The Brutal Truth About Happiness In Modern Society Told In Less Than 5 Minutes
What does happiness mean to you? We tend to search for it in material things, substances, and career achievements, but often lose sight of what really matters to us in the process. London-based artist and animator Steve Cutts is taking a long hard look at this ‘rat race’ to which we’ve all found ourselves tied, and is examining our modern sources of joy in a satirical new short film that depicts us as the ‘rats’ we’ve become in the eyes of the system. It’s titled after that mysterious high we’re always chasing; “Happiness.”
Take 4 minutes out of your busy day and watch the clip for yourself below, and tell us in the comments if you think Cutts hit the nail on the head.
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Share on FacebookThat is so great and not only is the message on point, but the animation is fantastic!
Some people may live this way, but I will never ever live in a "big city" :) I feel this movie was made by someone who lives in NYC
Jeff, though you thought is correct. The story can be applied to many who don't live in a large city just a big town. From the rat race in the beginning to the chasing of money till you die. All of these were themes that I am sure resonate with so many people in today's screwed up world.
Load More Replies...What the heck are you doing with your lives if you agree with this video, people? I'm starting to feel kinda sorry for you.
This video is depressing to watch. But is the video itself not part of the problem? Yeah, most of us follow the same path through life, working 9-5 if we are lucky, or longer hours in shittier jobs if we are not, to meet expectations from our families and society in general, who tell us that this is the way to go, it will make us happy. But ultimately we end up build something stable that we are content with. But then we get opposing expectations: that we should abandon all of it and live in some widely different way, that euphoria that comes with embracing individualism will trump this mass-produce contentment that we have been living in. That ideal state is not achiavable, of course, but we are no longer happy with what we have, keeping dreaming about all the other lives that we could live. Art like this one does not help to make us happy, it makes us not appreciate what we have.
For me happiness is a state of mind. But yes I love a designer purse every now and then.
I love this movie and how it bases the figures of rats=us. We always search for happiness, yet it gets lost, before we have to find the happiness again. This is a powerful message about said happiness. We always buy buy buy, yet cannot find happiness in simple things. Even Black Fridays are chaos lol
When ever I get angry due to population explosion I write stop breeding like rabbits
And this is what the rat race looks like. But most people are too cowardly to admit this way of life is unnatural and gets ua nowhere collectively.
Again the assumption that everybody works 9-5 Mon to Fri at a desk.
Happiness is an illusion we run after, but the truth is that no happiness had lastest ever forever. The reason we run after happiness is to distract ourselves from the fear of death, just like the alcoholic mouse wants to distract himself from reality. We all feel we have a purpose to live yet we all do not know it and that is why we will never achieve happiness for a permanent time.
this is so basic and exactly the same as any other artist or animator that attempts to do the same. it doesnt matter what era of time you talk about even if you go back to the stone age happiness worked in the exact same way. hell even animals are like this, we get happiness through achievement. if you want to get scientific we set goals and once we fulfill them we get a hit of dopamine or some other hormone. people who are complaining about this clearly do not see the bigger picture and honestly to the people making this type of art or agreeing with it: f*****g do something about it then. I'm sick and tired of seeing the this same god damn s**t littered all over the internet. it's absolutely ridiculous.
There is nothing good nor evil but that the mind makes it so. It is truth for many people, sad for many, a joke to many, and a wake-up call for the lucky ones.
Good commercial for A.A. They live in the shadow of secrecy. Maybe they need to come into the light.
It was very clever but it missed out the happiness most people seek which is in being loved and loving another ie relationships
Yup that about sums it all up. Which is why I quit my desk job and chose to move out of the city finally.
Good. I suppose people do not know what they are chasing, until they see this film.
Interesting that he completely leaves out romantic love and it’s temporary feelings of euphoria (not to be confused with real love, btw).
Not really. Some fall for this type of happiness, but true happiness comes with the content you find in life. I work a desk job, but then I can afford to travel and see the things i love. I work 40 hours and do what I love because 1, I found a passion I enjoy, and 2, I can do the things I love in life. You can be happy as a homeless person, you can be happy as a billionaire, you can be happy doing a 9 to 5. It all depends on your perspective of things. Being stuck in traffic sucks, yes, but I got to learn Japanese while sitting in traffic. I also listen to books and interesting podcasts. Don't be so negative with life.
