Animation has become one of the most popular forms of media consumption and is found in a variety of visual communications, from advertising to films, video games or series and even in education and training — whether it’s a Studio Ghibli classic, a Pixar blockbuster, or even a European independent feature adapted from a classic fairy tale — chances are you’re not just seeing the story that the original creators intended. If that film or show has crossed borders to reach you, it’s likely already gone through a process called localisation.

Localisation is more than just translation. It’s the art and developmental process of reshaping a story so that audiences in different cultures, languages, backgrounds and traditions can understand and enjoy it. My research looks at how this happens in animation, the various methods attached to it, and what those changes tell us about the way cultures interact with one another. It also delves into how these creative reinterpretations impact the essence of the original work and whether audience emotional engagement with storytelling elements, characterisations and symbols are changed and received due to these various processes. It’s a very theory heavy humanities research study and on the surface, it is really an analysis of how various audiences receive information through the animated form. If we take step away from the theory for a moment, what does that actually look like in practice?

Well, my days vary between various commitments and threads of research. The one constant is of course coffee, which I drink far too much of. After the first caffeine fix of the day, I normally read through papers that relate to topics in or around my field. I’ll look at academic papers on culture, film, anthropology and semiotics and of course, animation, trying to find a multi-disciplinary approach to my research questions (always keeping these in mind, as I go. Does this article support or conflict with my ideas? Does it offer a new perspective on a concept or chapter of my thesis?). It’s always important to read a lot, as it keeps you up to speed with the materials in the industry, the topics that have been, or are being researched and how they can act as developmental pieces for your own work. Outside of reading, of course, I watch cartoons. This is fun, but also deeply analytical. I will look at various versions of animation, be it dubbing, music changes, edited scenes or visuals, and create comparative case studies that look at why, how and what was localised as well as whether the source material or creator’s vision was altered in these localisations. An example of this could be a joke or cultural reference in the original film that relies on a Japanese pun or knowledge of a Japanese pop star to understand the joke. In English, that pun probably doesn’t work, so the localisation team might replace it with a completely different joke, or one that relies on the knowledge of a Western musician, that fits the rhythm of the scene but makes sense to English-speaking audiences.

A big part of my research involves talking to people — not just fans, but also industry professionals. I’ve interviewed animators, game designers, storyboard artists, semioticians, animation historians, film directors and more. These conversations support my multi-disciplinary approach, and give me an insider’s view of the pressures and creative decisions behind the scenes. Some people will discuss how scenes are edited in such a way that the direct translations of an original work are removed in favour of more emotional resonance. Others will discuss how concepts may be adapted for more mature audience, or for children’s television. I also talk to audiences through focus groups and surveys, both anonymous and interview based. These balance the theory heavy side of things by really allowing the audiences to express their feelings and connections to a localised piece vs the original property. These perspectives help me understand how different viewers experience localisation. After all the data is collected, it is important to piece together the data. There’s a lot of detective work involved in noticing trends and patterns in the information of the day and liking it to already collected data. Still keeping research questions in mind, it’s important to see how the data relates to them.

Outside of this, it is also important to write. Some of this comes from creating methodologies and other chapters of relevance, some comes from writing smaller aspects of my research as smaller publications. For example, I recently published a paper on Semiotic Interpretations of 9th Century Ireland using The Secret of Kells as a basis. This not only helps promote my research, but it allows me to test ideas, network with other researchers both in academia and at various conferences and allows further consumption of caffeinated beverages. So, why does this study matter beyond the world of animation and film fans? Well, it is because animation is one of the most globalised art forms we have today. Shows and films travel across the world every day as part of a massive field, and with them travel ideas about culture, humour, identity, and even politics. By studying localisation, we learn how cultures communicate with one another and sometimes how they misunderstand or even censor each other in their adaptation processes. It is a study into the shaping of identities through a global medium.

In closing, researchers can be secluded, acting in a somewhat hermit-like lifestyle, with sleepless nights, copious amounts of coffee and constant breakdowns over feelings of inadequacy, but, other than that, the work undertook is very much rewarding as it contributes to an understanding of various areas of the world around us, something that I am thrilled to be a part of.