Originally published 2017-12-05.
What does happiness mean to you? Most of us search for it in material things, substances, or career achievements, but we often lose sight of what truly matters to us in the process.
Steve Cutts, a London-based artist and animator, is taking a long hard look at this ‘rat race’ to which we have all found ourselves tied.
He is examining our contemporary sources of happiness in a satirical short film that depicts humans as the ‘rats’ they’ve become in the eyes of the system. The short film is named after that mysterious high we are always chasing; “Happiness.”
Take four minutes out of your busy life and watch the clip for yourself below:
Reference: Bored Panda
Watch what the promise asks the character to do
Cutts turns the pursuit of happiness into a visual loop of invitations and disappointments. As you watch, notice the promise attached to each new object or destination and what happens after it is reached. The satire becomes sharper when the pattern is visible. It is an artistic criticism of particular pressures, not a literal account of how every person experiences work, shopping or ambition.
Choose one promise to question
After the film, think of a purchase or milestone you have been treating as the point when life will finally feel different. What do you actually hope it will change, and is that expectation realistic? This need not become a rejection of enjoyment or achievement. It is a way to separate a useful goal from an endlessly moving finish line, while letting the film's exaggeration prompt a more personal and practical reflection.
About the film
Happiness is a four-minute animation released at the end of November 2017. Cutts described it on Instagram as “the story of a rodent’s unrelenting quest for happiness and fulfillment.” Short of the Week noted that it combines the graphic style of his earlier film The Walk Home with the fast, linear montage of MAN, his best-known short, which had been viewed more than 25 million times.
Sources: Short of the Week, 26 November 2017: Happiness by Steve Cutts Laughing Squid, 28 November 2017: A brilliant animation about the singular quest for happiness
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