Speaker A
I've had 178 pools in my life none have survived for more than 42 days every time po went belly up my mother used to tell me to flush him so he could go to fish heaven in the ocean
A short animated film following a lonely character who keeps a fish named Paul safe, as anxieties about the outside world escalate, ending in an unexpected neighborly encounter.
Key Takeaways
- The film portrays anxiety and social isolation through the lens of protecting a pet fish.
- Escalating sensory and health-related fears create a vivid picture of the narrator's inner world.
- A chance act of kindness from a neighbor offers a hopeful resolution to the narrator's withdrawal.
- The story uses the fish as a metaphor for vulnerability and the desire for safety.
What the video covers
- The narrator recounts a history of fish who died quickly, with a childhood belief in fish heaven that is then undercut by facts about sewage processing.
- A new fish named Paul is introduced as the narrator's 'only friend' and is carried everywhere in a small bowl for protection.
- The narrator describes being told they have a condition that was once called 'special' and is now 'different,' and admits difficulty understanding other people.
- A delivery of fish food is needed, creating a crisis when supplies run out and the narrator must go outside to get more.
- Outdoor dangers such as sunburn, allergies, pollen, and airborne saliva droplets are catalogued in increasingly anxious, intrusive detail.
- The narrator's panic escalates as they imagine a neighbor, Sophie, delivering the food and the risks of answering the door.
- The narrator attempts to leave the house, repeating 'I have to get off this' in a heightened state of distress.
- A neighbor, Sophie, speaks warmly, saying she watched the narrator cross the street and helped bring them and Paul inside with Mr. Jones.
- Sophie explains she put Paul in her own fish tank, where he is happy and safe.
- The neighbor apologizes for her own scatterbrained behavior and offers the narrator a package she had been holding for them.
Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown
Speaker A
and join all the other little fishes really there's no such thing everything flushed down the toilet will pass through 62 multi- gauged highdensity plastic and ceramic pipes free sand filters and chlorination before reaching the processing plant poll number
Speaker A
179 day one you're my only [Music] friend welcome to my world [Music] I put you in a small bowl I'm going to bring you everywhere so this time I can keep you safe people say I have a condition when
Speaker A
I was little it was called special now it's called different or that I've lost my marbles marbles is another word for brains in short I don't understand other people we're having more fish food deliver today it's important to
Speaker A
eat I'm going to keep you safe Paul we don't go outside much it's a sunny day that's how it begins we could get a sunburn boils blisters and a third of all cancers are sun related also days of a high pollen
Speaker A
count trigger allergies where sinuses overproduce mucus see that aerplane there just this September a stowaway that's a person plummed to the ground and landed in a residential area in West London he died Sophie's are already head that that
Speaker A
means her her hair is red not her face we never say hello but we collect our newspapers together [Music] [Music] war war murder War don't worry Paul we're safe in here the fish food it's here wait wait the truck is going to
Speaker A
Sophie's house PO number 10 died because we ran out of food you need that fish food there's no more left Sophie might bring it over then I'll have to answer the door the average person sprays about 2.5 microscopic saliva droplets per word she
Speaker A
might have allergies from the pollen her sinuses will overproduced mucus and there'd be excessive leakage or the sun might give her a blistering rash she come up to the door and the blisters she explode and and Paul you'll
Speaker A
die have to get that fish food I have to get that fish food I have to get that fish food ready this is it focus focus [Music] I have to get off this I have to get off I have to
Speaker A
[Music] [Music] [Music] hey there I watched you cross the street quite a show you put on there you don't come out much do you I hardly ever see you so you can imagine how surprised I was and oh how I hurried
Speaker A
outside to see if you were all right I had Mr Jones help me bring you inside he's such a nice man don't you think and your fish why you ever thought to bring him along I don't know but don't you
Speaker A
worry I saved him from sure Peril and he's just fine I dropped him in my fish tank he's a happy little fish now hello oh I'm sorry hello I am such a scatter brain I really am didn't even say hello
Speaker A
I tell you the other day I put the C three times before I actually made myself a cup of tea I have your package by the way I assume you were coming over to collect it right I would have been
Speaker A
happy to bring it I don't know [Music]
Topics:animated shortanxietysocial isolationneighborsfishlonelinesskindnessOut of BoundsThe Animation Workshopshort film