I am SO glad I started reading at an early age and kept it up. Sure, I was part of this rat race, but self aware enough to realize material things weren't everything. Oh, I DID have a little red convertible in my forties, but studied enough eastern philosophy the understand my possessions did not own me. Enough on MY wonderfulness (555), this video is applicable to too many people who have bought into the corporate vision. Bought into it? No, EMBRACE it, LIVE it and LOVE it, DEFEND it. As a result, we've lost our basic humanity as exhibited every time we step over a homeless veteran dying on the streets he or she fought for.
Have you ever taken antidepressants? There was no big Disney castle. There was no advertised happiness. I just got told i might not feel suicidal, and then didn't feel as suicidal. It's so easy to pick on antidepressants isn't it? People don't mock my painkillers; they accept that they help me get on with my life. They don't mock my tablets to help acid reflux.
it never left the opening scene. Is this the message or just another way to trick me into wasting my time???
This clip is a cynical complaint of someone who can't create their own happiness, and so seeks to blame the world for their own failure.
It definitely reflects how destructive it is to seek out happiness in shallow/material things. I find that friends AND material things are where it's at. Do I need a big TV and a high-end gaming system? No, but I sure like having it so I can game with my friends, or relax with Netflix at the end of a stressful day.
I can definitely relate, all big cities are like that, they are grey, bleak, boring, life sucking, overcrowded areas where people just wait to doe but work hard and spend a lot of money doing it. Move to a small town, or to the country, get off the grind, quit chasing the almighty dollar and realise that once you have enough to get buy, the difference between a $10.000 and a $100,000 is not much and definitely not worth a lot of your time for. Food in the fridge, a roof over your head and a bit of discretionary money is all you need-stop buying the hype-alcohol, cigarettes, designer names......
This was my life until I took early retirement in the Summer. Money is tight but my priorities have changed and I feel so much better!
It's a neat video, I'll give it that. Would have had more meaning of he used sheep instead.
Happiness comes from within; not without. If you're expecting material things or other people to make you happy over the long haul, you've already lost the "race".
Glad not to live in London! The last image sums up the world of work. Why not show everybody on their smartphones? Really depressing. The Disney scene is very well done - reminded me of Family Guy Disney Snow White...
Can't identify with it. I've never lived in that world, and never will.
I guess I've never had a driven personality. I never wanted " things " badly enough to slave away for them. As long as I have what I need, and my family and friends are doing okay, my world is happy. It's very freeing to break away from our consumer society, and to know when enough is enough. Things won't make us happy, and we can't take it with us when we die.
yup..I especially liked the drug-dream looking Disney-esque. And the final sequence is pretty cool, too
The tarentella from Carmen?? Cartoon is fairly cynical repeating a common point. Might have been called Capitalism.
Happiness is inside of us. This chasing, all this going round to this fake, supposed happiness is caused by ideology. If we proceed so, or we were wrong educated or we educated ourselves wrong.
I have been in the rat race caring for people with end of life or other psychiatric issues for 15 years after being an educator for 15. I AM HAPPY! I LOVE MY JOB! I have never done work I have not liked and always take time for me to decompress. Everything is a state of mind. 😊
That’s me. Always chasing the next new thing to try to make me happy.
Great job...shedding some light on the reality. There is a way to escape this 'pursuit of happiness' and through understanding why we are like this, happiness is no longer elusive. Have a look at Jeremy Griffith's book "Freedom" free download @ www.humancondition.com
We are studying Don Delillo's book White Noise in my Humanities class. This is so on point it's eerie.
If this guy doesn't win an Academy Award for this one, we need to all walk out
I just did it. NOMINATE HIM. http://www.oscars.org/form/send-message
Load More Replies...We Gen X-ers warned you this was coming. Your response was push us aside, silence us, shove us in a hole then pour cement in over us, and then tell the Millennials, your willing drones, we never existed. How's that complete success of plan working for you now, lol? ;)
Since the happy pills I take stop me from hanging myself, I guess I'm just a dumb rat?
