My project explores the motifs of belonging, not-belonging and fear through the lens of economic inequality in America. As my animation begins, it shows the expanding middle class that rose after the Great Depression which is represented by an average house. However, as time passes the once dominant middle class begins to split into two groups, the rich who “belong,” and the poor who do not “belong.”

More importantly, my animation focuses on the miscommunication and apathy that growing economic inequality fosters between the two classes. Through the smudge tool, I tried to represent how a growing wealth gap blurs both classes’ ability to understand and sympathize with the with the opposite class. At the same time, I tried to represent how the lack of understanding and sympathy between the two classes leads to fear and encourages the rich and poor to gate and distance themselves from one another.