Joyce Chen

Joie De Vivre

An animated short

Are you really living if everything has already been decided for you? No.

The path to happiness is inevitably shadowed by the consequences of being human. Passive coercion by the hands of an autocratic force called fate rips away the freedom of choice. There is no such thing as free will.

Looking at the world from a third person objective point of view has taught me to simplify things to their most basic forms. Humans are society’s lab rats. Existing in abundant numbers, we are easily disposable and replaceable in this continuously “functional” system, similar to mass production of sorts. Though we each exist with individual characteristics, when put into a macroscopic scale, we are indistinguishable nobodies.

In a world that coincidentally resembles our own, a trio of kids are summoned on a seemingly idyllic outing. All is not as it seems when they learn of their predetermined fates cast by the leaders of a utopian state. We are ultimately observers of life rather than participants. Much like watching an animation, we are merely experiencing it, unable to change its future.