the scene about the people repeating the same sentence again and again remembers me of the time when i studied dramatic arts, and there was an acting exercise where we walk from point A to B repeating the first thing we could think of with some kind of attitude. This is what it looked like.
end sequence always gets me. it all sounds like a gibberish language between parent and child, but you know exactly what's being said. and then the stars come out. brilliant, Don.
I can't speak for the OP, but I got the impression that the parent was saying it was a waste of time to consider it. Something about just being on a rock pointlessly hurling through space.
@@dacdaddy I think it's just supposed to be a Rorschach test where everyone sees something else. Hertzfeldt has mentioned that people have tried to "decode" this film way too much and that you're sorta just supposed to accept what you see.
Aside from the existential challenges and quirky dialogue and interesting animation, the thing that really sets Don Hertzfeldt apart from his contemporaries is his flawless choice of music. everything I've seen him produce uses music and sound to its best capability and it just adds so much energy while captivating you simultaneously
Don Hertzfeldt is an artist even if he made "my anus is bleeding" he still had something artistic to say with that work don't judge someone on a single merit someones sense of humor can say as little about them as their belief on their own existence. I'm a source on that
Got to love the parallelism between the beginning sequence on earth, and everyone posting there opinions on this video. Well played Don. The final joke is on us.
I know; during the scene where everyone is walking and talking and it just gets more and more filled with noise, I was thinking: "This is the internet. This is social media." And here I am adding one more voice to the din, because I seemingly can't not do it...
@@Tasarrani thought it was supposed to be the idea that everyone is caught up in really trivial things day to day that mean nothing in the grand scheme of the universe. Then shows how other planets are doing the same and really everyone is just too caught up in there lives
My interpretation. He juxtaposes human's stupidity and banality with the beauty and awe of space. Most of what we have to say is nonsense, akin to how you might view the nonsense and actions of an alien species. The only thing that is shown here in a positive light is the beauty and enormity of space, and a child that is in awe of the universe and searching to find truth. So if there is a "meaning if life" portrayed here, it is in searching for the truth and it is in the wonder and complexity of everything in the universe. I really enjoyed this.
I kind of took it as an alien's perspective on a nature video. Imagine you didn't know what the humans were saying, and it looks much the same as all the other aliens-making-noises segments.
THOSE STARS ARE BILLIONS OF YEARS OLD, THOSE STARS ARE BILLIONS OF YEARS OLD, THOSE STARS ARE BILLIONS OF YEARS OLD... Yeah, I think you are missing the point.
@Benjamin McCann I wouldn't say so. Yes, deconstructing art down to its barest parts takes the magic and fun out of it all, but being able to articulate how art makes you feel and why you think it made you feel that way I believe is the purpose of art in the first place.
It's a comfort to imagine that somewhere else in the universe, people are saying and doing redundant crap, devoid of any significance outside the one we provide ourselves. This is bizarre, funny, and beautiful work.
+Fabian Young As the video implies, through our opinions, everyone thinks they are more fucking intelligent than the next guy... We live in a society were uninformed, and borderline stupid people feel that their two cents should be heard by the world.
+Fabian Young im looking at all these preachy comments and all I can think about are those babbling fools in the beginning of the video im looking at all these preachy comments and all I can think about are those babbling fools in the beginning of the video im looking at all these preachy comments and all I can think about are those babbling fools in the beginning of the video im looking at all these preachy comments and all I can think about are those babbling fools in the beginning of the video im looking at all these preachy comments and all I can think about are those babbling fools in the beginning of the video im looking at all these preachy comments and all I can think about are those babbling fools in the beginning of the video im looking at all these preachy comments and all I can think about are those babbling fools in the beginning of the video
What always amazes me is how he uses simple elements to form a distinctive language - I mean, just look at the way that the clouds gradually turn darker! Don Hertzfeldt's greatest strength is his musicality of all else.
Whenever it reaches the part which you see earth, sun and the universe I totally feel alone and week... And every time when I watch it, when it finally plays the last piece and shows the flames, I deeply feel just wanna scream out loud......I can just say that's awfully perfect.
SulfuR ` You know, I love things about cosmology and astronomy and I've read a lot about these. and when you know and see how poor you are in this great universe,it makes you really feel strange..!
OH MY GOD MY HUSBAND ALWAYS CORRECTS ME BECAUSE I ALSO CALL IT 'IT'S SUCH A BEAUTIFUL LIFE' EVERY TIME AAAAAA I will never not call it this because it IS such a beautiful life, thank you.
This is absolutely, undoubtedly, unequivocally the greatest short film ever made. I am still floored by it every time I watch it, even after 10+ viewings. Usually tears are involved. Also, I strongly identify with the guy walking around aimlessly, punching himself in the head.
@@blackfootedferret yeah same here mate, my idea is that its pretty much a simple thing that intends to be deep and philosophical but is really just simple because thats life.
@@blackfootedferret I'm also seeing comments like "my interpretation is important" which it seems like people are taking the piss out of entitled people who think they know more than others, which is fair, so therefore you can completely disregard my idea if you want to.
Hertzfeldt himself thinks y'all are overthinking things. Here's a really good quote from him on people looking for the "point" of this film "That film [The Meaning of Life] played children’s film festivals- none of my stuff had ever really done that before. And when I talk to kids about it, they really get it. They understand the movie the first time they see it. A lot of folks try to decode movies. They’re trying to figure out a puzzle that might not be there. Kids see it, and-OK, here we are, earth, and it goes around the universe and it comes back to earth, and then here’s this… They accept what they see and don’t try to outthink the movie."
