scĀTMAN

director's commentary

i initially conceptualized this animation after watching Toshio Matsumoto's 1975 experimental short Ātman (which you can view for free here.)

the original idea was just to parody to the film directly; with a seated masked figure, an orbiting camera, and a distorted version of Scatman's World playing over it all.
The joke being that Ātman + Sc = Scatman.

it was when i explored the meaning of Ātman, both the film and the word, that my idea for this animation evolved.

the Ātman, in hindu philosophies, describes the self - the essence of one's being. it is the belief in these philosophies that the Ātman is eternal and unchanging, persisting over multiple lifetimes.
it directly opposes the bhuddist concept of the Anattā, the non-self. the recognition that all phenomena are impermanent.

so here i had this conflict, and upon looking at scat-singing as a subject matter i found i had another. scat-singing (or, scatting) is primarily a form of vocal improvisation. it is the heat-of-the-moment. it is stream of consciousness. however, once a performance is recorded it loses this quality entirely. it becomes unchanging. no matter how many times you listen to Scatman's World, it will always sound the same.

the unchanging nature of a recorded song versus the ephemerality of live scat-singing create a contrast representative of the Ātman and the Anattā.
you could argue that this is all a bit of a stretch, but in my mind it's a good connection between the two subjects. especially when considering that the only reason it came about was to justify a joke.

from this thesis the animation grew into what it is now, holding very little resemblance to the film that inspired it. the presence of the Hannya mask is the only real remnant of the initial idea.

original description

i couldn't keep that pace up if i tried,,