After watching Bea de Visser’s short, we have found the conclusion of ‘The animal therefore I am’- the woman involved in this short wants to demonstrate that ‘the animal c’est moi!’

When Parker encounters his own projection, the situation goes out of hand. Normally, human beings have problems trying to cope with others, as we all are very different, and most of the times it's hard to find people who are on the same page with you. In this case, Parker has a huge problem in trying to cope with himself.

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Based on the description of the short, the purpose of the whole narrative is unclear – a woman and three animals are all in an enclosed space, discovering themselves, trying to cope one with the other. At one point, the woman grabs a guitar and tries to make a sound that will subliminally connect all four of them. We see what the animal sees, we see what the woman sees, and we can try to feel the fear as the animals feel it when something dangerous is around. The whole short is like a poem that focuses more on the sensorial part and less on the words and the power behind the crafted imagery. The finality of this whole short-experiment is unclear, and so is the overall message, as we have tried to see it from different angles.

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We might be wrong as conceptual narratives are not the strongest point in our book, and maybe the whole construction has a ‘beyond the picture’ way of being perceived. Apart from that, we must applaud the grace of Erin Hill – she is like a ballerina winning the tryouts from the first try; her acting skills are giving this short the consistency the story forgets to foreshadow. ‘The animal therefore I am’ looks more like a music video for an indie rock band that wants to blend poetry with theatre in the best way possible.