@@lololo a common misconception is that we start viewing alien life in the second act of the film, but Hertzfelt has stated that what we're seeing is all evolution on earth over a billion years. If you pay attention in the star sequence it returns right back to the star it zoomed out on as well.
@@chrissyjo420 ooooh, so it kinda changes how I interpreted the whole thing. I thought it was like a commentary on how there are probably millions of other civilizations around the universe struggling with the same problems and existencial questions as us. Now I'm not sure what to think.
@@lololo well, it still says that no matter how far you go into the future, civilizations will always be dealing with these existential questions, so that still holds. beyond that, I find it interesting that throughout a billion years of evolution, the only trace of our civilization left is the phrase "meaning of life." Though with a film this grand I think everyone can have their own personal interpretation of it
1:19 - 3:52 feels like watching NPCs walking around in the sidewalks of New York City consciously, saying the most random stuff that’s out of their own minds.
nothing means anything. but knowing this truth should not depress you. You are just as much the Universe as you are anything else. This truth should free you, because knowing full well nothing matters means everything is allowed to matter. The Dust, the trees; all here out of pure chance, all here because you're here.
Or rather, inherently has meaning. A tree is a tree because we have defined it as, "tree" but without the human cognition the idea of "tree" ideally couldn't exist. So thus we gain a degree of freedom, and to a less sophisticated being the idea of "tree" becomes the object of "food" or "home" in the minds of animals. However, could a giraffe identifying a "tree" as food, not because it is a "tree" but because it is "food" still not be considered the concept of cognition on some fundamental level? Is it really so impossible to believe the the human construction of it's surroundings is just its own unique definition of the space it is through its own extrapolated ideals, and the same could be said for any living thing? Do ideas exist because they are some what fundamentally existent and transversible through the empathy of living beings, and that life itself gives meaning to itself? Because if life were meaningless then what would be the purpose for life to exist at all? Why live if the idea of life has no value beyond the individual? Or rather should we not accept that we as living beings must assign that value ourselves, in the face of the harsh reality that the meaning of existence is merely a subjective projecting of validations for our own insecurities and fears as living beings, as all living beings possess. A will to survive for the sake of survival? Is that not what it means to live? For if all things are meaningless, does that not mean we are hypocritical to fight that meaningless? Could you not say that we in some way give meaninglessness... meaning?
+Mercanary artist aha yes indeed. The Theory of Everything. Nothing matters but we feel it does, Einstein used music in his example (paraphrase) " you can describe music as a series of pressure waves but you cannot describe how music makes you feel" and that is where the answer to everything you've ever wanted to knows lies; and what also makes me smile. Maybe it's God, Maybe it's nothing. But for a brief period one can feel "something"
+Mercanary artist I'm glad we're on the same page. Go search for those moments that make feel that feeling. Some people climb mountains for sport. but they have yet to see what you've seen. The view is much different then. Goodnight!
Yeah I gotta agree, EA seems to be at least trying to better themselves a little, especially with how much they have improved Origin, whereas Ubisoft seems to just be digging themselves into a deeper and deeper hole.
"EA seems to be at least trying to better themselves a little" Fast forward a few months and we got the BF2 debacle. Capitalists only play nice when it suits them.
@@AmorphisBob the fish sticks my mom used to feed me as a kid we're so disgusting she stopped buying them that's why I don't like any kind of fish product that looks like a chicken product if you could get fish in some other kind of way then it's okay
“‘Doa massa-to la jamapumov-vu la ve-la, meoning of life?’ ‘Boh! Meoning of life! Huh! Achu ka zoku. La jaquizo pu. Kali do biondo la quemage. Kali do zhozonto rewosh! Kali do prondo roshqualla. Kali to yo feronn-numo. Ey lonto fomo- bwahr importo-roosh: Ban Kali don yontu! Kali doy an mansch! Kali do yontu, je pombo de rest vor Luther. Und ve le meoning of life? Boh! Bo mo tzoler jesh sha ploque perbe muther...’” - Don Hertzfeldt, 2013
@@chrissyjo420 And I think there's a couple more nonsense words that sound like words in English. "Importo-roosh" might mean something like "This is important", "mansch" sounds like German "mensch" for man (slang in English for cool/powerful man, i.e. "He's an absolute Mensch"), and it even sounded like the older alien was religiously talking about Kali (Hindu goddess) and Luther (Protestant Christian reformer) as authority figures while he's trying to lecture the little guy. That's all my reading of what I think the words sound like, but y'all feel free to come up with your own! It's a bit of a Rorschach test anyway, since it is all gibberish.
@@brendansmith5529 cool analysis but given hertzfeldt and especially his comments on this particular film I don't think he intended there to be anything to decode in it. I've found this quote pretty helpful in interpreting the whole thing. "That film [The Meaning of Life] played children’s film festivals- none of my stuff had ever really done that before. And when I talk to kids about it, they really get it. They understand the movie the first time they see it. A lot of folks try to decode movies. They’re trying to figure out a puzzle that might not be there. Kids see it, and-OK, here we are, earth, and it goes around the universe and it comes back to earth, and then here’s this… They accept what they see and don’t try to outthink the movie."
Possibly my favorite thing about recently rediscovering these movies is that at different parts of my life the movies have meant entirely different things. Don is a genuine master of surreal art.
