About "Paradise" | 2023
“My life is your vacation,” is just one of the many phrases you will see on the social media accounts of North American mountain town residents. Behind the façade of living a life in paradise, lies a sinister side of the esteemed mountain lifestyle known as the “Paradise Paradox”.
While the mountain towns of North American boast a revered lifestyle that appears to outsiders as the lap of luxury, suicide rates in the Rocky Mountains are 3x that of the national average earning the region the dark nickname of “The Suicide Belt”.
People move to mountain towns in the pursuit of happiness but are instead greeted by an avalanche of hardships including severe income disparity, financial instability (as a result of the lack of affordable housing exponentially higher living expenses), the transient nature of these communities (resulting in the lack of multigenerational relationships & deep social attachments), geographic isolation, substance abuse disorders, lack of mental health resources & the scientific effect of altitude on the brain’s chemistry. This short film, “Paradise” is a contemporary exploration of this complex experience.
The film begins with a group of people performing a series of arm movements while dressed in long green gloves; the color chosen to represent greed. This scene is coined as “the board meeting” in which hypothetical group of policy makers who are deliberating ways to resolve the Paradise Paradox. The meeting ends with the group failing to find a sustainable solution to aid the crumbling local community. This is depicted by the moment in which one dancer hits the big red button. Enter the green party hat…
The green party hat is used to emphasize the juxtaposition between the dampened demeanor of the person wearing the hat, submerged in an energetic dance scene to the upbeat musical score “Are You Having Any Fun?”. The juxtaposition is further emphasized by the numb expression on the face of the person who is wearing the hat. This juxtaposition represents a falsified sense of fulfillment while living in a place that is esteemed to equate to happiness.
Throughout the film there are also jabs at substance abuse & isolation. The hat also serves as a symbol of the failures to conjure real change & the disillusion that substance abuse issues add to the mayhem of a community already deep in turmoil.
I hope that by exploring the concepts of the "Paradise Paradox" I can raise awareness for the mental health struggles faced by mountain communities across North America & help generate resources to diminish them.