Showing the Importance of Practical Wisdom through Animation

Ever since I was young, I have had this fascination with humanity as human complexity knows no bounds and I never got bored trying to understand. Often, people are hung up on the idea of living a “happy” life thinking that a “happy” life is the key to living what is better called, a fulfilling life. After prodding at this notion extensively, I believe that the key to a fulfilling life is not continuous happiness – it’s impossible – but rather, practical wisdom.

Practical wisdom, or phronesis “combines the will to do the right thing with the skill to figure out what the right thing is” (Schwartz). Those that can find fulfillment in life do so because they have the skill to find out what “the right thing” is that leads to this fulfillment and then decide after thorough judgement how to make this sense of fulfillment a reality.

Once I recognized its importance, I have done my best to instill its core values into my life, which has improved it considerably. Unfortunately, I have come to realize that this kind of skill is not directly taught in traditional schools despite its glaring importance in everyday life. Though experience is a teacher, not all students are equipped with the needed tools to learn from their experiences so teaching them such values directly can be much more efficient for their growth. I noticed that people lacking this skill, regardless of age, always have troubles confronting and dealing with myriad negative situations and end up reacting poorly to such stimuli.

This is why my Personal Project’s aim is to show the importance of practical wisdom through animation. Since practical wisdom is often overlooked, I wanted to use my animation to demonstrate its importance, especially for viewers that find it difficult to comprehend the relevance of self-reflection and making the right choices when life takes its course.

Global Context

This project’s global context is personal and cultural expression, specifically focusing on how “students will explore the ways in which we discover and express ideas, feelings, nature, culture, beliefs and values” (Global Contexts Definition). My animation is in essence an exploration of expressing my belief that practical wisdom is essential to living a fulfilling life. As our dependence on technology continues to increase, especially due to Covid-19, practical wisdom becomes more paramount in helping us cope with unfamiliar possibly life-changing conditions.

Product

The final outcome is a four-minute animation titled “For Mom” depicting the story of a young girl and her mother’s strained relationship. Since I aimed to instill the message of “the importance of practical wisdom”, I decided to revolve the story around the themes ‘isolation’, ‘longing’ and ‘regret’. This animation faces the consequences of actions we take to escape the reality that we live in and how such consequences are dealt with.

The animation appropriately reflects the global context of personal and cultural expression. A firm rule I try to live by is to always find the good in the bad, to enjoy life in and its imperfections wholly. This value is something I wanted to share so I learnt to “explore the ways” I can “express” values. Throughout the whole process of animating and planning I learnt to “reflect on, extend and enjoy our creativity” as it pushed me to continue creating and discarding art to achieve the most desirable outcome (IBO). I also responded to the criteria accordingly, ticking the boxes for: Story, Design and Animation. My product was able to depict a story of relatable family issues, packaged with entrancing design and expression, all of which was tied up into an artistic fluid animation.

Admittedly, I had no idea my product would have turned out the way it did. Even I surprised me, in a good way. Although, I did realize that there were some missing story beats that could have vastly improved the animation had they been there. My editing skills were also lacking in the music department. Original music could have brought my animation to the next level but even then, I am already satisfied with my creation.

Watch my animation below!

Reflection

This was my first year being an IB learner and it has pushed me to open my horizons. In retrospect, the profiles that resonated with me the most throughout this whole project were risk-taker, balanced, and inquirer.

Risk-taker was a definite one because I had never 2D-animated, created a 3D set, a plasticine action figure, a stop-motion animation nor edited anything like this before. In other words, I had a lot of things I had never done and I had to learn how to do them quick, with results that met my standards. The process was fraught with confusion and problems but I learnt to “explore new roles, ideas and strategies” in “unfamiliar situations” in order to accomplish my goal (IBO).

Another was balanced. Before this, I was in a constant battle with my own insecurities and expectations. I was no stranger to being stranded in my own thoughts pressuring myself to always be academically successful even when it was harmful. Through this project, I manifested my intellectual and emotional conflict through an artistic medium, which was immensely gratifying. Before this, I also had not realized the significance of support from loved ones and its positive effect on my self-perception; human compassion never fail to surprise me in all the right ways (See Appendix 1D.2). Thus, the importance of “intellectual, physical and emotional balance to achieve personal well-being” is something everyone should know, IB learner or not (IBO).

Finally, inquirer. This project fostered my curiosity regarding the key to living a life worth living and find answers to my own dilemma, not through just my own research and moments of thought but through those that continue to inspire me. I learnt to “conduct inquiry and research” while growing my “love for learning”. I also learnt to become a communicator and express my own thoughts by carefully instilling what I have learnt into an art piece that others can enjoy and understand (IBO). Being an IB learner has taught me to be more confident in my abilities, while pushing me to continue striving to learn.

IB Learner Reflection

Lastly, my grasp of the global context, personal and cultural expression and its application in my daily life was greatly enhanced after this project. Not only did I gain confidence within expressing myself through my art, I also got to maximize this opportunity through learning different artistic mediums to satisfy my burgeoning need to challenge myself. Despite never intending for my art to reflect my own life, I found that there were more similarities in my character’s world with mine than I initially thought. I did understand that art reflects the artist but this was the first time I realized I was actually manifesting that notion. It was delightful to process that as a fact and it pushed me to reassess my understanding of myself. In the end, Personal Project was a reassurance to me; if I could create art for people that needed to see it, then I can see what I need and strive to mold my reality into one where I can say, “I have lived a fulfilling life.”