Monday, November 13, 2006

A Chairy Tale

A Chairy Tale is a loaded short film that can be interpreted in many different ways. The film is about a man who encounters a chair and wants to sit on it to read his book. However the chair will not let him. After much struggling to get the chair to co-operate he gives up. Eventually he finds a way to get the chair to allow him to sit on him by letting the chair sit on him first. How can this be read? It can be a study of human relationships; that you have to give before you can take. Not all relationships can be one sided. I saw it from an environmental point of view. To me it was about man’s need to dominate the Earth. The chair being made of wood represents the Earth. Man is always taking Earth’s natural resources, yet giving nothing back. By the chair’s refusal to co-operate it is a message from Earth that this type of relationship can no longer continue. In order to co-exist peacefully, man has to put in what they take.

To view the film go to: http://www.nfb.ca/animation/objanim/en/filmmakers/Norman-McLaren/film.php?id=11192&idfilm=11152

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