Ana Tortos’ animation tells us to make a joke when relationships get tough

Date
12 September 2016

We’ve all been there, looking across at our lover or life partner and getting quietly annoyed about the way they eat, how terrible they are at table tennis or why on earth they insist on wearing novelty pants. In this School of Life animation, created by Ana Tortos, we’re taught the value of finding humour in our relationships in order to broach these awkward and upsetting issues with a smile.

“We want to find a way to be annoyed with and criticised one another’s most maddening sides without eliciting drama, with a lightness and a special kind of diplomatic immunity,” the soothing voiceover explains. The charming film goes on to show how exaggerating a problem in a jokey way allows a person to recognise their behaviour. Ana’s simplistic but characterful visuals set the deadpan tone of the film perfectly, as her character’s well-observed movements emulate the words of the narrator.

Humour in Relationships takes on a slightly different style compared to the last project we featured of Ana’s. Here the London-based animator rids her characters of outlines and constructs them out of softly coloured shapes with lop-sided faces. From a naked couple lazing in the grass to a couple wearing outrageous animal hats, Ana adds even more humour to these advice-riddled scenarios presented to us.

Above

Ana Tortos: Humour in Relationships (still)

Above

Ana Tortos: Humour in Relationships (still)

Above

Ana Tortos: Humour in Relationships (still)

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About the Author

Rebecca Fulleylove

Rebecca Fulleylove is a freelance writer and editor specialising in art, design and culture. She is also senior writer at Creative Review, having previously worked at Elephant, Google Arts & Culture, and It’s Nice That.

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