Second Class Citizens

Apparently various animation show-runners are a bit agitated:

We the undersigned animation showrunners and writers desire to address what we have regarded as a pernicious and unfair ruling by the Academy for the past 20 years, which we believe now, more than ever, should be redressed.

We have been told that animated program writers could not also submit their work for writing Emmys, for reasons we never understood, but supposedly pertaining to the purity of the branches.

This is why no one was more startled than we when last year “Community” was able to submit for comedy series, writing, and animated program, in the face of everything we had been told for two decades. We were told that for some reason, a one-time waiver was granted.

Imagine our surprise when this year we see “Community” once again eligible for comedy series, writing, animated program, and short-form animated program. ...

I believe I have a clue.

In recent negotiations, the corporate side of the table informed writers repping the Animation Guild that live-action writing was more "complex" and "sophisticated" than the stuff turned out for, you know, cartoons.

This probably helps explain why live-action gets a major pass over at the TV Academy when it's time to hand out the shiny gold statues, while animation gets stuffed into a small, constricting box. When something is that much more complex and sophisticated, you give it lots more leeway. (Wouldn't anybody?)

Pay no attention to the the animated feature that, this year, triggered two live-action remakes seventy-five years after its production. If you care to name a film from 1937 more profitable or memorable than the very unsophisticated Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, I'm eager to here about it.