Rob Munday
From Darwin to Dawkins, much has already been said about human evolution, but, as we find ourselves at a point in our timeline where war and climate change continuously threatens our future, should we now not be thinking about the years to come, instead of those that have passed? In Theo W. Scott’s provocative animated short Cuties, the director takes us on a whirlwind tour of humanity’s history, before thrusting us headfirst into a twisted vision of a possible future.
Described by Scott as a “hand-drawn sequential telling of human history in all its horror and glory”, Cuties starts at the beginning of our evolution, as we literally step from the sea (via the mouths of a variety of marine monsters) and make our mark on the Earth. Over the next five-minutes, we witness rituals, war and the odd stop for a little self-pleasure, as our blob-like human take a leisurely stroll through all of our low-points over the years we’ve inhabited this planet.
The start of Theo W Scott’s Cuties sees the short’s adorable representation of humanity emerge from the mouths of a series of sea beasts.
Scott found inspiration for his short from a classic piece of art, which was also made to depict a specific moment in human history, the Bayeux tapestry. Fascinated by the “nameless little guys stuck in that battle”, the filmmaker was left wondering about their future if the tapestry just kept going. From this starting point, Scott developed his idea and built a story around the themes of collective consciousness and the notion of free will, working important moments from history into his brief storyline.
From this description alone, you’d be forgiven for assuming that Cuties was a heavy watch or an impenetrable experience, but one look at Scott’s aesthetic will have you realising otherwise, with its simple character design contrasting perfectly with some of the horrors it portrays. Created using hand-drawn 2D Animation, painted backgrounds, pixel animation, a little live-action and a 3D Mandlebulb render, one of the aims of the director was to see whether a “character with no defining features” could be relatable. Objective achieved (IMHO).
The short’s final third includes an amazing pixel animation segment.
The simple character design doesn’t only contrast with the narrative themes though, visually, it also creates an interesting clash with the intricate hand-painted backgrounds. Although Scott admits he “loves” hand-drawn background art, it wasn’t just the aesthetics that drew him to this decision, as he wanted this deviation in style to amplify the fact that his characters were “blank canvases”, who were “shaped solely by their environment”.
Though only five-minutes long and a surprisingly entertaining watch, all of these aforementioned elements accumulate to make for a short with unexpected depth. At the film’s conclusion, after we’ve been treated to a warped pixel animation vision of the future and a closing shot of one of the “Cuties” (a name coined by Scott’s partner) hugging a rock, the camera pulls out to show that everything we’ve just watched was just a game played in someone’s bedroom. An unexpected twist in the end, but is it a reflection on free will or just a fun little kicker at the conclusion of the film?
It’s up to you to decide…or is it?