You don’t have to be an “animation nerd” to get what Chris Robinson is trying to say.
The local author and director of the Ottawa International Animation Festival can probably speak academically for hours on the inner workings of the animation industry, and the impact so-called cartoons have had on culture, but he’s just as happy discussing why The Simpsons isn’t funny any more.
He’s an expert, yes, but also an everyman, who had so much to say about his role in the industry that he made a writing gig out of it for five years, producing a witty, candid monthly column for the online magazine Animation World Network.
Now he’s turned the best of those musings into a book titled The Animation Pimp, which he’ll speak about tonight at the Ottawa International Writers Festival.
“I’m very influenced by rock critics of the 1970s who sort of had this gonzo, beat thing and wrote in a personal style with lots of salty language,” Robinson explains.
“These writings are about animation, but they also trace my life over those years, talk about sexuality and drugs and weave in philosophy and pop culture.”
The writings could’ve happened no matter what industry he was working in, though his saturation in the animation world provided lots of fodder. But that’s not to say Robinson isn’t still in love with the world of animation, or interested in talking about it in the context of pop culture.
After taking time to tell his own tales tonight, Robinson will also pick the brain of author Chris Turner who wrote Planet Simpson: How A Cartoon Masterpiece Documented An Era And Defined A Generation.
Who better to interview the biographer of the world’s most successful animated series than a man so intimately acquainted with the animation world?
Robinson remains a Simpsons fan, though he thinks it’s recently turned into a conservative, not-so-funny show that’s been “co-opted by the very system it’s always mocked.”
He can’t wait to bring that up to Turner, and the legions of Simpsons fans sure to be in the audience.
“This book is like the Bible of The Simpsons and he makes a lot of interesting points. But I’d like to get some heated debate going too.”
The events take place tonight at Library and Archives Canada.
Robinson’s Animation Pimp talk starts at 6 p.m. and is free to attend. The Planet Simpson discussion starts at 7 p.m.
Admission is $12 or $10 for students and seniors.