Well, that`s might be true for the autor, but it`s not true for me. I woun`t share or show this film to anyone as I dont want them to take this view as The True. We, as humans are very influential species and this short clip will make some people to see the life in very negative notes.
Sorry I like to treat every animal with love and respect except trump !
This isn’t about Trump you idiot. It’s about you.
Load More Replies..................I don't think of stupid, ignorant and envious of Obama people like tRuMp !!!
Happiness isn’t something you put inside, it’s already there. Sometimes you just need someone to help you find it. :)
That is depressing. I don't chase any of those things for happiness. I work but it's not in the rat race, I have a pretty good work/life balance and the only thing that makes you happy is love and companionship.
I hate this man. But only because he's captured the reality of my banal existence with such uncomfortable accuracy, lol! God help us!
Really good! Mind provoking like hell ... I guess he hit the nail on the head.
This is one of strongest videos on reality of our lives I have ever scene. Instead of finding happiness with what we have and with our family, we fall prey to things which brings nothing but misery in our lives. I felt so much connected to this at so many moments in video, this is what we are and this is what do. That part where mouse get trapped trying to get hold of that dollar bill, is just saddest part.
I too found it to carry a very powerful meaning. All of Steve Cuts's short films are this way and I'm a fan of them for being so open and honest about the flaws of human race. I recommend you to watch "Man" which is about all terrible things we do to our planet, "Wake up call" which is about smartphones and how they affect the society and "Fall"(or "In the fall", can't remember the exact title)which is about one miserable man's last moments.
Load More Replies...That was horrible. ..That's the only "brutal" truth, here. The same tired, generic, contrived, tortured metaphors every layman, and confidently under-achieving art school freshman, uses to describe the monotony of life. While at the same time reducing real problems like mental illness to the same level triviality. Nothing insightful, just the same tired, shallow criticisms we've all made 1000 times when our tyre pops on the freeway. Uninspired, generic, and reguritated at best- condescending, tone-deaf, and damaging at worst. And animated in the cheapest, worst looking medium ever created; Flash, no less. How ironic. Credit where credit's due however; the animator(s) have done the neigh impossible here, and actually managed to make Flash look good. So kudos to them.
That is so great and not only is the message on point, but the animation is fantastic!
Some people may live this way, but I will never ever live in a "big city" :) I feel this movie was made by someone who lives in NYC
Jeff, though you thought is correct. The story can be applied to many who don't live in a large city just a big town. From the rat race in the beginning to the chasing of money till you die. All of these were themes that I am sure resonate with so many people in today's screwed up world.
Load More Replies...What the heck are you doing with your lives if you agree with this video, people? I'm starting to feel kinda sorry for you.
This video is depressing to watch. But is the video itself not part of the problem? Yeah, most of us follow the same path through life, working 9-5 if we are lucky, or longer hours in shittier jobs if we are not, to meet expectations from our families and society in general, who tell us that this is the way to go, it will make us happy. But ultimately we end up build something stable that we are content with. But then we get opposing expectations: that we should abandon all of it and live in some widely different way, that euphoria that comes with embracing individualism will trump this mass-produce contentment that we have been living in. That ideal state is not achiavable, of course, but we are no longer happy with what we have, keeping dreaming about all the other lives that we could live. Art like this one does not help to make us happy, it makes us not appreciate what we have.
For me happiness is a state of mind. But yes I love a designer purse every now and then.
I love this movie and how it bases the figures of rats=us. We always search for happiness, yet it gets lost, before we have to find the happiness again. This is a powerful message about said happiness. We always buy buy buy, yet cannot find happiness in simple things. Even Black Fridays are chaos lol
When ever I get angry due to population explosion I write stop breeding like rabbits
And this is what the rat race looks like. But most people are too cowardly to admit this way of life is unnatural and gets ua nowhere collectively.
Again the assumption that everybody works 9-5 Mon to Fri at a desk.
