Falling into Marxist Sociology: Choosing to Stay

Using "solid animation" techniques (i.e. moving a piece slightly and then shooting a frame of film), the film revolves around a chess game. It is a game in which many pawns are lost (from a chess point of view it is a terrible game). When a piece is taken, it falls over and is kicked off the board. The pawns gradually pile up next to the board. Eventually you see them talking to each other, the two sides mixed together. After a while, in a burst of action, they attack the aris tocratic pieces playing the game. The soundtrack changes from Baroque harpsichord music to Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring". Before long, the elite is defeated and pushed from the board. The pawns then dance a Virginia Reel folk dance, light and dark pieces intermingled. The screen fades out. But is the story over? No. The picture comes back on and you see the pieces marching back onto the board. They line up to play a new chess game, only this time the pawns are on the back rows and the old aristocratic pieces on the front rows. The pawns now move like knights, queens, bishops; the elite of the ancien regime is reduced to the status of pawns. And the game begins again.