Sep 20 2012
Train of Thought
Short films are intriguing in that they don’t normally use dialogue. The person viewing the film has to figure out what’s going on by listening to the background music and paying close attention to the actions and facial expressions of the characters.
While watching More by Mark Osbourne I felt an overwhelming depression come over me. The background music helped set the tone in the short. The music was simple and repetitive, like life for the main character. Almost every scene in More was done in gray scale which added to the dreary feel. Without color there is no variation in life, it gives the sense everything is exactly the same.
More is the perfect representation of the average worker. They go to work then return home to sleep only to wake he next morning to the same exact routine the following day with no chance of escaping the cycle except by being promoted. That’s what the main character in More did. The main character wanted to return to the simpler days of childhood when life was easier and there was fun to be had. The character used this to draw upon inspiration to create the new product Bliss. Bliss was supposed to make everyone happy for, like our world, the main character lives in a very materialistic society. This reminds me of the line from The Incredibles said by Dash, “If everyone is special no one is.”
The scenes which stood out to me most were the opening and closing showing the kids playing. At first the kids shown are gray and then the kids shown at the end are in color. I believe this shows that one can always find hope in the darkest of places. As long as you never give up you’ll eventually find what you’re searching for.
I think Madame Tudli Pudli was a very fascinating short film to watch. I believe that everything that happened was in her mind. I have heard people say “train of thought” many times and I believe that’s something that trains tend to represent in movies, books, and even video games. For example the train in Inception, the train in The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl, and the train in the video game Alice: Madness Returns. In all of these the train represented the thought process of the main character.
The train represents the woman’s mind. All the baggage she is bringing with her represents useless thoughts she no longer needs that she’s bringing along with her as a major change occurs in her life. Among the items seen there is a record player, lanterns, and an open bird cage with no bird. There are so many she can’t hold them all. When she boards the train she’s sitting with a child whose reading How to Handle Your Enemies, an older man who’s sleeping, and a middle aged perverted man. Each of them represents a different side of her. The sleeping old man may represent her lethargic side, the older man represents her “looser” side, and the child represents her own childish side.
At one point the lady is gassed and put to sleep. When she comes to the three of them are gone and so is all of her luggage. It is not clear as to what happened to the three people however I believe they were killed. If the excess baggage in her mind and the parts of her mind that she does not need disappeared then she would be able to clear her mind and move on with her life. When she finally comes to terms with what happened she sees a light at the end of the hallway. This means she came to terms with what had happened. This is shown by her transformation into a moth.
What I found most amazing about this short was that real eyes were used for the puppet. This made it come to life. The puppet’s emotions were far more lifelike than anything I had expected or seen.
While watching More by Mark Osbourne I felt an overwhelming depression come over me. The background music helped set the tone in the short. The music was simple and repetitive, like life for the main character. Almost every scene in More was done in gray scale which added to the dreary feel. Without color there is no variation in life, it gives the sense everything is exactly the same.
More is the perfect representation of the average worker. They go to work then return home to sleep only to wake he next morning to the same exact routine the following day with no chance of escaping the cycle except by being promoted. That’s what the main character in More did. The main character wanted to return to the simpler days of childhood when life was easier and there was fun to be had. The character used this to draw upon inspiration to create the new product Bliss. Bliss was supposed to make everyone happy for, like our world, the main character lives in a very materialistic society. This reminds me of the line from The Incredibles said by Dash, “If everyone is special no one is.”
The scenes which stood out to me most were the opening and closing showing the kids playing. At first the kids shown are gray and then the kids shown at the end are in color. I believe this shows that one can always find hope in the darkest of places. As long as you never give up you’ll eventually find what you’re searching for.
I think Madame Tudli Pudli was a very fascinating short film to watch. I believe that everything that happened was in her mind. I have heard people say “train of thought” many times and I believe that’s something that trains tend to represent in movies, books, and even video games. For example the train in Inception, the train in The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl, and the train in the video game Alice: Madness Returns. In all of these the train represented the thought process of the main character.
The train represents the woman’s mind. All the baggage she is bringing with her represents useless thoughts she no longer needs that she’s bringing along with her as a major change occurs in her life. Among the items seen there is a record player, lanterns, and an open bird cage with no bird. There are so many she can’t hold them all. When she boards the train she’s sitting with a child whose reading How to Handle Your Enemies, an older man who’s sleeping, and a middle aged perverted man. Each of them represents a different side of her. The sleeping old man may represent her lethargic side, the older man represents her “looser” side, and the child represents her own childish side.
At one point the lady is gassed and put to sleep. When she comes to the three of them are gone and so is all of her luggage. It is not clear as to what happened to the three people however I believe they were killed. If the excess baggage in her mind and the parts of her mind that she does not need disappeared then she would be able to clear her mind and move on with her life. When she finally comes to terms with what happened she sees a light at the end of the hallway. This means she came to terms with what had happened. This is shown by her transformation into a moth.
What I found most amazing about this short was that real eyes were used for the puppet. This made it come to life. The puppet’s emotions were far more lifelike than anything I had expected or seen.
I liked how you linked Madame Tutli-Putli to lots of other movies. It’s true that the train seems to be a common representation of a character’s internal journey. But if the different men are like the different parts of her personality, why do they all disappear? Doesn’t she have a personality anymore?
I think that the men are her past. In the beginning they are there because she can’t let go of her past. All the baggage is her past and through the journey, she begins to let go of it.
I agree with you when you said that short films are intriguing. I really love watching short films after watch “More” and “Madame Tudli Pudli.” The idea of having the audience having to create the dialogue and to figure out what is going on is incredible to me. I feel like I could create my own ideas and interpret the film in my own way. I feel that if dialogue was added then they take away from having several interpretations, while without dialogue, the film can be interpreted in many ways.
I found it really interesting that you were able to connect parts of Madame Tudli-Pudli to other movies such as Incepetion (which I still have not seen).