Ksenya Narkevich

Mrs. Thomasen

Literary Studies/Composition 10 Honours

January 31, 2020

MORE by Mark Osborne

MORE is an award-winning animated short film directed by Mark Osborne exploring the topic of finding meaning and happiness in a colorless and bland life. It tells the story of a worker toiling away in a uniform, dehumanizing, barbarous job. He has only memories of his blissful and euphoric childhood, in the form of light inside his chest, to motivate him to keep working. He spends his nights creating “happiness goggles” in a hope that they allow him to relive the old joys of his childhood. His invention makes him famous, but the real happiness inside gets burned out by the artificial stimulation. No product could replace his old, happy experiences. Taking off his goggles, he realizes that everybody, including himself, longed for something impossible instead of finding their internal joys and passions to live a meaningful life. They were able to do this as kids, as seen by flashbacks to a playground where everyone was having fun and loving life, but society made them grow up too fast and begin working, causing them to lose their interests and passions. This short film shows us that we cannot artificially create happiness and must instead learn to love the simple things in our everyday lives.