To be or not to be... in a tin can. At least, that’s what Italian filmmaker Bruno Bozzetto is alluding to in his 1967 short film, Life in a Tin. In the film, there is a stark dichotomy between the real world, a place of cold colors and straight lines, and heaven, a world of warmth and cascading movement. In this essay, I will analyze how Bozzetto’s Life in a Tin compares orderly visual elements, such as straight lines and monotone colors, against organic, free-flowing components, like dazzling colors and fluid lines, in order to take the theme above a simple life story and into a commentary on time's hastiness and its ability to drain the originality and beauty out of existence. Bozzetto’s hand-drawn, 2D short film is a masterpiece that details the life of an everyday John Doe, but when one takes a step back, it is an observation on finding the beauty in life before it passes by. 

The characters and backgrounds of Life in a Tin interact with each other to heighten the mundanity of John Doe’s life through a lack of individuality from his surroundings. Throughout the film, we follow the life of John Doe from beginning to end in his tin world. The world is dreary, monotonous, and unoriginal. For the majority of the film, the only thing separating him from the background is the outline of his character. Otherwise, he is nearly the same color as his surroundings. There are a few colors here and there, but the majority of his, and every other character’s body is one blob of color with lines to give them features. However, there are glimpses of a heavenly world of warm colors that separate him from the background. The first time is on his way to school. Once he appears in this other world, his face fills out with color and dimension, insinuating that when he is in this other world, he is unique and his own person, rather than one of the masses. Even in terms of voice, throughout the film, there is no distinct voice that belongs to the main character. When any character talks, it is high-pitched and does not translate to any real statement. The only way voice seems to differ in this film is when John Doe is attending school. As he ages, the cacophony of sound coming from the buildings gets deeper in pitch. Other than that, it is hard to tell who is speaking because each character has the same pitch and tone. This foregrounds that John Doe is just one of the masses, and unoriginal in his existence, emphasizing the theme of time passing too quickly. When he is in the other world, he is his own person, and therefore, time seems to stop in order to allow his originality to flourish. In the tin world, John Doe does not stand out from his peers, and therefore, he has no real impact on those around him until his death gathers the largest amount of characters who mourns his death in a crowd of similar-looking bodies.

Another key element of Bozzetto’s film is the use of movement to show the dichotomy between an uneventful, redundant life and a beautiful heaven that encourages originality and admiration. As mentioned before, when John Doe is on his way to school, he walks in a very staccato, jerky way that is not realistic of any human movement, but when he crosses into this imaginative world where colors are bright and the lines are curvy, he stops moving in order to admire what is around him. For the first time, the movement comes from the camera, in languid pans and tilts that give a flowing sense to this other world. John Doe stays stagnant as the camera moves around to show this heavenly world, and he cherishes it. This is in stark contrast to his character later in the film when he goes back and forth between home and work. The camera is stationary, and all movement comes from John Doe running back and forth between the buildings, quicker and quicker each time, until he is a blur. The movement shows John Doe’s lack of originality by blurring out the few characteristics that belong to him. Not only that, but in trying to fight time – that passes either way – he loses whatever sense of individuality he has as well as his shape, until he is trapped, both metaphorically and visually, in a box, unable to exist let alone properly live. The only times he stops moving is when he is in the other world, in the car with his soon-to-be wife, and when he is dead. All of these symbolize his transition into this heavenly world, where he is allowed to simply sit and admire both the world and the time that has and will continue to pass.

Bozzetto’s Life in a Tin most notably stands out for its use of varying colors that symbolize John Doe’s fight against time and the realization that it is okay to let time pass as long as it is appreciated in the moment. As discussed earlier, the coloring of the background and characters is vital to understanding John Doe’s existence in this world. While he is in his world, the tin, the colors are muted and monotone. Almost everything is a shade of grey, blue, or tan, including the characters. There are, however, pops of color in this tin world, and as such, they draw the eye of the audience. Some of the objects that get their own color are John Doe’s books, the wedding dress, and the car during the drive-in movie theater date. These objects are not random. Each of them symbolizes a way to be transported out of his life in a tin. Books are commonly seen as tools of escapism, a way to broaden one’s mind and view the world differently. Wedding dresses are symbols of marriage, a new family, and the start of a new life. Finally, the car at the movie theater is a symbol of mental escapism because it is at a theater, as well as blossoming love between John Doe and his soon-to-be wife, and it is also a physical mode of transportation that can take him away. Therefore, it makes sense that when he has these objects, he transports to this other world, which, later, becomes heaven. When he is in heaven, the colors are significantly warmer and much brighter with shadows that give the whole world a sense of movement, depth, and realism. While the colors and shapes themselves are not indexical to the real world, the highlights and lowlights lend a sense of physical depth that much of the film lacks, lending it that realism that makes it much more familiar and comfortable to the audience. In these ways, the colors give John Doe a sense of individuality and realism that makes the audience aware of how ignorant he is as his life passes by. Because of the striking colors of the heavenly world, the audience looks forward to the glimpses of it, encouraging both John Doe and themselves to appreciate the beauty while it is there rather than getting too caught up in the everyday mundaneness of life.

In combination, the use of color, movement, and characterization in Bruno Bozzetto’s Life in a Tin creates a masterpiece of composition that really emphasizes his theme of time, life, and originality. Throughout the film, the audience watches John Doe’s life from beginning to end and realizes how the best parts of his life are when he takes time to really live and appreciate the world around him. Visually and emotionally, his admiration for life takes him and the audience to a place of beauty, comfort, and individuality. Life in a Tin is truly a commentary on what it means to be or not to be.