OF#28 - Happy places, anger, and the magic of animation
What have Denmark and Finland figure out about happiness? Why do we get angry? And what makes animation such a special artform?
Hi there, I’m Thomas Najar. Welcome to issue 28 of Open Frame.
Starting this week, Open Frame will be published on Sundays. Let’s check it out!
The happiest places on earth
The United Nations has been producing the World Happiness Report since 2011, when the Bhutanese government proposed a resolution encouraging national governments to focus more on the happiness and well-being of their peoples. For the last several years, Finland and Denmark have topped the report.
How do they do it? Among other things, lots of government support, emphasizing social relationships, encouraging work-life balance, and saunas!!
Understanding anger
Ryan Martin is a professor of psychology and expert on anger. He has developed a model that describes why we get angry and what we can do about it.
People often attribute their anger directly to external events: ‘I got mad because of the traffic.’ ‘When my boss undermined me, it made me so mad.’ In fact, a better explanation is that anger emerges from three interacting factors: a provocation, the person’s interpretation of the provocation, and their mood at the time.
The provocation is the trigger. It’s what happened right before you got angry, the thing that ‘made’ you mad. Maybe you were cut off in traffic, insulted by a coworker, or had your wifi drop out while you were in the middle of working. Some situations are particularly likely to provoke anger: ones in which your goals are blocked or something slows you down – ie, things that make you feel frustrated – or situations where you experience unfairness or injustice.
Dr. Martin describes how our interpretations of events and underlying mood set us off. By paying attention to these , we can respond resourcefully to anger and reorganize our world to defuse anger before it happens.
Firstly, you can avoid some common provocations when you decide it’s best to do so. Sometimes, things happen that can’t be avoided, of course, but there are other times when you might unnecessarily do things that you know cause anger. You don’t always need to invite these negative experiences into your life. For example, you can choose to ignore or hide irritating political Facebook posts, or choose a different route to work to avoid common traffic frustrations. While it’s not always healthy to avoid common frustrations, it isn’t always healthy to approach them either.
You can also manage anger by reappraising the provocations that can’t be avoided. In other words, evaluate your thoughts and ask yourself if they’re reasonable or accurate. When a restaurant gets your order wrong, you can consider what the real consequence is going to be. Will it ruin your day, or will you be able to adjust? When someone makes a mistake at work, you can ask yourself if that makes them a ‘total idiot’ or if this represents a simple mistake that they’ll work to correct. The goal here, though, shouldn’t be to lie to yourself and pretend things are fine when they’re not. The goal should be to embrace thoughts that are accurate and representative of what’s actually happening around you.
Can we observe our anger rationally while it’s happening? Would people rather not being angry? Who knows? Still, it’s a compelling model.
Ode to animation
Cinema Cartography have produced a spellbinding ode to the art of animation. Where cinema bends and distorts reality, animation manufactures it from scratch. The freedom of this art enables deep and profound explorations of the imagination, the unconscious, and mythic symbolism.
This incomparable video essay explores the finest works that have enlarged and stretched the boundaries of animation as the art of pure fantasy.
Tweet of the week
I listened to a lot of music in the mid 2000’s, but I don’t remember it like this. Am I missing something??
That’s it for this week folks. Have a great week, stay safe, and remember to be awesome!
Thomas