(Ecns.cn) -- Happy Lamb and Grey Wolf (HLGW), also known as Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf, has won a great victory after a long period of depression for domestic Chinese animations.
Since its initial airing in 2005, successive screenings of its some 800 episodes and three movies has received overwhelmingly positive feedback from audiences at various age levels, in China and tens of other countries around the world. It even gave rise to a series of HLGW products.
"The success of HLGW implies that the lifestyle we want to express is being accepted by most Chinese and foreign audiences," said Huang Weiming, father of the animation.
Recipe for success
Guangdong, the birthplace of HLGW, has no brilliant history of making first-class animations in China. Nor has HLGW been sufficiently funded in terms of capital or creativeness. Yet undeniably, it is the model for a generation of Chinese animations.
Master Huang will tell you three ingredients in his recipe for success: humor, approachability, and equality.
His team revealed the only enrollment criteria to join his company is to tell a joke that can make the examiners laugh, as long as the content of the joke is clean. Humor is the basic attitude for creating this animation.
The red wolf's pan in HLGW is the best example for Huang's use of daily objects in creation. "My son is two years old now. He can't understand your jokes however vivid you describe them. But if I suddenly fall to the ground in a funny way, he'll certainly start giggling." That is how to take the approachable approach.
There is no gap between Huang and his mostly 1980s-generation crew. Everyone is equal in contributing ideas. "Chinese animation creation might have a mistaken thinking pattern. Many of them attempt to imitate how children think, but can't avoid being artificial. Children are also curious about adults. A direct sketch of real life, just like HLGW has done, resonates with both children and adults."
Recognition of an ordinary lifestyle
Huang attributes the success of HLGW to the recognition of a lifestyle conveyed in it, rather than purely the popularity of lambs and wolves.
"The classic Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck animations showed what the Americans look like in ordinary life, like Mickey in a swallow-tail jacket and Donald playing golf. The market loves it," he said.
"I am happy to find that the world loves my animation and our Chinese lifestyle."
As sound evidence that Huang's attempt to paint a picture of the Chinese lifestyle and life view is widely appreciated, an article in the Wall Street Journal proposed the use of Happy Lamb, named Weslie, as the Chinese image ambassador.
