Curated by Ash Verwiel, Katie Walker and Alis Lopez
The COVID-19 pandemic has made the public ever aware of their incredible impact on modern society as a capitalist system. From our collective decrease in spending causing the economy to plummet, to new found hobbies and passions with the absence of work, humanity has begun reshaping itself to denounce our obsession with productivity. Our exclusively animated collection of works highlight the fantastical absurdity within this lifestyle, the dangers of a capitalist society, and our demise if our compliance and mass consumption continue.
The Modern Day Consumer (1987)
Flesh City Productions presents The Modern Day Consumer (1987) as a part of the McRaw Hill Educational Films Cultural Anthropology Series. This 16mm claymation short, directed and animated by Brian Burman, depicts modern humanity as a product of the industrial revolution, which formed and cultivated a society based on mass consumption. This consumerism is illustrated through portrayals of our feeding, mating, and grooming habits, as well as ritual gatherings and retirement that manufacture a dependency on the capitalist system. Burman’s highly fantasized stop-motion claymation critiques the absurdity of integrating capitalism and humanity, which has altered the human experience into a measurement of one’s ability to mass produce and mass consume. (Katie Walker)
Das Bob (1991)
Flim Flam Films presents Das Bob (1991). This 16mm short animation, directed and animated by Dave Ketchpel, ‘Bob’, a male figure is shown going through the stages of life with a constant money count under him. The film criticizes capitalism and massive consumption involved in living a western world lifestyle by illustrating Bob’s income in all its peaks and valleys throughout life events such as education, work and old age. Das Bob won an award at the CSU Media Arts Festival in 1993 for the ‘Best in Show’ category. (Ash Verwiel)
Country: USA
Languages: English
Year: 1991
Running Time: 4 minutes
Director: Dave Ketchpel
Producer: Dave Ketchpel (Flim Flam Films)
Writer: Dave Ketchpel
Cinematographer: Dave Ketchpel
Editor: Dave Ketchpel
Thanks to: Pat Amlin, Michelle French, Theresa Johnston and Sandi Rollins
The Blue Room (1988)
The Blue Room (1988) is a 16mm short animated drama in narrative montage with real life moving image to convey a man escaping into his seductive television. Animated and directed by Cynthia Canejo and produced by Illusion Studios, this short focuses on the human condition in relation to modern consumption. Rewritten from a short story by Paul O’Meara, this drama fiction explores themes such as consumerism and escapism. Television consumption in representation to real life are captured by cinematographer Michael Anders. Conversations at parties about education and death well executed by voice actors such as Tyrone McCloskey, Fred Lewis and Kathy McYey. The Blue Room features ‘Snake Dance’, a song by The Idle Rich, a band with Dan Olmsted who also aided Cynthia with computer assistance for this film. (Ash Verwiel)
Country: USA
Languages: English
Year: 1988
Running Time: 9 minutes
Director: Cynthia Canejo
Producer: Illusion Studios
Writer: Cynthia Canejo
Cinematographer: Michael Anders
Editor: Bob Gitzen
Technical assistance: David Welle and Sam Hinckley
Cel animation assistance by Barry Toya
With: ‘The Idle Rich’ (with Dan Olmsted), Tyrone McCloskey, Fred Lewis, Tim Blakevich, Mi-chael Anders, Kathy McYey and Warren Haack
FILMMAKER BIOS
From Brian Burman —
“The Modern Day Consumer was my Bachelors project, started at Humboldt State in 1981, and finished at San Francisco State in 1986, with a three year break from college in the years 82-85. Ronald Reagan makes an appearance in the film, and he was responsible for strong currents of dissent in the arts and music of those years. After graduating I worked for a while in animation at Colossal Studios in SF, but decided this was not the career for me. I returned to SF State in 1990 to study live action filmmaking and film theory, where I also continued composing film music for other student’s films. In 1993 I did sound recording and composed the music for Jon Moritsugu’s PBS scandal film, Terminal USA. I moved to Switzerland in 1994, where I’ve done music and sound design for films, theatre, dance and art installations, and work for SRF Swiss Television as an editor (mostly for films on art and music), and write articles and make video reports on film history. I also work as a freelance director.”
A few links:
https://brianburman.bandcamp.com/
http://www.generalrubric.com/bburman/main.html
https://open.spotify.com/artist/2ADWnQO9Dl4EkgXjmBbeiF
https://www.quacipress.com/brian-interview.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rj4lhVx7GEI&t=3s
From Cynthia (Cindy) Canejo —
“The Blue Room was my first film ever. I may have been a bit ambitious in trying to do so much when I was still learning, but I did learn quite a bit at SFSU. Professors Lewis, Goldner, and Nichols as well as sound wiz Bob Gitzen and animation professors Marcy Page and Marty McNamara were a great influence on me and I will never forget their emphasis and outlook. The Film Department has grown quite a bit since then.
The animation was made in response to a friend’s addiction to drugs. They were becoming more and more distant.
The film won a Silver Bear award at the Berlin International Film Festival and a Short Film award at the Sundance Film Festival. I eventually made a shorter animation using cells combined with computer animation called That Sinking Feeling, thanks to support from Jane Veeder.
I am a professor of art history now at University of North Carolina at Asheville but I do teach a course on the history of animation and comic books which I love! The students have to create a short animation and a brief comic book in addition to studying the history.”