Mother Nature: And where do the clouds belong?
Daughter Nature: In the pen.
Mother Nature: That's right. We have a job, remember?
Daughter Nature: In the pen.
Mother Nature: That's right. We have a job, remember?
Course of Nature is a 2016 animated short film by Lucy Xue and Paisley Manga, produced at Ringling College of Art & Design.
Living in the skies high above Earth, Mother Nature (voiced by Staci Anderson) and Daughter Nature (voiced by Cassie Glow) are responsible for maintaining the planet’s water cycle. Clouds take the form of cute puppies, but raining their water out makes them disappear. Daughter Nature decides to save them from this fate — but more importantly, should she?
The short can be watched here
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This short provides examples of:
- All There in the Manual: The names of Mother Nature and Daughter Nature are given in the credits roll.
- Astonishingly Appropriate Appearance: The two main characters have power over the weather. Daughter Nature’s hair is coral-pink and fades to yellow at the tips, so it looks like the colors of a sunset. Mother Nature’s hair is dark blue and curly so it looks like a cartoon storm cloud.
- Back from the Dead: When Daughter Nature is sad over having to “kill” the cloud puppies to produce rain, her mother shows her that eventually the water on Earth comes back up to the atmosphere via transpiration, forming a brand-new cloud puppy.
- The Beastmaster: Mother Nature has complete control over the cloud puppies. When they turn into storm clouds and mob Daughter Nature, she calls them away by whistling.
- Black Bead Eyes: All the cloud puppies have those.
- Cheerful Child: When we first see Daughter Nature, she is happily playing with a cloud puppy.
- Cruel to Be Kind: Mother Nature doesn’t approve of Daughter Nature playing with the cloud puppies. But if she gets too attached to them, then she won’t want them to turn into rain—and Earth needs rain.
- Cumulonemesis: When Daughter Nature lets out too many of the cloud puppies at once, they start shooting off lightning bolts and trap her inside a giant storm cloud.
- Disappeared Dad: The short features a Mother Nature and a Daughter Nature, but no Father Nature. Given that Daughter Nature seems to be a goddess, it’s possible she doesn’t have a father to begin with.
- Flight: Mother and Daughter Nature are both able to fly, and spend most of their screentime floating in the air.
- Furry Confusion: Apparently there are both cloud puppies and regular, non-sentient clouds in this universe. The pen that holds the cloud puppies is made out of cloud, and the background is also decorated with regular clouds.
- Killer Rabbit: The cloud puppies are cute and playful, but when Daughter Nature releases all of them at once, they end up causing a thunderstorm and mobbing her. Her mother has to rescue her by calling them away.
- Impossible Hourglass Figure: Mother Nature has a small waist and pretty wide hips. Justified by the simple animation style.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Mother Nature is pretty stern about making sure that Daughter Nature does her job, even if it involves killing cloud puppies to make rain. But when she notices that Daughter Nature is sad over it, she shows her that the cycle of nature also involves water vapor coming back up to the atmosphere and making more cloud puppies.
- Minimalist Cast: The only characters are Mother Nature, Daughter Nature and the cloud puppies.
- Modesty Shorts: In a couple of shots, Daughter Nature appears to be wearing white shorts under her poofy cloud skirt.
- No Flow in CGI: Downplayed — Mother Nature’s hair does flow and move subtly when she moves, but very little, as it’s one solid piece instead of individual locks or strands.
- Painting the Frost on Windows: Mother and Daughter Nature have the job of making it rain via clouds.
- Precious Puppy: In this universe, clouds look and act like adorable puppies. This causes some trouble, because the job of Mother Nature and Daughter Nature is to turn them into rain, which makes them disappear, and this makes Daughter Nature very sad.
- Ridiculously Cute Critter: Deconstructed - the cloud puppies are so cute that Daughter Nature doesn’t want them to turn into rain and disappear.
- Solar and Lunar: Daughter Nature wears a hairpin shaped like a cartoon sun (or perhaps a sunflower), while Mother Nature wears crescent moon earrings that can be seen when her hair moves.
- Solid Clouds: The cloud puppies are contained in a pen that’s mostly made of cloud, but with metal doors. The skirt of Daughter Nature’s dress also seems to be made of cloud.
- Sorcerer's Apprentice Plot: Daughter Nature messes with forces she doesn't understand by releasing all the cloud puppies at once, creating a thunderstorm that her mother has to stop.
- Weather Manipulation: Mother and Daughter Nature have the power to make rain by clapping their hands twice when near the cloud puppies. Unfortunately, this also kills the cloud puppies.
