– Lithuanian director Birutė Sodeikaitė’s short animation explores the hardships of a buffalo’s masculinity and fatherhood
Toxic masculinity is a concept which has become prominent recently due to the work of controversial American author Jordan Peterson. It functions like a set of norms – calm, stoic, dominant – which must be followed if someone wants to act as “a real man”. In her eight-minute puppet-animation Blessed, which just screened at Animateka, Lithuanian writer-director Birutė Sodeikaitė explores a different kind of masculine representation.
The protagonist is a nameless, macho, fuzzy, black buffalo with a raspy Batman-like voice. His tough and self-confident appearance recalls stereotypical traits of an idealised manly figure, as sometimes embodied in animals such as buffalo.
He talks about his conquests in the style of the famous Spanish lover Don Juan, but he confesses that he’s waiting for the right one to fall in love with. He manages to do just that and starts an affair with a snake – which could, of course, be interpreted as a symbol of eroticism and fertility.
When the buffalo learns he is going to become a father, his carefully constructed macho persona begins to crack. The shock is overwhelming, and the responsibilities of fatherhood terrify him. Yet he is determined not to repeat the mistakes of his own father, who abandoned him.
In one of the film’s most revealing moments, he insists that he wants to prove he “has the courage” – a line that cleverly subverts the crude masculine boast of “having balls”. It is amusing to notice that the buffalo puppet also has emphasised testicles, which quite literally suggests that he “has balls” and therefore should be brave enough.
This Lithuanian-Canadian co-production was created using stop-motion techniques, with the puppets and scenography crafted by Sodeikaitė herself. Blessed relies entirely on black and white, a choice that lends the setting a slightly sterile, almost timeless atmosphere. The absence of colour strips the world down to its essentials, directing the viewer’s attention to the characters.
It’s notable that Sodeikaitė chooses to explore a male protagonist this time, given that her previous three films have centred on female characters. In this way Blessed gains an additional layer – the director dissects male fragility from an external perspective, without taking away the character’s complexity. Sodeikaitė manages to play with the buffalo’s expressions of gender in a humorous, and not harmful way. She has the courage.
