ipl-logo

Steve Cutts Happiness Short Film Analysis

836 Words4 Pages

In our society today, every individual’s ideas can be exchanged in various creative forms. The short film medium, being a form of social commentary, is a pertinent driving force behind shifts in personal values. Thus short films as a textual form have great value and impact to society due to their versatile delivery. Steve Cutts’ Happiness (2017) is a satirical film whose fast-paced nature prioritises meaning over matter to critique the constant pursuit of happiness in misplaced interests. Erez Tadmor and Guy Nattiv’s Strangers (2003) depicts a singular scenario and builds tension to convey the overcoming of entrenched racial divides. It is through the versatile and therefore valuable medium of short films that a wide variety of continually relevant issues are explored and interrogated, greatly impacting on society. Cutts’ Happiness (2017) demonstrates the consumerist values of society underpinning every failed pursuit of a glorified happiness, with an unrelenting proliferation of consumerism suppressing any depth of plot. Cutts adeptly prioritises the dim message of a …show more content…

Steve Cutts’ Happiness delivers the idea of our consumerism-driven society being led to a constant and futile search for happiness through the suppressed depth of its fast-paced storyline, prioritising meaning over matter. Tadmor and Nattiv’s Strangers, through built-up tension between cultural groups, focuses on the detail in confrontational interactions following the overcoming of an embedded racial divide. Therefore both texts capture the versatile scope with which the short film medium, in its comparative brevity and succinct meaning, can deliver to society a greatly valuable perspective on pertinent

Show More
Related
608 Words | 3 Pages

Within the opening sequence of the documentary, Happy, Ed Diener, Ph.D. states that “happiness can help you get your other goals, have better relationships, make more money, do better on the job” (Belic, 2011). Although Kolkata Slum, India has the appearance of an unhappy town with equally unhappy citizens, Manoj Singh epitomizes the happiness he musters up. Through the unconscious use of civic engagement in his natural workplace: the street as a rickshaw driver, Singh continues to help out drunken passengers even though they tend to abuse the rickshaw drivers (Belic, 2011). However, when he goes back home at the end of the day,

Read More
1068 Words | 5 Pages

In “The Swimmer,” John Cheever portrays the declining emotional state of Ned Merrill, a man who lives in a suburban neighborhood with his wife and kids. In the story, Ned decides to go home from his friend’s house by swimming through every pool in the neighborhood, a strange journey on which he interacts with many of his neighbors. In this paper, I will argue that Cheever uses the irony of Ned’s “great adventure” swimming in the neighborhood pools to criticize the stifling suburban lifestyle of the 1950s. This portrayal is important because Cheever uses it to argue that the suburban lifestyle cultivates externally driven, shallow people, which was especially relevant during the 1950s post-war when the mindset of society was shifting from the protestant work ethic to consumerism. Prior to this time, hard-working, limited-play lifestyle was the norm, but after the war, leisure time and an emphasis on shopping emerged.

Read More
140 Words | 1 Pages

Short films such as Iran 11’09’’01 and Birthday Boy, follow the “less is more” principle when storytelling. The time, commercial and economical constraints allow for the innovation and experimentation of the film medium, as well as being able to make the viewer feel as if the film is complete and inexhaustible, after the credits. Makhmalbaf has beautifully conveyed her message within the economy set of 11 minutes screen time. Iran 11’09’’01 reminds us that tragedy and history is not rooted by media images, as well as reminding us that education and understanding is essential, especially across the vast differences of opportunity and privilege. The teacher is emphasising on removing the disadvantageous barrier of child labor by prioritising

Read More
1111 Words | 5 Pages

Short films are an opportunity for creative expression, with the exploration of genres usually not shown in feature films. They are created with the intention of brokering and catalysing change in society’s behaviour and thinking. The centralised focus on specific ideas makes short films an effective medium for social commentary, where awareness pertaining to prominent issues in society is raised. Adam Davidson’s The Lunch Date, a 1990’s short film, and Michelle’s Lehman’s 2008 short film Marry Me both provide insight into a composer’s point of view to a significant extent, despite the different aspects of society being addressed.

Read More
809 Words | 4 Pages

This eye opening and staggering film directed by Paul Haggis (Crash 2004) portrays the collisions between the people of different ethnicities, races and cultures. Haggis bases the film in a city where most people have cars where most people have cars, Los Angeles, and where people rarely brush against or interact with one another unless there’s a situation that forces them to do so. It gathers the lives of those with completely different backgrounds that intersect with each other in the span of 36 hours. Paul Haggis is to be applauded for taking audiences on a rollercoaster of emotions from the start of the film to the very end. The characters in the film are hidden behind metal and glass where no one in LA even touches or brushes past you.

