Animating Saudi: Animation in Saudi Film, TV and Online

This thesis focuses on the burgeoning animation industry in Saudi Arabia. In recent years, Saudi Arabia has undergone significant government restructuring which directly led to the flourishing of national industries such as tourism, sports, film, and animation. These developments significantly impacted the production of Saudi animated media and have also influenced the prospects of animation professionals working in neighbouring Arab countries. This thesis takes on a holistic approach to examining the development of Saudi animation by positioning it within the larger framework of Arab animation studies. It aims to discuss the role that Saudi animation plays in a national context, while simultaneously discussing it as part of a greater whole i.e., a contribution to the wider landscape of Arab animated media. This thesis therefore examines the development of the contemporary Saudi animation industry in relation to the regional, cultural and historic trends that affected the development of animation in the Arab World. It focuses on the ways in which cultural identity is mediated in animation, particularly in terms of the utilisation of the Arabic language and its inherent cultural traditions by means of textual analysis. Additionally, the research undertaken for this thesis includes original interviews with Arab and Saudi animation professionals. These findings offer a valuable understanding of the practical side of the Saudi animation industry, as well as provide insight into the ways in which contemporary Saudi and Arab animators approach the mediation of cultural identity in their craft. This thesis also presents original creative works that test how tradition and modernity converge in a Saudi animated context in order to develop new approaches to animating movement, developing visual aesthetics and formulating contemporary narratives and characters. These works also explore the creative and practical needs of animators working in the industry today, in order to better understand the current state of the Saudi animation industry, the content that it produces and propagates, as well as the kind of content it aspires to produce in the future.