Research Task: Andreas Hykade and 'Love and Theft'

For this task, we are meant to look at the work and career of animation director Andreas Hykade and to analyse his short film 'Love and Theft', which was shown at the 2010 Bradford Animation Festival.

Andreas Hykade is a German animation director. Born in Altotting, Bavaria in 1968, he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Stuttgart from 1988 to 1990. From there, he worked as an animator in London in 1991 before going back to his studies, studying animation at the Filmakademie Baden-Wurttemberg. As an animation director, he works at Studio Filmbilder in Stuttgart and as the Professor of Animation at Filmakademie Baden-Wurttemberg, as well as teaching animation at Harvard University.

Screenshot from Andreas Hykade's 1995 student film Wir Lebten im Gras (We Lived in Grass)

Hykade is well known for his films known collectively as The Country Trilogy. The first in the trilogy, 'We lived in Grass', is a student film produced in 1995 by Hykade that recieved numerous awards. The following two entries in the trilogy, 'Ring of Fire' and 'The Runt', were similarly praised. As a whole, the trilogy appears to address themes of masculinaity and the myths surrounding the concept.

Screenshot from Andreas Hyakde's Love and Theft, submitted to the 2010 Bradford Animation Festival

Looking at his film 'Love and Theft', I made the assumption that it is about ownership and copyright. I came to this assumption because the content of the film mostly consists of the faces of copyrighted characters melting into each other. Several characters from the likes of Disney and Warner Bros can be seen. Another possible theme of the animation could be "express yourself, but remain true to yourself". The psychedelic nature of the animation allows for innumerable interpretations, and it is my assumption that this was Hyakde's intention when producing 'Love and Theft'.