. Challenging dominant structures and theories of comic readership, video game play, or “database consumption”(Azuma 2009) respectively, these works argue against the control that the human operator is presumed both to have and to require as part of a framework which constitutes the works themselves as media objects. This thesis further argues that the structures critiqued and challenged by these works index a broader conceptualization of human action in the world, predicated on “animacy hierarchies” which are buttressed by binaries of human/nonhuman, animate/inanimate, moving/still, subject/object, and will/determination. By adopting an animist logic, in which images/media/characters might potentially act in unforeseen ways, these works challenge and destabilize such binaries. iv Acknowledgements This thesis is only possible as the result of sustained feedback and support from many people whom I will attempt to list here. First and foremost, I am indebted to my supervisor and mentor Marc Steinberg, who has consistently been a thoughtful, considerate, and encouraging presence throughout the completion of my degree. Marc’s earnest, attentive, and critical feedback has been a constant source of constructive criticism that has pushed this thesis to be, I hope, more than a mash-up of fragmented thoughts. Marc’s careful and practical disposition has been an invaluable counterbalance to my at-times obtuse ideas and my penchant for the obscure. I would also like to offer my sincere gratitude to the wonderful, brilliant, and supportive faculty at the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema at Concordia University, particularly to Joshua Neves, Masha Salazkina, Haidee Wasson, and May Chew, whom I have had the pleasure of learning directly from. The diverse methodologies and perspectives of these faculty members has been the foundation upon which my growth as a scholar over the past two years has taken place. I wou

FAQs

这项论文研究的核心问题是什么？

论文关注数字媒体如何通过“animacy”扰乱人类与非人类能动性之间的等级秩序，并讨论这种扰乱如何影响观众对角色与媒介对象的理解。

论文选择了哪些作品作为案例？

论文分析了一部网络漫画（The Bongcheon-Dong Ghost, 2011）以及两款电子游戏（Undertale, 2015；Doki Doki Literature Club, 2017），并说明它们如何把技术/计算力量转译为角色动画。

论文提出的理论取向或方法是什么？

论文借用一种“animist逻辑”，认为图像、媒介与角色可能以出乎意料的方式“行动”，从而挑战并动摇由多种二元对立支撑的“animacy hierarchies”。

Aug 26, 2026

Uploaded by Quinn