SUMMARY
COSMOGONIC MYTHOLOGY, MESOAMERICAN ART
AND CINEMA ANIMATION
A study of the formal aspects of the Prehispanic Mesoamerican mythological
character, the feathered serpent, in animated audiovisual productions.
This is an exploratory and retrospective investigation, of a co-relational nature, that examines the representation of the central mythological figure of Prehispanic Mesoamerica in animated audiovisual productions.
As our formation is in the area of communications, specifically in the creation and observation of animated audiovisual productions, we observe
certain shortcomings in how the cultural aspects of the subject matter have been
interpreted. This leads us to propose an analysis mechanism with which we review how the formal aspects of the mythological figure have been reinterpreted
in animated audiovisual productions.
Our hypothetical position states that the authors of animated audiovisual
productions who base their work on documented research create productions
that possess more educational and artistic value than those which omit elementary features of the Prehispanic Mesoamerican culture. Consequently, we
observe and analyse the politics of identity in the animated audiovisual
productions.
For this reason we propose the following central objectives:
To analyse and verify how the feathered serpent was represented in our
selected universe of animated audiovisual projects.
To describe and analyze audiovisual animation productions that represents
and use the central figure of the cosmogonic myths of Prehispanic Mesoamerica
and correlate their characteristics with the original narrative source. To demonstrate that the figure and image of the feathered serpent plays a relevant role in the productions analysed. The methodology used in the development of this thesis was divided in two phases: First we carry out an exploratory investigation, in which we take a sufficient
number of audiovisual animation productions to constitute a database
representative of the subject matter. At the same time, we structure a theoretical
base that supports the general thematic flow of the thesis, thus explaining the importance of the essential myths in the contemporary media scene. We also
document the anthropological and archaeological antecedents of the topic.
In the second stage we analyze and correlate the selected audiovisual
productions with the anthropological and archaeological antecedents previously
cited.
This process brought us to conclude the following points, of which first we highlight those related with the central objectives:
The figure of the feathered serpent possesses definite and identifiable
characteristics in the different animated audiovisual productions.
We confirm that the ophidian figure is an important numen within the American imagination, even today.
The figure of the feathered serpent appropriately reflects the politics of identity in the productions, these being educative vehicles in essence.
We demonstrate that the narrative structure and the figure of the creative snake in certain animated productions is represented by means of documented anthropological research committed to the respect of the ancestral cultures. This factor adds more educational and artistic value to these productions.
We discover that other audiovisual productions, which are not well
researched, distort the central message of the ancient myths.
Furthermore, based on a series of observations derived from the
investigation it self, referring particularly to the processes associated with animation production, we conclude that, with the material gathered to date, you
can construct a definite communicational genre. Additionally, we observe that in
their entirety, and particularly in our case, we can identify three definite groups:
The first refers to the animated productions which deal with the myths,
legends, stories and historical tales of Prehispanic America. Within this group we find a second universe, which relates to cosmogonic myths of Prehispanic
America. In this second group we find that 9.8 % of the initial total represent
cosmogonic myths of Prehispanic Mesoamerica.
In the third and last segment, in which we observe the formal treatment of the
feathered serpent, we define the politics of identity: the neo-imperial continuum,
revisionist Americanism and the voices of ethnic groups.