Art & Authenticy

“More” is a short film that will make Karl Marx, Theodore Kaczynski and Tyler Durden smile in their graves.  It portrays a dull gray world whose weary inhabitant try to find happiness in 50 ft high advertisements and pre-packaged cardboard boxes.

Though we try to distance ourselves from the pale and grotesque beings in the film, we could find that we have a lot in common.

The protagonist in the film is clearly dissatisfied with the way he is living.  He is tired of living in a bleak environment, aware that the adorable “happy” products are but a superficial means of escape and tries to break out of it using the vitality and youth he has.  He creates a new product, a pair of “Bliss” goggles that only thinly veils the cold world that they live in with a multi-chromatic filter.  He becomes wealthy with the sale of his invention and while sitting on the executive’s chair in his own office, he opens himself up, and is shocked to find that he has lost the creative energy that he used to have.

The same happiness found in socializing and being active cannot be shrink-wrapped or put on sale in an IKEA catalogue.  A change of perspective (symbolized by the Bliss goggles) does not change the fact that our lives have been commercialized and divided up into single-serving portions.  As civilization slowly builds itself we start to lose contact of what is truly important.  This message was powerfully transmitted in its few minute’s of run-time.

The only peeves I had with the movie was that it was too fast-paced.  It may be referring to the hectic lives that people are living now, but it seemed to cheapen the emotional impact.

The motifs seemed to be thinly veiled.  It sure doesn’t hurt that the message isn’t obscure, but the nakedness of the message also cheapens the film.  I mean, it felt like I was watching a movie that was made by an editorial cartoonist with the characters practically bearing name signs.

Regardless of the execution, the meaning is still relevant.  I surely hope that I won’t end up like the main character, sitting disillusioned and weary on the seat of wealth and ambition, being haunted by the chime of cheap cotton-candy laughter.