This dissertation will explore the ways in which animation presents the pursuit of purpose, as well as the various forms a person’s chosen purpose can take. And since the concept of purpose can be rather nebulous it is important to clarify that in this case the term “purpose” refers to what a person believes they want to or should be doing with their life. This includes personal philosophies and religious beliefs as well as chosen occupations and societal roles, among other things. This subject was chosen because it’s a question we all must answer for ourselves at some point, “What is my purpose? What do I do with my life?” are common concerns, so it’s important to analyse how our media presents not only the different answers to the question but also the journey to those answers.
The main question being asked in this dissertation is how does animation present the idea of purpose and the pursuit of it? How do the stories and characters show audiences the various ideas of purpose and what impact does their animated form have on how well they deliver these ideas? In essence, this dissertation seeks to ask whether animated stories can help viewers better understand their purposes and put them on the path to fulfilling them. To answer these questions will require carrying out primary research in the form of media analysis of animated movies and TV series such as The Prince of Egypt (Chapman, 1998), Rango (Verbrinski, 2011), Soul (Doctor, 2020), and Rick and Morty to get an idea of how they present their views on purpose. There was also an attempt at performing some informal interviews with members of the public about what they believe to be their purpose and how they figured it out, however due to the time taken to receive confirmation from LEAS there wasn’t enough time to conduct them.
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