What broke my spirit as a young kid getting into animation was the discovery that nobody at the Oscars basically gives a shit about animation. Flat out. 'Judges' willingly admit they don't see cartoons as anything but for kids and will regularly not even watch all of the nominees...aside from the Disney cartoons with their kids in theaters. Hence why Disney always wins animation awards. So imagine my disillusion when discovering the great stuff that came out from Japan or France, to lose to the crap by-the-numbers musical cartoons churned out by Disney for the last ~30 years.

This does create a problem though, because while nobody gives a shit about industry awards, they do generate hype and interest (and sales). And these sales generate future projects. Nobody is going to basically attempt an animation project aimed at adults when they know they can't get it marketed as anything but for kids, and even then, always play second fiddle to Disney.

And hence, animation is effectively all but dead in America. You have your Rick and Mortys and Frozens and not much else.