Read More
526 Words | 3 Pages

Washington Irving’s “Rip Van Winkle” shows people as thinking intelligent individuals clearly illustrating the principles of Homo economics. It does this by showing its main character, Van Winkle, as a typical person in a village who still makes the best choices to get to his end goal. The characters is shown to be a thinking individual being capable of feeling one thing and reasoning out a better action as he does when he helps the man carry up the keg. He feels “shy and distrustful of his new acquaintance” but he still can make a reasoned decision to “[compile] with his usual alacrity” so that he gains the benefit of “mutually relieving one another” (14). Similarly, Van Winkle can find and take the best course of action to achieve his goals.

Read More
1136 Words | 5 Pages

Ideology The movie that I have chosen to analyze is the 2004 film Crash. This film emphasizes the intertwining cultures of today 's society and the conflicts faced from class, culture, stereotypes and racism. The explicit content of this film is to teach the audience that one person 's choices has an impact on another person or multiple people and to persuade the audience that we as a society need to change how we treat each other. The films overt message does generate social dialogue, however, this film can be interpreted by the audience through their own beliefs and behaviors causing some misinterpretation.

Read More
1417 Words | 6 Pages

This is shown through the way books and words are a necessary source of communication to this day, the way relationships build through words and books and how stories are used to heal and distract the mind. Overall, the director executes the power of words in an effectively relatable sense so that the audience of today can still find relevance within the themes whilst using useful camera angles and techniques to capture the audience’s attention and make them feel nostalgic, therefore relating the film to their own experiences so that the film is not only watched but also felt by the viewer in a deeper and more emotional

Read More
500 Words | 2 Pages

The chaos and confusion within the movie mirrored the repercussions of a country that was in turmoil – 1980’s Britain. A highly explosive time that was coming out of the economic depression of the previous decade, but where traditional working class industries were feeling the wrath of Thatcherism. The IRA were over ten years deep into their bombing campaign and cities such as Liverpool and London were baring witness to race riots (John, 2006). The semiotics of disaffection, poverty, isolation, and racial tensions litter ‘MADE IN

Read More
1942 Words | 8 Pages

For hundreds of years, stories have been passed on from one person to another through the oral tradition and the visual arts. In our society today, film is the dominant form of storytelling. Films shape and inform our opinions of the world. Many people’s only source of information is from films. This can be harmful when the information is false or misguided.

Read More
935 Words | 4 Pages

Every now and then the art world is struck by a wave of change that leaves a strong impression, which can last for a long time. Visual arts saw the rise of impressionism and cubism, surrealism and realism took literature to an opposite direction, and film has evolved over the years through cultural and artistic development such as expressionism, auteurism and film noir (House, p.61). The 1940s and post World War II gave rise to a new style of American film, these films appeared pessimistic and dark in mood, theme, and subject. The world created within these films were portrayed as corrupt, hopeless, lacked human sympathy, and “a world where women with a past and men with no future spent eternal nights in one-room walk-ups surrounded by the

Read More
762 Words | 4 Pages

Documentaries provide a vivid, graphic demonstration of their subject matter which inspire their audiences. Obviously, however, not all documentaries impact us in the same manner. A Small Act and Born Into Brothels both can be used to show this. Although both films used themes of the beauty of children and importance of education and focused on one person making a difference in the lives of the children, they documentaries are ultimately diverse. Both documentaries inspire with their messages, but Born Into Brothels is the more touching and enraging of the films.

Read More
2053 Words | 9 Pages

In the movie titled “The Pursuit of Happyness”, there was a problematic family living in San Francisco in 1981. The main character, Chris Gardner worked as a salesman invested his entire life savings in portable bone density scanner to support his family including his wife Linda and a five years old son Christopher. However, Chris’ business is not doing well and his wife was forced to work. Day after day, Linda was suffering and she always quarrelled with Chris and blamed him didn’t play the role as a responsible father and a good husband. Luckily, this was not the end for Chris.

Read More
1825 Words | 8 Pages

Introduction Organizational Behavior is the field of study which investigates the impact that individuals, group and structures have on behavior within the organization. We are born in an organization, we live, we work and most probably we will die in an organization. Yet most of us do not understand how people function, behave and interact between each other within these organizations. We also do not understand if people shape an organization or an organization shapes people. Different people work differently in different situations.

Read More
1240 Words | 5 Pages

Being a visual medium of presentation, a film creates an instant, direct and more convincing impression on its audience fulfilling its dual purpose of entertaining as well as sensitizing the audience. A lot of movies based on social issues are now being made to create awareness among people about the issues besides entertaining the audience, which is perhaps the foremost purpose behind the making

Read More

More about Steve Cutts Happiness Short Film Analysis

Related Topics

Open Document