I love the last part where it's weird and we can't understand what is being said and it then and then the stars come and you're like "Oh, he/she/they is/are looking at the stars". That's a connection there.
this is a gorgeous mood piece, and i stand by "mood piece". you can argue its high concepts and such all you like, but he made this as a humorous retort to the idea of high concept. he plays humanity as a bunch of staggering morons stating motives, other beings as a bunch of group-thinking, ever changing oddities, and then proceeds to explain the meaning of life in a fake language, which in itself is nonsense. he is a master at playing with concept and turning it into mood.
i like at 4:40 when it shows the sun is just another star, its like even though life is just a tiny natural occurrence in the universe it doesn't make it any less meaningful to be part of it
Yeah, that's their mentality. I find it kind of selfish, actually. My roommate doesn't believe in anything, so his idea of life is to "just enjoy it". Which means he can do whatever he wants because there are no consequences for his actions. In my experience, atheists have a major problem with being held accountable. (braces for hate)
The meaning of life is live life. That's it. No deeper meaning, every thing else is conjecture, human's like to find patterns where none exist, we like to find meaning where none exist. For example, double rainbow. What does it mean? Doesn't mean anything. Have fun with your life, try to make it a good one, because when your gone all that is left is the good (or bad) you leave behind.
Don idk if you'll ever see this, but you're truly an inspiration. I watch this video so much it's probably unhealthy. I'm always checking your feed for new stuff. I absolutely love your art style and the messages you convey.
For those layman who don’t understand the accolades or who see this as simple- it’s because you don’t understand how damn hard what he does is!!! I have a BFA, I can draw portraits that people will mistake as photographs- but....ummm, so can a ton of other artists. There is nothing unique or special about that. Having this kind of vision and restraint is extremely rare...in my opinion it’s the hardest to accomplish. This is why his peers recognize his talent and the praise is very well deserved. The most important works of art are representative of current culture in a reflective way so that everyone that interacts with it will have a different interpretation informed by their own experiences. Good or bad....if it affects you, makes you think, sticks with you... then it’s meaningful. Meaningful art is not required to be ‘pretty’ or comfortable because it’s not meant to be passive. For me, the meaning of life is encapsulated at 10:09... it’s subtle but brilliant!
what I got from this is that we live in a mad world were everyone is focused only on their problems which makes them not able to see the beauty around them. And that this is the same no matter where you go. That last part, the small creature was coming on to something like an epiphany but that older creature scolding him and saying thinking about life is foolish and its all about survival or something like that.
Interesting. All the words that the aliens speak in their foreign language are different from ours except for the phrase "meaning of life." As though it were an idiomatic phrase at that point. It's ... intriguing linguistically.
You know, every time I watch this vid and the conversation between the kid and its parent comes up their dialog in my head changes. One time he explained how the birds fly in the sky, the fish swim in the sea and as for you and me, at land we're meant to be. The kid ponders at the night sky, wondering if there was life in the universe and if so, what it would look like and if they also wondered what it was all about. Perhaps one day he could glimpse at them, just to see what their life was all about. And it made me wonder, meaning of life might be just as simple as that: finding that place, that other, where you simply don't care anymore about what it means... and that you rather enjoy the ride as it lasts :)
You don't need to look at the stars. Even on earth there are so many beings existing and their way of life so foreign to us that we can't even imagine what it's like to be them, or how they conceive life. Or our ancestors being totally different beings than us and our species in billion of years morphing into beings that that will eventually be totally different from us, probably even horrifying. It makes no sense, as the only sense to be found is in the life you currently live. Live in itself is senseless
The unbelievable aspect behind all of of those simple characters overlapping each other, being drawn over and over on single sheets in single frames is something in a field of unrealistic artistic integrity that I can't even comprehend. Don Hertzfeldt is the prime example of complexity through simple measures.
really teaches you to let go of your shit and enjoy , to live in the present. Its all you have and ever will have! The future not yet here is in reality only the present. The past which has gone was the present we missed! No more! TIME TO TRULY LIVE NOW!
I just want to thank you for all of your productions. They have and continue to have inspired and relieved me since I was very young. Anyone who wants to know me well must, among other things, know some of my favorites of your videos. Thank You ^-^
the only true thing I can count on, what will always be there, is the profound appreciation I feel when watching this video or the other few films that speak to my humanity and my search for beauty. always. always. thank you. I don't feel so alone.
"I do not know what I may appear to the world, but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me." Sir Isaac Newton
Mr. Hertzfeldt, I discovered your work but very recently, and I've seen this piece for the first time but a couple weeks ago, and I must say I find it sublime and marvelous. It drives me to tears every time I see it and it's possible the best short, or piece in general I've seen in my life so far. I thank you profusely for sharing this with us.
wow, i remember seeing the vid where he was animating all these people one by one....amazing how it looks now after it was finished. its been a while sense i watched any of his vids, but this is truly awesome!
this guy reminds me of Haruki Murakami. their work are for people who with mental disorder,people who been through pain and depression,people who try to look into the darkest corner of their soul to find the answer for what they dont even know.there are no explaination for all this.just simply how you feel.you feel it and find yourself into it.thats all.
the scene about the people repeating the same sentence again and again remembers me of the time when i studied dramatic arts, and there was an acting exercise where we walk from point A to B repeating the first thing we could think of with some kind of attitude. This is what it looked like.
I would’ve loved to have seen that tbh. A recreation of the first part irl would be pretty cool to see.
end sequence always gets me. it all sounds like a gibberish language between parent and child, but you know exactly what's being said. and then the stars come out. brilliant, Don.
