Meaning behind animation movie production logos

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Meaning behind animation movie production logos

You might think this is the kids’ section of the blog but make no mistake. Thanks to adults like me that exist, the odd beauty of “adult cartoons” and colorful animations still lives and will live on for as long as adults like me that are predominantly seven years old on the inside breathe. Take this as a small small appreciation blog post from me (I’m the adult baby thanking on behalf of all adult babies like me out there) to those movie productions because I dono nokudono how I’d have even gone through this life thing every day without animations!

Only the world’s cutest vintage clapper board!

Frankly I don’t see my future without animations and cartoons in it because when life (and Uganda) is trying to fight you every day, you need that reminder at the end of the week or day to remind you why you’re still going. Animations are that happy place for me and as much as most adults won’t admit it because they want to maintain their hard guy status, many of them feel the same way and relate with me.

As for those cringing at this post already (yeah I see you with my side eyes. Did someone order pretenders for lunch today?) I advise you to take that risk ba dears, maybe watch a clip or two from TikTok or sneak at night and secretly watch a cartoon when your kids are asleep so you can finally know the peace and joy of the other side! Thank me later.

Heneway shall we start praising my day makers?

Walt Disney Pictures

You see those glittery tings at the top of the castle whenever a Disney movie is about to start? Yeah that’s how my heart sparkles every time I sit down ready to cuddle with the couch and my imaginary boyfriend as a Disney movie commences. It be like “Let the 7 year old come out of her hiding place!!”

It’s amazing because apparently the Walt Disney company logo, among other things, mirrors the delight and creativity by children and adults too (that’s me!). Others believe that the logo signifies the magic of the creator of Walt Disney Pictures. Can you blame them for thinking like that? I mean Walt Disney was an epitome of multi talent.

Anyhow the idea that the original logo had was that the castle belongs to Cinderella so that reflects the fairytales that Disney has produced over the years and the sparkles at the back stand for the “magic of the fairytale realm”. I’m really down with this though because the fantasy vibes this logo gives are what made my childhood.

DreamWorks Animation

A lot of movies and series came to life cause of this production. If there’s anything I remember vividly from my baby girl days it’s the boy with a fishing line seated on a crescent moon. I think it’s the cryptic factor of this logo that makes it quite interesting, also the fact that no one ever fishes from the moon. That’s something we don’t see every day. You got to appreciate the creativity about it.

The logo idea was brought up by the co-founder of the DreamWorks Company, it was meant to convey a dreamlike ambiance which reflected Steven Spielberg’s vision of fantastic movies. When I tell you that fantasy is making it big in these streets do yourself a favor and believe me. This statement from 1000logos explains it best: “…When a person dreams, she or he in a way becomes more like a child than an adult. Children dream with their horizons. They don’t know about all these material obstacles that may interfere with their desires. Because of this, nothing is impossible to them.” Need I say more? I will say though that I literally share a great mind with these logo-meaning busters because like I said, these movie productions bring out the 7 year old in me like no one else can. Let’s first ignore the fact that DreamWorks produced How to Train your Dragon because I shall talk about that for days.

Pixar

The words I have to say for Pixar are so many I might finish this article talking only about it. This is because Pixar literally has produced some of my favorite animations of all time. Soul, an animation that practically stole my heart, was made by Pixar studios. Don’t eve dare to forget WALL-E, Coco (this one made the Niagara falls come out of my eyes), Inside Out, Finding Nemo, the Toy Story franchise, Ratatouille, The Incredibles…should I continue or you’re tired?

I kid you not when I say that these are some of the most incredible animations in the history of film and that explains why they are the biggest winner of Academy awards; that speaks volumes. I believe they also stand out because of the famous hopping lamp that fills in for the “I” because that actually creates a youthful experience for anyone that sees it. But it also has a deeper meaning to it; one of the first movies produced by this company was Luxo Jr. which was a short film. Luxo was a character that was played a lamp that looks like the letter “I”. I’m guessing this was their way of celebrating their early work and not forgetting how far they’ve come.

Nickelodeon

Here’s another production company I can call home. It was like a subtle constant battle between this company and Disney to see who would attract the most kids and adults. Obviously for a long time Disney has always been the ring leader of this, Nickelodeon on the other hand proved to be that silent kid in class that shocks you when you see that he stays in a rich neighborhood with his low key wealthy parents. So yes, I’m implying that Nickelodeon was awesome.

What made Nickelodeon even more popular was their logo; the orange splat. It looked like a perfectly planned mistake that you didn’t want to wipe off because it was a beautiful mess. Sorry guys, I got a little carried away by the poetry. The logo aimed at looking playful, creative and youthful. Because who wants to be around uptight energy? The use of orange as their theme color reflects the energy and cheerful vibes the company aims to deliver.

Lest we forget the foot logo though! It was actually super energetic and playful as a logo until recently when it was discovered that one of the former founders of Nickelodeon had a foot fetish and channeling that through kids way younger than him was pedophilic and creepy as heck. So it had to go.

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Such a majestic logo this is!

Whoever is reading this blog has probably gotten lost at this point; that’s if you were born from around 2014 to 2021. That’s because MGM was active only between 1937 and 1957and they ran an in-house cartoon studio that produced some of the most popular cartoon series till today. A great case in point is the famous Tom and Jerry. Now kids, this is where you keep quiet because the adults are talking.

You’re probably wondering “Why is she talking about old news??”. Well, the answer is simple, that roaring MGM lion that always popped on the screen to introduce Tom and Jerry really made some of us, both kids and adults smile from ear to ear as if we were competing with the sun as to who would be brighter, or yellower, whichever way you choose to see it. And like I said before, this is my way of appreciating these productions.

Having a lion as the center of the logo is a way to reflect excellence, power and glory and this is what MGM stood for. The matte gold color of the ribbons and the rest of the logo are meant to complement the color of the lion’s fur.

If you’ve reached this far and haven’t noticed how much of an adult baby I am, you’re probably in denial. But oh well, life is for living and animations are for watching!