Every day millions of tons of food are thrown away, often carelessly. Rarely, while we throw in the garbage can what remains on our plates, we wonder where it really goes.
Qianhui Yu, a Chinese animator living in London, tried to give an answer to this question through her short film “Wastopia“, presented as a graduation project at the end of the animation course at the Royal College of Art in London.
The animator said she began to reflect on how much food is wasted every day after watching several Mukbang videos. For the uninitiated, Mukbangs are a type of video popular on YouTube and other social networks in which creators talk about aspects of their lives or address different topics while eating. The idea was born to keep users company during meals, but, in order to increase views, creators started to make videos in which they eat a larger amount of food than normal and that many times they can’t finish.
So, to raise awareness, Qianhui Yu created a world where waste is alive and imagined a place where everything we throw away eventually comes together. But know this, the one in “Wastopia” is not a happy ending.
Credits:
Direction, animation: Qianhui Yu
Composer: Andrew McDonnell
Sound design & mixing: Henry Sims