I don't know what the parent said, can you tell me?
I can't speak for the OP, but I got the impression that the parent was saying it was a waste of time to consider it. Something about just being on a rock pointlessly hurling through space.
@@mariuscovic4797 Language is more simple than you think...
@@dacdaddy I think it's just supposed to be a Rorschach test where everyone sees something else. Hertzfeldt has mentioned that people have tried to "decode" this film way too much and that you're sorta just supposed to accept what you see.
@@chrissyjo420 Philosophy is humanity doing the turing test to itself.
Aside from the existential challenges and quirky dialogue and interesting animation, the thing that really sets Don Hertzfeldt apart from his contemporaries is his flawless choice of music. everything I've seen him produce uses music and sound to its best capability and it just adds so much energy while captivating you simultaneously
Looney Tunes did the same thing. It's just classical music.
@@ampman76 very based and abstract music 🎶🎵🎶
12:23 "No computers were used in the animation or photography of this motion picture."
Holy shit. This must have taken almost a year to make.
According to Wikipedia it took 4 years of production altogether
@@jenelaina5665 that's interesting
Look up "watching grass grow", it's a timelapse of don working on it
Came exactly for ✨this✨ 👁👄👁not even for the overlapping walks?!?! 12:29
... Less Than a Disney
I have enormous respect for people who animate like this
This is still one of my favorite videos.
Hello
sup java
The saddest part... she had no idea.
The saddest part... she had no idea.
The saddest part... she had no idea.
The saddest part... she had no idea.
java is still a hertzfeldt fan..
@@Wack910Give me your money!
Additional deep-and-meaningful philosophical statement inspired by a 12-minute video from the guy who brought us "My anus is bleeding".
You get what's going on here.
Don Hertzfeldt is an artist
even if he made "my anus is bleeding" he still had something artistic to say with that work
don't judge someone on a single merit
someones sense of humor can say as little about them as their belief on their own existence.
I'm a source on that
Don't forget "I will now shoot angry ticks out of my nipples"
Eh sounds legit.
...Eh, could b fun... :)
Got to love the parallelism between the beginning sequence on earth, and everyone posting there opinions on this video. Well played Don. The final joke is on us.
I know; during the scene where everyone is walking and talking and it just gets more and more filled with noise, I was thinking: "This is the internet. This is social media."
And here I am adding one more voice to the din, because I seemingly can't not do it...
Cool analogy
@@Tasarrani thought it was supposed to be the idea that everyone is caught up in really trivial things day to day that mean nothing in the grand scheme of the universe. Then shows how other planets are doing the same and really everyone is just too caught up in there lives
@@Tasarranbut then it is kind of ironic that im deciding debate you about this😂
The fish sticks guy is probably the smartest out of all of them.
And he's a gay fish!
... My fav has got to be the incidental confrontation between the "no!" guy and the "what?" guy.
The confrontation between the “I’m gonna sue you!” guy and the “That’s not what I said!” Is also a good one
I'm pretty sure he's the only one that didn't repeat the same line over and over again, so you're probably right.
Nice to have a South Park reference.
@@anotherrandomcommenter4473 I liked the "What?" "No!" "What? "No!"... myself
Well, you just summed up my entire Facebook experience in the first two minutes.
xD
Eight years later - it's much worse.
And then there's Twitter/X.
@@bjb7587You mean Xitter.
I love how he uses classical pieces. It really heightens the beauty of the themes he's trying to convey.
My interpretation. He juxtaposes human's stupidity and banality with the beauty and awe of space. Most of what we have to say is nonsense, akin to how you might view the nonsense and actions of an alien species. The only thing that is shown here in a positive light is the beauty and enormity of space, and a child that is in awe of the universe and searching to find truth. So if there is a "meaning if life" portrayed here, it is in searching for the truth and it is in the wonder and complexity of everything in the universe. I really enjoyed this.
I kind of took it as an alien's perspective on a nature video. Imagine you didn't know what the humans were saying, and it looks much the same as all the other aliens-making-noises segments.
The meaning of life is the pursuit of the meaning of life
tsm688 you are literally one of the blabbering people at the beginning
THOSE STARS ARE BILLIONS OF YEARS OLD, THOSE STARS ARE BILLIONS OF YEARS OLD, THOSE STARS ARE BILLIONS OF YEARS OLD... Yeah, I think you are missing the point.
@Benjamin McCann I wouldn't say so. Yes, deconstructing art down to its barest parts takes the magic and fun out of it all, but being able to articulate how art makes you feel and why you think it made you feel that way I believe is the purpose of art in the first place.
Something with all that Tchaikovsky can't be disliked.
I know it's Tchaikovsky, but what song?
@@neitherholynorroman804 the first part is Tchaikovsky - Piano Concerto 1 - B Flat Minor
, but I don't know what the rest is
@neither holy nor roman
.....yes.
@@gtassa01 rest is from the nutcracker suite
there's also romeo and juliet and symphony no 6 pathetique
brilliant and well deserved award winner !
It's not that great.
It's a comfort to imagine that somewhere else in the universe, people are saying and doing redundant crap, devoid of any significance outside the one we provide ourselves. This is bizarre, funny, and beautiful work.
Im looking at all these preachy comments and all I can think about are those babbling fools in the beginning of the video.
Fabian Young I want to vote this up a squillion times
Exactly
+Fabian Young As the video implies, through our opinions, everyone thinks they are more fucking intelligent than the next guy... We live in a society were uninformed, and borderline stupid people feel that their two cents should be heard by the world.