Happiness is an illusion we run after, but the truth is that no happiness had lastest ever forever. The reason we run after happiness is to distract ourselves from the fear of death, just like the alcoholic mouse wants to distract himself from reality. We all feel we have a purpose to live yet we all do not know it and that is why we will never achieve happiness for a permanent time.
this is so basic and exactly the same as any other artist or animator that attempts to do the same. it doesnt matter what era of time you talk about even if you go back to the stone age happiness worked in the exact same way. hell even animals are like this, we get happiness through achievement. if you want to get scientific we set goals and once we fulfill them we get a hit of dopamine or some other hormone. people who are complaining about this clearly do not see the bigger picture and honestly to the people making this type of art or agreeing with it: f*****g do something about it then. I'm sick and tired of seeing the this same god damn s**t littered all over the internet. it's absolutely ridiculous.
There is nothing good nor evil but that the mind makes it so. It is truth for many people, sad for many, a joke to many, and a wake-up call for the lucky ones.
Good commercial for A.A. They live in the shadow of secrecy. Maybe they need to come into the light.
It was very clever but it missed out the happiness most people seek which is in being loved and loving another ie relationships
Yup that about sums it all up. Which is why I quit my desk job and chose to move out of the city finally.
Good. I suppose people do not know what they are chasing, until they see this film.
Interesting that he completely leaves out romantic love and it’s temporary feelings of euphoria (not to be confused with real love, btw).
Not really. Some fall for this type of happiness, but true happiness comes with the content you find in life. I work a desk job, but then I can afford to travel and see the things i love. I work 40 hours and do what I love because 1, I found a passion I enjoy, and 2, I can do the things I love in life. You can be happy as a homeless person, you can be happy as a billionaire, you can be happy doing a 9 to 5. It all depends on your perspective of things. Being stuck in traffic sucks, yes, but I got to learn Japanese while sitting in traffic. I also listen to books and interesting podcasts. Don't be so negative with life.
I am SO glad I started reading at an early age and kept it up. Sure, I was part of this rat race, but self aware enough to realize material things weren't everything. Oh, I DID have a little red convertible in my forties, but studied enough eastern philosophy the understand my possessions did not own me. Enough on MY wonderfulness (555), this video is applicable to too many people who have bought into the corporate vision. Bought into it? No, EMBRACE it, LIVE it and LOVE it, DEFEND it. As a result, we've lost our basic humanity as exhibited every time we step over a homeless veteran dying on the streets he or she fought for.
Have you ever taken antidepressants? There was no big Disney castle. There was no advertised happiness. I just got told i might not feel suicidal, and then didn't feel as suicidal. It's so easy to pick on antidepressants isn't it? People don't mock my painkillers; they accept that they help me get on with my life. They don't mock my tablets to help acid reflux.
it never left the opening scene. Is this the message or just another way to trick me into wasting my time???
This clip is a cynical complaint of someone who can't create their own happiness, and so seeks to blame the world for their own failure.
It definitely reflects how destructive it is to seek out happiness in shallow/material things. I find that friends AND material things are where it's at. Do I need a big TV and a high-end gaming system? No, but I sure like having it so I can game with my friends, or relax with Netflix at the end of a stressful day.
I can definitely relate, all big cities are like that, they are grey, bleak, boring, life sucking, overcrowded areas where people just wait to doe but work hard and spend a lot of money doing it. Move to a small town, or to the country, get off the grind, quit chasing the almighty dollar and realise that once you have enough to get buy, the difference between a $10.000 and a $100,000 is not much and definitely not worth a lot of your time for. Food in the fridge, a roof over your head and a bit of discretionary money is all you need-stop buying the hype-alcohol, cigarettes, designer names......
This was my life until I took early retirement in the Summer. Money is tight but my priorities have changed and I feel so much better!
It's a neat video, I'll give it that. Would have had more meaning of he used sheep instead.
Happiness comes from within; not without. If you're expecting material things or other people to make you happy over the long haul, you've already lost the "race".
