Critical Review 5

Khalis, F. M., & Mustaffa, N. (2017). Cultural inspirations towards Malaysian animation character design. Jurnal Komunikasi: Malaysian Journal of Communication, 33(1), 487–501. Retrieved May 23, 2020, from https://doi.org/10.17576/jkmjc-2017-3301-32

Written in 2017, this research paper discusses the cultural inspirations, specifically Sarawakian culture, in influencing a character’s costume design of Malaysian’s animation. In order to identify whether culture influences the costume design of an animation character produced by the art and design student, the authors have conducted a content analysis on the character design produced by 12 undergraduate students from University of Technology MARA, Malaysia. With the students’ designs, an in-depth analysis of each aspect of costume design is conducted.

In this originally-written, also considered as a primary source, research paper, the authors have included a total of six (6) sections, such as: (1) introduction, (2) background, (3) theory: cultural & mass communication from semiotics perspectives, (4) methodology, (5) findings and discussion, and (6) conclusion, for its content. The second section has been further divided into four (4) subsections with elaborated content for each subsection and this gives the readers substantial information about the topic area. Furthermore, a “biodata” section has also been included after the “conclusion” section. With the authors being professionals, specifically a Graphic and Digital Media lecturer and an Associate Professor at the School of Media and Communication Studies, it further strengthens their argument as they are professionals working in the field. Moreover, all the sections are neatly organized as each section connects well with one another which provides a smooth reading flow even with the large amount of content in each section. As for the effectiveness of the sections, the authors have effectively conveyed their message in each section hence have achieved an effective information delivery throughout the research paper. The fifth section: (5) findings and discussion is particularly effective because the discussion is done very thoroughly and can be easily comprehended by readers.

As for the methodology of the paper, the research has employed both qualitative and quantitative methods. Qualitative method is used to observe and analyze the costume designs of the characters. Quantitative method, on the other hand, is used by conducting numerical comparisons between the influences of Sarawak culture towards the costume designs according to the Sarawaks’ ethnic groups. The authors have conducted a content analysis for its methodology which analyzes the undergraduate design students’ costume design for their characters. Not only do they explain the reason to pick undergraduate students’ work to be analyzed, but also have effectively utilized visual representatives and charts to present their analysis. However, there is a weakness present in the layout design of the research paper: no paragraph spacing is used to separate the paragraphs which reduces the legibility of the readers.

To support its reasoning, the authors have used an immense amount of accredited references which includes published books, academic journals, web articles, conference papers. As for the type of reasoning, the research paper has used inductive reasoning to conduct its analysis. Firstly, “students these days seem to lack the sense of local identity as shown in their final animation project, as if the culture sentiment is getting faded” is observed (Khalis & Mustaffa, 2017, p. 487). Then, a systematic study is conducted which “aims to identify the influence of culture towards artwork produced by art and design students who study animation” (Khalis & Mustaffa, 2017, p. 487). Last but not least, a theory “Malaysian culture is still sturdily inspiring students in creating their artwork” is developed (Khalis & Mustaffa, 2017, p. 487)). Aside from that, both empirical and statistical evidence are used to prove the reliability of the points.

The data have adequately supported the conclusion drawn by the authors as an extensive content analysis has been done. Furthermore, visual representations are also used as a proof of evidence for the conclusion drawn. However, there is an alternative perspective which remains unconsidered in this paper. The conclusion of “Malaysian culture is still sturdily inspiring students in creating their artwork” might not be accurate because there are only 12 students involved in the content analysis. To increase the credibility of the conclusion, the authors should have involved students from other states of Malaysia in their content analysis as it would be biased to only have students from the Sarawak state to participate in the analysis.

In essence, this research paper is very informative with an in-depth analysis being conducted to prove the influence of culture towards undergraduate design students’ artwork. However, there’s also some flaws present in the layout design as well as the credibility of the conclusion drawn. Nevertheless, this work is indeed a great contribution towards the Malaysian animation industry as it not only raises awareness on the importance of culture in art and design, but also inspires the future younger generations who would devote their lives in the design industry to incorporate culture as part of their designs.