If one of your New Years’ resolutions is to eat healthier, more sustainable food, contemplating the evils of industrial food production and re-reading The Omnivore’s Dilemma
Although I like the short very much, I’m also a little sad at the way Coldplay’s “The Scientist” has become shorthand for post-industrial regret. Science does not have to equate with cold, sterile industrialization, or with exploitative factory CAFOs. As my boyfriend pointed out, the film could be set to the Dandy Warhols’ upbeat “I am a Scientist” and end with the farmer not simply razing his bleak industrial farmscape, but rather transforming it into a funky steampunk green energy solar windmill complex, freeing him from dependence on the petroleum-powered grid while he flies around his farm in a custom dirigible inflated and powered by agricultural waste.
Alas, it was not to be.
Regardless, I have to admit Coldplay’s lyrics (which aren’t really about science anyway) work well here, and the animation is adorable. Nice work, Johnny Kelly (and Willie Nelson). A look behind the scenes reveals that it’s actually stop-motion animation, not digital – which means many adorable pig models, including extra-tiny pigs for the distant hills. Awww.