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Dec 2: Sympathy for the Fish (Ace & Son)

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When it comes down to it, most days during the “holidays” are just ordinary days. This short is a Holiday Story because it’s a story that just happens to happen during the holidays. This humorously honest animation of an unusual (or maybe typical) childhood memory rings true for those who want to leave the gilded Christmas image for the sentimentalists.

Director Richard O’Connor, founder of Ace & Son MPC, gives us a little backstory (oh, now everything makes sense!):

Interesting moment, fact or point of inspiration from your production:
“Sympathy…” was intended to be a Christmas greeting.  The piece was (almost) entirely animated and painted straight ahead on paper.  We sent original pieces of production art to a few hundred people in lieu of cards.

This is both a snide statement of my personal distaste for the holiday (the content of the script being backhandedly Christmas) and attempt to distribute an actual gift for people.

Most memorable Christmas moment:
My strongest memory of Christmas is disappointment – never getting Hungry Hungry Hippos or Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots.  By the time I was ten or eleven, I had become prematurely existential and was disgusted by my seduction into conspicuous consumption.  At that point I stopped celebrating the winter solstice and the turning of the calendar in any meaningful way.  My parents, having their own problems, didn’t much notice although my mother would continue to send me Snoopy-related trinkets up until a few years ago.

A few years prior to this revelation I recall getting upset at my sister (who is 2 years my senior) for claiming that she only wanted “World Peace” for Christmas.  The impractically bothered me as much as the impossible price tag for a stocking stuffer from a pre-teen.  This was probably around the time of Band Aid’s “Do They Know It’s Christmas”.  Now there’s the subject for a depressing film.

At the top of the Christmas list:
World Peace

#AdventAnimation is a daily showcase of holiday themed animation. If you are working on something holiday themed that will be released sometime between 1 December and Christmas Eve, drop me a note and I will put it into consideration.

In this article:

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