Written: Ming-Feng, Chiang | Edited: Po-Hsun, Yuan

Animated documentaries, which began as tools of public opinion and as substitutes for live-action footage, have gradually developed into a medium capable of addressing issues such as human rights, identity, psychology, gender, history, and social critique. Animation not only reconstructs the very definition of “documenting,” but also expands the intellectual, emotional, and thematic boundaries of documentaries. Through a series of animated documentaries, lecturer Nancy introduces these works and the historical contexts behind them.

Early animated documentaries primarily served as a means of political propaganda and functioned as visual substitutes. In 1918, The Sinking of the Lusitania used drawn images to recreate the German U-boat attack on a passenger ship; the subsequent public reaction indirectly contributed to the United States entering the war. During wartime, animation was also used in governmental campaigns and military recruitment advertisements.

At the same time, there were also unofficial works centered on political satire, such as El Apóstol, the first feature-length animated documentary, and the 1923 film O Pesadelo do Antonio Maria (Antonio Maria’s Nightmare). These works show that animation was not only a top-down propaganda tool but also a way to reflect the emotions of the masses. After the war, animated documentaries increasingly turned their attention to domestic and everyday life. Works such as Moonbird and Windy Day explored emotions and parent-child relationships. In the 1960s, as humanity expanded its understanding of the cosmos, a series of films emerged to document and imagine space exploration, such as Universe, reflecting how animated documentaries contributed to academic fields.

Entering the 1990s, as societies opened up, more sensitive, personal, and even controversial topics began to be documented. This diversification continues today: Rocks in My Pockets addresses mental illness; Chris the Swiss exposes the absurdity and brutality of war; Crulic – The Path to Beyond protests judicial injustice, and Flee tells the story of Amin, a gay man from Afghanistan, and his escape. Animation can present abstract ideas through visual metaphor; its artistic recreation not only protects the identities of those involved but also conveys their internal emotional worlds.

Starting from its role as substitute footage, the animated documentary has gradually found its own place over its historical evolution, developing a distinctive mode of representation—using the strokes of imagination to recreate reality.