+Fabian Young
im looking at all these preachy comments and all I can think about are those babbling fools in the beginning of the video
im looking at all these preachy comments and all I can think about are those babbling fools in the beginning of the video
im looking at all these preachy comments and all I can think about are those babbling fools in the beginning of the video
im looking at all these preachy comments and all I can think about are those babbling fools in the beginning of the video
im looking at all these preachy comments and all I can think about are those babbling fools in the beginning of the video
im looking at all these preachy comments and all I can think about are those babbling fools in the beginning of the video
im looking at all these preachy comments and all I can think about are those babbling fools in the beginning of the video
Which is proofing this video point
this man is a freaking genius.
Alfred, you were buried in my hometown.
Payton Cordova what
Also certifiably insane.
this man is a freaking genius.
No he's not. He's just one of the few people brave enough to make what they want
The sheer beauty of the "space lights" sequences. I've been re-watching this many times for years, every time being even more amazed
What always amazes me is how he uses simple elements to form a distinctive language - I mean, just look at the way that the clouds gradually turn darker!
Don Hertzfeldt's greatest strength is his musicality of all else.
Love how the most human thing in this whole film is those strange little creatures that life has morphed into after ages upon ages of evolution
Yeah. And even if those many monsters are stick figure-y their still pretty creative =)
Reminds of the science fiction, *_All of Tomorrow's_*
@@notahamster333 All Tomorrows?
Whenever it reaches the part which you see earth, sun and the universe I totally feel alone and week... And every time when I watch it, when it finally plays the last piece and shows the flames, I deeply feel just wanna scream out loud......I can just say that's awfully perfect.
Not sure how it makes you feel week.
SulfuR ` You know, I love things about cosmology and astronomy and I've read a lot about these.
and when you know and see how poor you are in this great universe,it makes you really feel strange..!
parmida afsharinejad Right over your head....
i play the space scene over and over until i have to lie down
it gives me peace
I watched "It's such a beautiful life." and cried. I honestly love his art style, and there is nothing else like it.
Janet Goode It’s such a beautiful day?
OH MY GOD MY HUSBAND ALWAYS CORRECTS ME BECAUSE I ALSO CALL IT 'IT'S SUCH A BEAUTIFUL LIFE' EVERY TIME AAAAAA I will never not call it this because it IS such a beautiful life, thank you.
i think i heard one say "more redundant speech"
+Kuyesa Lol, I really hope that is in there.
2:41
Rhubarb Rhubarb Rhubarb
I also heard one day"convey the meaning of life"too
I caught one saying “2, for the price of 1.”
This is absolutely, undoubtedly, unequivocally the greatest short film ever made. I am still floored by it every time I watch it, even after 10+ viewings. Usually tears are involved.
Also, I strongly identify with the guy walking around aimlessly, punching himself in the head.
I'm really at a loss here. Could you help me understand in basic terms the statement he's making?
@@blackfootedferret BOH!
@@blackfootedferret yeah same here mate, my idea is that its pretty much a simple thing that intends to be deep and philosophical but is really just simple because thats life.
@@blackfootedferret I'm also seeing comments like "my interpretation is important" which it seems like people are taking the piss out of entitled people who think they know more than others, which is fair, so therefore you can completely disregard my idea if you want to.
@@edobrien2883 okay. I see what you mean. Hmmmm. Thanks
*I'd very much like to see this acted out live.*
Yep
Well this is being acted out live all the time. We just need to look for it.
New York :)
Like a theater play
go outside
Hertzfeldt himself thinks y'all are overthinking things. Here's a really good quote from him on people looking for the "point" of this film
"That film [The Meaning of Life] played children’s film festivals- none of my stuff had ever really done that before. And when I talk to kids about it, they really get it. They understand the movie the first time they see it. A lot of folks try to decode movies. They’re trying to figure out a puzzle that might not be there. Kids see it, and-OK, here we are, earth, and it goes around the universe and it comes back to earth, and then here’s this… They accept what they see and don’t try to outthink the movie."
wait wait wait what do you mean it comes back to earth?
@@lololo a common misconception is that we start viewing alien life in the second act of the film, but Hertzfelt has stated that what we're seeing is all evolution on earth over a billion years. If you pay attention in the star sequence it returns right back to the star it zoomed out on as well.
@@chrissyjo420 ooooh, so it kinda changes how I interpreted the whole thing. I thought it was like a commentary on how there are probably millions of other civilizations around the universe struggling with the same problems and existencial questions as us. Now I'm not sure what to think.
@@lololo well, it still says that no matter how far you go into the future, civilizations will always be dealing with these existential questions, so that still holds. beyond that, I find it interesting that throughout a billion years of evolution, the only trace of our civilization left is the phrase "meaning of life." Though with a film this grand I think everyone can have their own personal interpretation of it
Don Hertzfeldt you are a remarkable human being and I appreciate existing on the same planet as you.
Same
it's like watching someone play Spore.
Tessa Jalloh Spore x Star wars confirm
Not nearly enough walking penises, given most of the Spore play throughs I’ve seen
1:19 - 3:52 feels like watching NPCs walking around in the sidewalks of New York City consciously, saying the most random stuff that’s out of their own minds.
