The Hamster
Chuan Tsai
This is an experimental animation entirely created by AI, featuring a hamster and a Taiwanese cabbage white butterfly as the main characters. The story begins with a human purchasing the hamster and bringing it home. Guided by the owner's tattooed butterfly, the hamster embarks on a journey through time and space. However, it ultimately discovers that this adventure is merely an illusion, and it remains trapped in its cage. The film uses the hamster as a metaphor for modern individuals constrained by societal structures, unable to achieve true freedom.
Video URL
Character
Hamster
Protagonist, representing those who want to escape from a specific system (its cage).
Butterfly
Tattoo on the neck & a helper to the hamster while time traveling (dream).
Human
The person who bought the hamster, representing someone who is content with the system and tries to make others conform to it.
Base
Genre
AI-generated animation
Concept
The Intransigence of Systems
Length
4 min 43 sec
Language
No dialogue
Tools Used
Creative Motivation
Last semester, a friend bought a hamster and brought it to the dorm. After a few quiet days, it started trying to escape. Its first escape happened when my friend bought a huge running wheel that made the cage lid unable to close properly. She covered the cage with a black cloth before sleeping, but it still successfully climbed out.
With daily escape attempts, the hamster even learned to open the cage door. We tried various methods to block it, like using papers and plastic sheets, and always ensuring the cage was securely closed before bed. However, it always found a way to escape. By the end of the semester, it was escaping daily.
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This semester, my friend got a new cage without climbable wires, only smooth wooden and acrylic boards, and that big running wheel fits properly. So far, no matter how hard the hamster tries, it cannot escape. We can even leave the lid open before sleeping, confident it will not get out.
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As the person who spent the most time in the dorm, I was usually the one to catch it, luring it out with its food bowl and putting it back in the cage. However, when I saw that it truly couldn't escape anymore, I felt a bit melancholic. It seemed like the system always finds the perfect cage for you. Just as people within the system disregard individual thoughts, we, as humans, don't consider the hamster's feelings. Not to mention it cost less than NT$200. I realized I was projecting my own feelings onto the hamster's situation, so I decided to create this work.
Character Analysis
Human
The modern owner is the butterfly in the dream. The butterfly can coexist as harmonious equal with the hamster in a natural environment without any restrictive systems. They help each other, and the butterfly even sacrifices itself to protect the hamster. However, as a modern person raised to conform to systems, human is impossible to empathize with the hamster. Instead, she handles situations with the system she is accustomed to, an attitude that naturally extends to her pet.
Butterfly
Why do I choose a butterfly tattoo as a symbol?
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Butterflies have the impression to fly freely in natural environments. They are considered as the indicator species for environmental changes. In polluted urban areas, only a few butterflies can survive. In my experience, the Taiwan cabbage white butterfly is the most commonly seen butterfly in cities and the one I believe is best adapted to urban life. The "Taiwan cabbage white butterfly" is one species of butterflies, but its traits (urban) differ from the traditional image of butterflies (natural). This contradiction mirrors the dual role of the butterfly to the hamster, as both a friend and an owner. Moreover, in Chinese culture, butterflies are strongly connected with dreams due to a philosopher named Zhuangzi. This make the butterfly a fitting character for linking the hamster's time travel.
Additionally, my friend, who is the hamster's owner in real life, has a butterfly tattoo on her neck. It is a representation for her determination to better understand Zhuangzi's philosophy. The core philosophy of Zhuangzi is about naturalness and the equality of things. He emphasizes the importance of following the natural way to realize one's existence. Considering his philosophy, the hamster escapes the cage by its own effort. It is a natural behavior. Yet, we ended up catching it back in the cage, which is a contradiction to the philosophy. It turns out that we have already adapted to the system, and tried to make an animal conform to it. I feel ironic about this.