Sep 20 2012
ESCAPE
I think his “bliss” is malfunctioning.
The moment I saw this video, I instinctively thought of the 1984 Apple’s Macintosh Commercial.
Their depiction of grey, emotionally deprived society, and the “greatest” invention that would attempt to bring change seem to draw interesting parallelism to our lives as well.
The film starts off by showing a scene of children in the merry-go-round which is the clay protagonist’s dream,inspiration and motive behind his making of the “bliss.” This allows people to see what they want, and moves him to his success and to become the “world’s greatest inventor.” However, despite his achievement, he consumes all his light or driving force and is left with his empty shell.
It shows the futility of life in such a society where people attempt to temporarily satisfy oneself by avoiding the reality and seeking what they want to see through gadgets. This idea struck me as I recalled the Apple commercial. Steve Job’s idea was to liberate us from the 1984 “big brother” life through his “Apple products” but look where we are now. People, while praising the revolutionary products of Apple and Google, such as their smartphones and tabulates, are driven into the digital life, constantly influenced by the media’s glamourous pictures of celebrities and propagandas. Are we not becoming like the people wearing “bliss,” constantly straining our eyes with electricity and excessive amount of information? (If you take a look at the protagonist, you can see that his dark circles have become even darker as it goes to the end of the movie.) Although our lives, for now, do not seem as grey, it really gave me a chance to look back to our physical lives and think of what can be done to solve the problem from the root cause, not by just averting with an almost drug-like gadget.
As “MORE” showed a “symbolic” escape from reality with “bliss,” “Madame Tutli Putli” depicts an actual running away from an unknown, sinister force.
It illustrates madame Tutli Putli’s journey throughout her train ride. A normal “Chatelaine” reading women, she is in an unusual surrounding, in which two men are playing chess in the suite cases up on bag storage. And in front of her a tennis player, an asian boy, and a grandfather sit. Everyone and everything, but her, seems to disappear as the train is invaded by some dark, ominous group of people. Terrified, she runs around the hallways and end up in the dining section of the train as she discovers a butterfly which almost resembles a women waving her arms as it continues its fluttering.
Despite its longer screen time, compared to “More,” its unusualness added to my befuddlement. However, I was amazed by its delivery of atmosphere. How the real eye integrated with the rough surfaced puppet added to the uneasiness of the audience while, at the same time, leading us to the climax as the women runs through the narrow corridor of the train. I also liked how it started and ended with the butterfly, giving a sense of closure to the incomprehensible plot.
Sources
snap shot image : http://vimeo.com/7306050
It’s so interesting how you thought to compare “More” to Apple’s 1984 commercial. I can see the connection. You bring up really good points in the similarities you write about. How do you think Mark Osborne thought of the idea for his film “More?”