Exchanging American Dollars for South Korean "D'oh"
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/050301/325/fdgxi.html
It turns out that one of the longest running TV shows in American history, The Simpsons, has had "Made in Korea" stamped to the bottom of it for its entire 15 year history. Created in 1989 by Matt Groening and his team at Film Roman, The Simpsons has been animated by the South Korean firm AKOM Production Company (AKOM) from the beginning.
"South Korea is one of the leaders in what is known as original equipment manufacturing (OEM) animation where a cartoon is drawn according to a storyboard provided by a client." What does this mean to the millions upon millions of Americans who turn to Fox on Sunday nights at 8:00 PM Eastern/7:00 Central? Every prank call to Moe's, every tall, cool glass of Duff beer, every Radioactive Man comic book, and every single utterance of "D'oh" has been hand drawn and digitally colored by 120 Korean animators and technicians. The next logical question, then, becomes "What is the issue here?".
The issue arises out of the fact that, not only has The Simpsons been a pioneer in American comedy itself, but it has also been the pioneer of a "hot-button" political issue: the exporting (or more currently termed outsourcing) of American jobs.
The impact on the economies of the U.S. and South Korea is subtly touched upon in the article and is proven by our class discussions. Look at the United States first. One hundred and twenty animators are currently jobless because of the outsourcing practiced by, ultimately, Twentieth-Century Fox Studios. Some would argue that this is domestically unjust. Set aside those 120 salaries for a moment and consider the following: talent salaries (voice actors) and executive salaries for a television show that has been on the air for fifteen years must be nothing less than outrageously expensive. One can only imagine what yearly salaries would be for 120 (probably unionized) American cartoonists. Needless to say, the country would not be watching this brilliant piece of Americana today. Thus, logic should dictate that America is better off: either 120 animators are unemployed or 120 animators and dozens of voice actors and executives are unemployed.
Look at the South Korean economy next. Even though these artists are making around one third of what their U.S. counterparts would be earning, this one third is most assuredly a higher salary than that of their South Korean counterparts. Since over one hundred South Koreans are better off and the large Korean based OEM pioneer, AKOM, is better off, then the nation as a whole is better off. South Korea is not completely safe, however.
Referencing Dr. Mulholland's lecture on the product cycle, Korea may be losing their comparative advantage in this labor-intensive industry. South Korea is now being forced to compete with other Asian nations, such as China and the Philippines, in the OEM industry. Following the rule that was graphically laid out in class, the low-income, high-labor country (South Korea) is becoming so efficient in their abundance, that they are now able to consume that which they produce. This is evidenced in the fact that AKOM is now producing its own full length animated features.
Does this mean that future Korean animators will be jobless due to the outsourcing by South Korea to China? Maybe. But for now, the U.S. and South Korean economies are made better through The Simpsons' "eeeeeexcellent" outsourcing practices.
It turns out that one of the longest running TV shows in American history, The Simpsons, has had "Made in Korea" stamped to the bottom of it for its entire 15 year history. Created in 1989 by Matt Groening and his team at Film Roman, The Simpsons has been animated by the South Korean firm AKOM Production Company (AKOM) from the beginning.
"South Korea is one of the leaders in what is known as original equipment manufacturing (OEM) animation where a cartoon is drawn according to a storyboard provided by a client." What does this mean to the millions upon millions of Americans who turn to Fox on Sunday nights at 8:00 PM Eastern/7:00 Central? Every prank call to Moe's, every tall, cool glass of Duff beer, every Radioactive Man comic book, and every single utterance of "D'oh" has been hand drawn and digitally colored by 120 Korean animators and technicians. The next logical question, then, becomes "What is the issue here?".
The issue arises out of the fact that, not only has The Simpsons been a pioneer in American comedy itself, but it has also been the pioneer of a "hot-button" political issue: the exporting (or more currently termed outsourcing) of American jobs.
The impact on the economies of the U.S. and South Korea is subtly touched upon in the article and is proven by our class discussions. Look at the United States first. One hundred and twenty animators are currently jobless because of the outsourcing practiced by, ultimately, Twentieth-Century Fox Studios. Some would argue that this is domestically unjust. Set aside those 120 salaries for a moment and consider the following: talent salaries (voice actors) and executive salaries for a television show that has been on the air for fifteen years must be nothing less than outrageously expensive. One can only imagine what yearly salaries would be for 120 (probably unionized) American cartoonists. Needless to say, the country would not be watching this brilliant piece of Americana today. Thus, logic should dictate that America is better off: either 120 animators are unemployed or 120 animators and dozens of voice actors and executives are unemployed.
Look at the South Korean economy next. Even though these artists are making around one third of what their U.S. counterparts would be earning, this one third is most assuredly a higher salary than that of their South Korean counterparts. Since over one hundred South Koreans are better off and the large Korean based OEM pioneer, AKOM, is better off, then the nation as a whole is better off. South Korea is not completely safe, however.
Referencing Dr. Mulholland's lecture on the product cycle, Korea may be losing their comparative advantage in this labor-intensive industry. South Korea is now being forced to compete with other Asian nations, such as China and the Philippines, in the OEM industry. Following the rule that was graphically laid out in class, the low-income, high-labor country (South Korea) is becoming so efficient in their abundance, that they are now able to consume that which they produce. This is evidenced in the fact that AKOM is now producing its own full length animated features.
Does this mean that future Korean animators will be jobless due to the outsourcing by South Korea to China? Maybe. But for now, the U.S. and South Korean economies are made better through The Simpsons' "eeeeeexcellent" outsourcing practices.
2 Comments:
At 10:07 PM, hgroce15 said…
I personally dont see a problem with letting them animate it. They arent actually coming up with the show, they are just animating what has already been drawn for them. Yeah they might be taking animation jobs, but I would think most artists would rather create the show/characters than sit and animate someone elses work. I know it would be a job for them, but most likely not one they want to do. But I agree with you on the fact that China has a good chance of taking those same jobs from the Koreans.
I kinda think of it as some of the dead weight parts of the grafts we've been doing. We might have those 120 jobs here, but then we might just be putting creative talent (as in someone that could come up with a new show/characters) into the very much less creative job of animating. So you might could say that letting the Koreans animate the shows for us has allowed us to create better shows such as Futurama and Family Guy!
At 1:48 AM, James Gerber said…
Expertly put. It seems reasonable to assume that since the U.S. is not focusing on ink and paper animation anymore, computer driven animations will satiate the present domestic artists. Who knows what the future might bring... South Park: The Next Generation?
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