Aleksei Baulin 

Turn on the news today and the feeling is familiar: war in Ukraine and Palestine, demonstrations in Iran, Trump’s plans to annex Greenland and confrontation within NATO, Venezuela… political polarization in the EU, climate anxiety, economic uncertainty… The list is endless. Europe is once again living through a period of tension and emotional overload. In moments like this, storytelling matters in news and politics, and also in culture. 

This contribution examines the role of European animation in times of political crisis in the context of media and cultural governance. It argues that European animation serves as a space where societies reflect on the realities of today’s world, deal with instability, and understand what this all means. While animation is generally framed as entertainment or children’s media, this analysis shows that it actively shapes how conflict, identity, and moral ambiguities are communicated. This raises broader questions about how communication systems are governed, particularly in relation to power, cultural production, and the visibility of complex social realities.

We conducted research that looks at an often-overlooked space where Europe processes these pressures: animated films. By analyzing hundreds of European animated features, we asked a simple question: what kinds of stories do Europeans tell when reality feels unstable? The answer reveals animation as more than entertainment: it is a quiet but powerful space for reflection, distance, and emotional survival.  

Animation as a response to crisis, not an escape

Animation is often seen as light, playful, or “for children.” But European animation tells a different story. Scholars like Paul Wells and Suzanne Buchan have long argued that animation allows filmmakers to address complex ideas (war, memory, fear, identity) without the constraints of realism (Wells, 2002; Buchan, 2013). This matters especially in Europe, where history and politics weigh heavily on cultural production. 

Our analysis of IMDb plot summaries shows that European animated films repeatedly return to themes of conflict, loss, survival, and moral struggle. These are not accidental choices because animation creates distance. It allows filmmakers to speak about violence without reproducing it, to explore fear without overwhelming the viewer. In this sense, animation functions as a cultural buffer: a way to talk about painful realities when direct representation might be too raw or too divisive. 

Shared anxiety, different storytelling paths 

While Western and Eastern Europe differ in historical experience, our findings suggest they share a common concern: instability. What changes is how this instability is narrated. In Eastern European animation, conflict often dominates the story world, leaving little room for introspection or emotional development. This reflects a long tradition of allegorical storytelling shaped by censorship, war, and political pressure (Pilling, 1997). 

Western European animation, by contrast, tends to explore uncertainty through internal struggles: identity crises, ethical dilemmas, fractured families. Politics there appear indirectly, through personal stories rather than open confrontation. Cultural theorists like Stuart Hall and Paul du Gay remind us that identity is often negotiated subtly through narrative, avoiding direct declaration (Hall & du Gay, 1996). 

What unites both regions is a shared need to process fear and instability. Thankfully, animation offers multiple narrative paths for doing so. 

Why animation is uniquely suited to Europe today

Europe’s animation industry occupies a special position. It is often publicly funded, culturally oriented, and less dependent on global box office success than Hollywood animation. This gives creators space to slow down, reflect, and experiment. As media scholar Des Freedman notes, public cultural systems allow alternative narratives to exist alongside dominant commercial ones (Freedman, 2014), which European productions benefit from.  

Our research shows that this structural context shapes storytelling outcomes. What surprised me personally, as a mainly Hollywood productions consumer, European animated films (both adult-oriented or for children) frequently avoid clear heroes and villains. Even at the risk of being unmarketable. Moreover, they focus on ambiguity, moral tension, and unresolved endings. In a time when political discourse is increasingly polarized, this kind of storytelling matters. It trains viewers to sit with uncertainty and reach the insight patiently by themselves rather than rush toward given simple answers. 

Animation, in this sense, becomes a quiet civic tool that invites viewers to discuss complex problems. 

Why this research matters now 

At a moment when Europe feels fractured and overwhelmed, animated films offer something rare: space to think and feel at the same time. Our research shows that European animation is finding careful, creative ways to face reality. By mapping narrative themes across regions and decades, we can see how cultural storytelling responds to pressure, history, and fear. 

This matters beyond academia. For educators, it highlights animation as a serious cultural text. For policymakers, it shows the value of supporting non-commercial creative industries. And for audiences, it reminds us that meaning does not always come from loud stories. Sometimes it comes from drawn worlds that quietly ask difficult questions. 

References 

Buchan, S. (2013). Pervasive Animation. Routledge. 

Freedman, D. (2014). The Contradictions of Media Power. Bloomsbury Academic.

Hall, S., du Gay, P. (1996). Questions of Cultural Identity. SAGE. 

Pilling, J. (1997). A Reader in Animation Studies. John Libbey Publishing. 

Wells, P. (2002). Animation and America. Rutgers University Press.

Featured Image Credits: Photo by Filipe Cantador on Unsplash