The scariest part to me is that some of those things look and sound like things I've made in Spore.
so I'm not alone
Give me your money
@@dominicbofficial yep and there's EA
nothing means anything. but knowing this truth should not depress you. You are just as much the Universe as you are anything else. This truth should free you, because knowing full well nothing matters means everything is allowed to matter. The Dust, the trees; all here out of pure chance, all here because you're here.
Or rather, inherently has meaning. A tree is a tree because we have defined it as, "tree" but without the human cognition the idea of "tree" ideally couldn't exist. So thus we gain a degree of freedom, and to a less sophisticated being the idea of "tree" becomes the object of "food" or "home" in the minds of animals. However, could a giraffe identifying a "tree" as food, not because it is a "tree" but because it is "food" still not be considered the concept of cognition on some fundamental level? Is it really so impossible to believe the the human construction of it's surroundings is just its own unique definition of the space it is through its own extrapolated ideals, and the same could be said for any living thing?
Do ideas exist because they are some what fundamentally existent and transversible through the empathy of living beings, and that life itself gives meaning to itself? Because if life were meaningless then what would be the purpose for life to exist at all? Why live if the idea of life has no value beyond the individual? Or rather should we not accept that we as living beings must assign that value ourselves, in the face of the harsh reality that the meaning of existence is merely a subjective projecting of validations for our own insecurities and fears as living beings, as all living beings possess. A will to survive for the sake of survival? Is that not what it means to live? For if all things are meaningless, does that not mean we are hypocritical to fight that meaningless? Could you not say that we in some way give meaninglessness... meaning?
+Mercanary artist aha yes indeed. The Theory of Everything. Nothing matters but we feel it does, Einstein used music in his example (paraphrase) " you can describe music as a series of pressure waves but you cannot describe how music makes you feel" and that is where the answer to everything you've ever wanted to knows lies; and what also makes me smile. Maybe it's God, Maybe it's nothing. But for a brief period one can feel "something"
ay
and that I believe is the meaning of life
+Mercanary artist I'm glad we're on the same page. Go search for those moments that make feel that feeling. Some people climb mountains for sport. but they have yet to see what you've seen. The view is much different then. Goodnight!
"Give me your money"
EA - 2016
it should be EA - every year of its existence
idk, EA lately has been surprisingly good natured with companies like ubisoft trying to take their place as worst company of the year.
Yeah I gotta agree, EA seems to be at least trying to better themselves a little, especially with how much they have improved Origin, whereas Ubisoft seems to just be digging themselves into a deeper and deeper hole.
"i want that"
"EA seems to be at least trying to better themselves a little"
Fast forward a few months and we got the BF2 debacle. Capitalists only play nice when it suits them.
It all makes sense now.
Anyone else getting a "Life is meaningless chaos and always the same no matter what form it takes" feeling from this?
Everything is chaos. Things can't happen if everything bis in order, that's just the nature of reality imo
7:40 to 8:03 that crazy animation is amazing
fr
MMM! DO I LIKE FISHSTICKS! I COULD EAT DEM ALL DAY LONG!
That's it. That's the answer.
Eww fish the gross version of chicken
@@bland9876 Eww chicken the gross version of beef
@@AmorphisBob the fish sticks my mom used to feed me as a kid we're so disgusting she stopped buying them that's why I don't like any kind of fish product that looks like a chicken product if you could get fish in some other kind of way then it's okay
@@bland9876 IM GONNA SUE YOU
i resonate highly with that guy who just says "what?" over and over again
By the same person that brought you "My Spoon is Too Big".
The more things change, the more things stay the same.
That was deep, bro.
John Donn
How is that deep? This is sincerely the first time I have ever seen a logical fallacy exist in one sentence.
Pretty sure he was being sarcastic
How about "the greater the difference in the variables, the easier it becomes to identify the constants"? Is that logical enough?
BAH
MENNEN OF LAHF
“‘Doa massa-to la jamapumov-vu la ve-la, meoning of life?’
‘Boh! Meoning of life! Huh! Achu ka zoku. La jaquizo pu. Kali do biondo la quemage. Kali do zhozonto rewosh! Kali do prondo roshqualla. Kali to yo feronn-numo. Ey lonto fomo- bwahr importo-roosh: Ban Kali don yontu! Kali doy an mansch! Kali do yontu, je pombo de rest vor Luther. Und ve le meoning of life? Boh! Bo mo tzoler jesh sha ploque perbe muther...’”
- Don Hertzfeldt, 2013
WHAT DOES IT MEAN ? IM NOT A NATIVE ENGLISH SPEAKER AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH I WHATCHED IT AT LEAST 30 TIMES
@@olivierwirz726 it's an alien language you're only supposed to make out the phrase "meaning of life"
Ok thank now I can rest
@@chrissyjo420 And I think there's a couple more nonsense words that sound like words in English. "Importo-roosh" might mean something like "This is important", "mansch" sounds like German "mensch" for man (slang in English for cool/powerful man, i.e. "He's an absolute Mensch"), and it even sounded like the older alien was religiously talking about Kali (Hindu goddess) and Luther (Protestant Christian reformer) as authority figures while he's trying to lecture the little guy.
That's all my reading of what I think the words sound like, but y'all feel free to come up with your own! It's a bit of a Rorschach test anyway, since it is all gibberish.
@@brendansmith5529 cool analysis but given hertzfeldt and especially his comments on this particular film I don't think he intended there to be anything to decode in it. I've found this quote pretty helpful in interpreting the whole thing.
