Reminds me of when I saw Steve Segal's "Dance of the Stumblers" (1987) at the SIGGRAPH Electronic Theatre. There were lots of other pieces showcasing amazing (at the time) CG techniques that got oohs, ahhs, and applause from the crowd. I was sitting next to a new-to-computers animator who kept asking 'whats so great?' Then came Steve's very simple Amiga based animation of stick figures. Nothing fancy about the graphics, but it told a story with humor! It got a BIG round of applause from everyone - especially that newbie.

This was about the time Pixar started its groundbreaking work adding emotional content to CGI.