A Short Film About The Problem Of Rivalry

One Man Band is an animated short film from Pixar, directed by Mark Andrews and Andrew Jimenez. In just four and a half minutes, it gives us the opportunity to reflect on the problem of rivalry.

This is a very interesting short music film that you can watch with children and young people in your vicinity. After seeing it, you can help them understand the consequences of competing unhealthily with their peers. Want to know more about this wonderful short film and what it can teach children? Read on!

One Man Band: Action

In the first scene of the film, we are introduced to Bass, a one-man band that spends its time playing on the streets and squares of Italy to earn some money.

Then a cute girl named Tippy enters the square with a coin in her hand. Bass tries to attract her through his music. But just when the little girl is about to give her coin to Bass, another one-man band, Treble, appears and manages to catch the girl’s attention.

This triggers a rivalry between the two musicians as they begin to compete for Tippy’s coins. Tippy gets nervous and bothered by all the noise. In the end, she accidentally drops the coin, which falls into a brown. This makes Tippy sad and angry.

To handle the situation, the little girl asks Treble to borrow one of his violins and shows them how well she plays the instrument. Thanks to this, she gets a big bag of coins.

Since she now has more than one coin, she can give one to Bass and one to Treble. But she decides not to do so and instead throws two coins high up in the fountain. Then, after the subtitles, the audience sees how both men instead work together to help each other earn more coins.

A short film to reflect on the problem of rivalry

We all know how difficult it can be to compare oneself with others. But many times we adults constantly compare our children with each other. We compare them with their siblings, their friends and their classmates. This is very negative for their development and self-esteem.

This leads to them growing up on the premise that their peers are rivals with whom they should compete. In fact, these thoughts only promote selfishness, competition, envy, frustration and unnecessary pressure.

If we want to create a better future, we must help children understand that each person is unique and that they can achieve their goals without harming others, just as Tippy does in the short film.

In addition, children must understand the importance of cooperation, community and teamwork. In other words, you have to teach them to behave like the two men in the last scenes of the short film.

Children must also understand the problem of rivalry, which is an obstacle that we place on ourselves and which prevents us from achieving our goals.

The problem of rivalry among children

In line with everything we have said, we would also like to take into account the following quotes from Jorge Bucay, a physician, psychodramatician, gestalt therapist and author:

So let’s help children grow up without rivalry, comparison and competition. To do that, we need to make an effort and talk to them about these issues. And what better way to do this than through an animated short film? So what are you waiting for? Watch One Man Band with your kids or your students! Click here to see it.