"That film [The Meaning of Life] played children’s film festivals- none of my stuff had ever really done that before. And when I talk to kids about it, they really get it. They understand the movie the first time they see it. A lot of folks try to decode movies. They’re trying to figure out a puzzle that might not be there. Kids see it, and-OK, here we are, earth, and it goes around the universe and it comes back to earth, and then here’s this… They accept what they see and don’t try to outthink the movie."
The ,,2001: A Space Odyssey" of RUclips-videos
Disappointed Turtle I was thinking the same thing! such a great movie
...I feel like I finally understand space odyssey after reading this comment. Huh
this guy is so creative, and i find myself totally hooked on his stories unfolding even though i have no idea what they mean, i dig it
Possibly my favorite thing about recently rediscovering these movies is that at different parts of my life the movies have meant entirely different things. Don is a genuine master of surreal art.
I love the last part where it's weird and we can't understand what is being said and it then and then the stars come and you're like "Oh, he/she/they is/are looking at the stars". That's a connection there.
This touches my soul. Having just read The Doors of Perception and Heaven and Hell by Aldous Huxley, I'm finding so much that relates
+Eli Roasting yes indeed, the cover for Fragile. One of my favorite album covers ever
When I first saw this, I was amazed at how the video was interpreted, and I thought about it from time to time. Glad I have found it once again.
makes me feel small. i love it.
I return to this a couple of times a year, to put life, the universe, and everything back into perspective.
this is a gorgeous mood piece, and i stand by "mood piece". you can argue its high concepts and such all you like, but he made this as a humorous retort to the idea of high concept. he plays humanity as a bunch of staggering morons stating motives, other beings as a bunch of group-thinking, ever changing oddities, and then proceeds to explain the meaning of life in a fake language, which in itself is nonsense. he is a master at playing with concept and turning it into mood.
What even is a high concept
@@wowisntitanamazinglyamazin9550 its a concept that is high. duh
Underrated
@@dante224real1 I'm high rn
i like at 4:40 when it shows the sun is just another star, its like even though life is just a tiny natural occurrence in the universe it doesn't make it any less meaningful to be part of it
this guy gets it
are any atheists actually happy with the fact that they're going to die and have no meaning to anything
yeah, you're alive, so you may as well enjoy it
Diamond Miner Animaniac you didn't answer my question you just said that you should enjoy life
Yeah, that's their mentality. I find it kind of selfish, actually.
My roommate doesn't believe in anything, so his idea of life is to "just enjoy it". Which means he can do whatever he wants because there are no consequences for his actions.
In my experience, atheists have a major problem with being held accountable. (braces for hate)
I'm confused...
Love this guy's animation. I hope he makes another series like it's such a beautiful day
The meaning of life is live life. That's it. No deeper meaning, every thing else is conjecture, human's like to find patterns where none exist, we like to find meaning where none exist. For example, double rainbow. What does it mean? Doesn't mean anything.
Have fun with your life, try to make it a good one, because when your gone all that is left is the good (or bad) you leave behind.
By your standards that is also conjecture.
Oarqvs Rodte
Yes it is! It's just my humble opinion.
It's your life, live it the way you like.
why do you even listen to yourself?
Oarqvs Rodte
Because I am such a scintillating conversationalist.
Cilly Honey Your purpose is to be a comedian.
It's amazing how each end every one of these characters seem to have a unique and well-defined personality.
Don idk if you'll ever see this, but you're truly an inspiration. I watch this video so much it's probably unhealthy. I'm always checking your feed for new stuff. I absolutely love your art style and the messages you convey.
For those layman who don’t understand the accolades or who see this as simple- it’s because you don’t understand how damn hard what he does is!!! I have a BFA, I can draw portraits that people will mistake as photographs- but....ummm, so can a ton of other artists. There is nothing unique or special about that. Having this kind of vision and restraint is extremely rare...in my opinion it’s the hardest to accomplish. This is why his peers recognize his talent and the praise is very well deserved.
The most important works of art are representative of current culture in a reflective way so that everyone that interacts with it will have a different interpretation informed by their own experiences. Good or bad....if it affects you, makes you think, sticks with you... then it’s meaningful. Meaningful art is not required to be ‘pretty’ or comfortable because it’s not meant to be passive.
For me, the meaning of life is encapsulated at 10:09... it’s subtle but brilliant!
Somehow the creatures in the second half still seem human enough that I can’t help but feel a mix of sad and scared
"Rawr rawr rawr" That's what I heard. XD
very Stanly Kubrick and fantasia something that means nothing to some and has a deep message to others
Trying to get the deep meaning, it’s hard
7:39 - 8:05 INCREDIBLE. I WISH IT LASTED SO MUCH LONGER. I COULD WATCH THAT FOR SO LONG. AND THE MUSIC. OH!
The last second smile really gets to me…
Don't you ever stop, Don, you beautiful man
It all makes sense! The meaning of life is to... Is to, is to EVOLVE! It's so beautiful!
No you silly pickle, it is to eat fish sticks all day long
Nah Nah guys you're both being nincompoops
The meaning of life is to put numbers together!
THANK YOU - finally a high quality version of this masterpiece online.....never take it down, i show it to my students every year
The amount of work it took to execute this is mind-boggling.
So, I am what I am, and go on... but it's not really enought. Thanks for your works Don. Im very inspired by "Such a beautiful day"
The True Meaning of life is...
That there is none, just shut up and enjoy living
The meaning of life is to die..what, too dark?
+I dont need your opinion Oh
42
I dont need your opinion What you've got to be kidding me! Death exists and it will make us die! Are you Albert Einstein you son of a gun!
