Unrelenting Quest for Happiness and Fulfillment

Happiness is a 2017 animated short film directed and animated by Steve Cutts, a London-based illustrator known for satirical commentary on modern life.

The protagonist is a rat meaningfully chosen to evoke the concept of the “rat race” , a metaphor for modern life’s repetitive and competitive struggle for success and satisfaction.

The animation progresses as a sequence of frames showing the rat (and other rats) engaging with consumer culture, advertisements, products, pleasure-seeking behaviors, and societal expectations.

By portraying all characters as rats in a homogeneous mass and showing the protagonist repeatedly returning to the rat race, the film challenges viewers to reflect on whether happiness should be externally defined by societal norms or internally grounded in purpose and meaning.

After watching. I hope you will get that, the rat is you.

Here are some other interesting projects about Life by Steve. Happy Reflecting.