Glad not to live in London! The last image sums up the world of work. Why not show everybody on their smartphones? Really depressing. The Disney scene is very well done - reminded me of Family Guy Disney Snow White...
Can't identify with it. I've never lived in that world, and never will.
I guess I've never had a driven personality. I never wanted " things " badly enough to slave away for them. As long as I have what I need, and my family and friends are doing okay, my world is happy. It's very freeing to break away from our consumer society, and to know when enough is enough. Things won't make us happy, and we can't take it with us when we die.
yup..I especially liked the drug-dream looking Disney-esque. And the final sequence is pretty cool, too
The tarentella from Carmen?? Cartoon is fairly cynical repeating a common point. Might have been called Capitalism.
Happiness is inside of us. This chasing, all this going round to this fake, supposed happiness is caused by ideology. If we proceed so, or we were wrong educated or we educated ourselves wrong.
I have been in the rat race caring for people with end of life or other psychiatric issues for 15 years after being an educator for 15. I AM HAPPY! I LOVE MY JOB! I have never done work I have not liked and always take time for me to decompress. Everything is a state of mind. 😊
That’s me. Always chasing the next new thing to try to make me happy.
Great job...shedding some light on the reality. There is a way to escape this 'pursuit of happiness' and through understanding why we are like this, happiness is no longer elusive. Have a look at Jeremy Griffith's book "Freedom" free download @ www.humancondition.com
We are studying Don Delillo's book White Noise in my Humanities class. This is so on point it's eerie.
If this guy doesn't win an Academy Award for this one, we need to all walk out
I just did it. NOMINATE HIM. http://www.oscars.org/form/send-message
Load More Replies...We Gen X-ers warned you this was coming. Your response was push us aside, silence us, shove us in a hole then pour cement in over us, and then tell the Millennials, your willing drones, we never existed. How's that complete success of plan working for you now, lol? ;)
Since the happy pills I take stop me from hanging myself, I guess I'm just a dumb rat?
Well, that`s might be true for the autor, but it`s not true for me. I woun`t share or show this film to anyone as I dont want them to take this view as The True. We, as humans are very influential species and this short clip will make some people to see the life in very negative notes.
Sorry I like to treat every animal with love and respect except trump !
This isn’t about Trump you idiot. It’s about you.
Load More Replies..................I don't think of stupid, ignorant and envious of Obama people like tRuMp !!!
Happiness isn’t something you put inside, it’s already there. Sometimes you just need someone to help you find it. :)
That is depressing. I don't chase any of those things for happiness. I work but it's not in the rat race, I have a pretty good work/life balance and the only thing that makes you happy is love and companionship.
I hate this man. But only because he's captured the reality of my banal existence with such uncomfortable accuracy, lol! God help us!
Really good! Mind provoking like hell ... I guess he hit the nail on the head.
This is one of strongest videos on reality of our lives I have ever scene. Instead of finding happiness with what we have and with our family, we fall prey to things which brings nothing but misery in our lives. I felt so much connected to this at so many moments in video, this is what we are and this is what do. That part where mouse get trapped trying to get hold of that dollar bill, is just saddest part.
I too found it to carry a very powerful meaning. All of Steve Cuts's short films are this way and I'm a fan of them for being so open and honest about the flaws of human race. I recommend you to watch "Man" which is about all terrible things we do to our planet, "Wake up call" which is about smartphones and how they affect the society and "Fall"(or "In the fall", can't remember the exact title)which is about one miserable man's last moments.
Load More Replies...That was horrible. ..That's the only "brutal" truth, here. The same tired, generic, contrived, tortured metaphors every layman, and confidently under-achieving art school freshman, uses to describe the monotony of life. While at the same time reducing real problems like mental illness to the same level triviality. Nothing insightful, just the same tired, shallow criticisms we've all made 1000 times when our tyre pops on the freeway. Uninspired, generic, and reguritated at best- condescending, tone-deaf, and damaging at worst. And animated in the cheapest, worst looking medium ever created; Flash, no less. How ironic. Credit where credit's due however; the animator(s) have done the neigh impossible here, and actually managed to make Flash look good. So kudos to them.
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