I dont need your opinion are you actually trying to make a point with that or are you just attempting to sound smart by insulting others
what I got from this is that we live in a mad world were everyone is focused only on their problems which makes them not able to see the beauty around them. And that this is the same no matter where you go. That last part, the small creature was coming on to something like an epiphany but that older creature scolding him and saying thinking about life is foolish and its all about survival or something like that.
"it's such a beautiful day" changed my life.
Thank you, Mr. Hertzfeldt, for your profound and hilarious work.
This might be the greatest thing I've ever seen. Love the Tchaikovsky.
+TheGabrielbowater
What is the song at 7:35?
+David Lawlor it's from the Nutcracker
Which Scene?
(of the ballet)
No idea sorry
Life.. don't talk to me about life.
Ness Franklin Like, that was fucking beautiful...but what?
42.
Love the Hitchhikers Guide reference.
Ness Franklin Damn. Top 5 best comments on youtube. Don Hertzfeldt level shit.
Ness Franklin dude you are fucking majestic
Still perfect and beautiful after all these years. What a lovely work of art this is.
i'm so glad this is public again! it's one of my favorite short films ever! I haven't been able to re-view it in like 8 years!
i really love the inside of this guys brain
Interesting. All the words that the aliens speak in their foreign language are different from ours except for the phrase "meaning of life." As though it were an idiomatic phrase at that point. It's ... intriguing linguistically.
Thanks for the intresting content. Love from Mongolia. 🤗
Absolutely fantastic!
I'm convinced the part after the opening sequence could straight up induce schizophrenia in people with underlying psychological problems lmao
You know, every time I watch this vid and the conversation between the kid and its parent comes up their dialog in my head changes. One time he explained how the birds fly in the sky, the fish swim in the sea and as for you and me, at land we're meant to be. The kid ponders at the night sky, wondering if there was life in the universe and if so, what it would look like and if they also wondered what it was all about. Perhaps one day he could glimpse at them, just to see what their life was all about.
And it made me wonder, meaning of life might be just as simple as that: finding that place, that other, where you simply don't care anymore about what it means... and that you rather enjoy the ride as it lasts :)
Give me your money :D
You don't need to look at the stars. Even on earth there are so many beings existing and their way of life so foreign to us that we can't even imagine what it's like to be them, or how they conceive life. Or our ancestors being totally different beings than us and our species in billion of years morphing into beings that that will eventually be totally different from us, probably even horrifying.
It makes no sense, as the only sense to be found is in the life you currently live. Live in itself is senseless
Growth. We live to grow, death is but a byproduct and gentle reminder that we MUST grow.
The unbelievable aspect behind all of of those simple characters overlapping each other, being drawn over and over on single sheets in single frames is something in a field of unrealistic artistic integrity that I can't even comprehend.
Don Hertzfeldt is the prime example of complexity through simple measures.
really teaches you to let go of your shit and enjoy , to live in the present. Its all you have and ever will have! The future not yet here is in reality only the present. The past which has gone was the present we missed! No more! TIME TO TRULY LIVE NOW!
Standing ovation. I also cried during this. Great job, Don.
I just want to thank you for all of your productions. They have and continue to have inspired and relieved me since I was very young. Anyone who wants to know me well must, among other things, know some of my favorites of your videos. Thank You ^-^
Lovely. I love the swing from the trivial to the cosmic. Great graphics, nice score!
the only true thing I can count on, what will always be there, is the profound appreciation I feel when watching this video or the other few films that speak to my humanity and my search for beauty. always. always. thank you. I don't feel so alone.
Why doesn't this have more views? Pure genius.
"I do not know what I may appear to the world, but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me." Sir Isaac Newton
The scary part is how accurate it is.
Mr. Hertzfeldt, I discovered your work but very recently, and I've seen this piece for the first time but a couple weeks ago, and I must say I find it sublime and marvelous. It drives me to tears every time I see it and it's possible the best short, or piece in general I've seen in my life so far.
I thank you profusely for sharing this with us.
wow, i remember seeing the vid where he was animating all these people one by one....amazing how it looks now after it was finished. its been a while sense i watched any of his vids, but this is truly awesome!
i love this, dude. thank you for making it, Don
Really, really bizarre, but oddly poignant.
"Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans."
-- John Lennon
this guy reminds me of Haruki Murakami. their work are for people who with mental disorder,people who been through pain and depression,people who try to look into the darkest corner of their soul to find the answer for what they dont even know.there are no explaination for all this.just simply how you feel.you feel it and find yourself into it.thats all.
wow.... this film is an inspiration to animators everywhere
Rock
You are a rock
Grey
You are grey
Like a rock
Which you are
Rock
good reference my sir,good reference
I'm a m'am, sir, but thank you.
Amelia Shakespeare so sorry my lady,now,allow me to question:do you watch the show?if what is your favorite of mane six?
Yes, I do. My favorites are Rarity and Rainbow Dash. What about yours.
Amelia Shakespeare my are:Rainbow Dash and Twilight.is good to see another RD fan,and about the Cutie Mark Crusaders,what is your favorite?
I refuse to voice my opinion in the comments for fear of reprisal.
MarmaladeJacket Good choice!
Well done and thank you for giving me an opening, to do just that of which you speak.
EdgyFuckwad
wow really edgy bro
I disagree.
T.S. Millar
No.
Absolutely stunning
i felt so happy. i don't know why i felt it. Happy.
The cinematography is so damn good in this.