The Politics of Art & Authenticity

I am still trying to absorb the two short films I viewed last week in class.  The first film was More, created by Mark Osborne.  If you have never seen this short, I recommend you do so.  For one, it is so beautifully made utilizing the stop-motion technique, as well as Claymation.  These two methods are very time-consuming and difficult to create, and both were done to the fullest in this film.  It took nine months to create this six-minute film.  This time and effort is seen throughout the film; especially when you can see the fingerprints on the clay figures.  It shows that every detail counts when making a short.

I also really love the underlying meaning behind the film, More.  It tells the story of a clay figure (let us call him a person in this situation just to make it more realistic) and his desire to want more out of his life.  He is searching for happiness in a society where everything is grey and uniform. Where happiness can be found in a box, and people use it as their way out of their depressing world.  For the beginning part of the film this person has a “light” inside him, which gives him hope of a better life.  When he uses this “light” to create an invention for bliss he loses that part of him that was special and pure.  In the end of the film we see our main character look into the distance, where there are people playing and actually having authentic happiness.

The main character’s image of pure happiness.

This last scene really hit me.  I think that it shows that thing in life that we all strive for and chase, but never seem to reach.  We are too focused on success and material items that we lose sight of what we were looking for in the start.  Our “light” soon goes out and we forget what made us special and unique.  We can only hope that the next generation won’t make the same mistakes that we have.  That they won’t keep looking for more and will just be satisfied with what they have.  It reminds me of the saying, be careful what you wish for because you just might get it all.  Even when we get everything we want, we still feel empty and alone.  I think Mark Osborne was trying to show his audience that wanting more would only cause you to lose yourself and everything you stood for.  It sounds very depressing, and it is.  That is why viewers must realize that they cannot let their lives go down this type of path.