Et Cetera: Publick and Privat Curiosities

To Switch or Not to Switch. That is the Question.

The Switch is an acclaimed independent film that received Tropfest short film awards at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival in New York City. The guiding theme for the 2007 Tropfest competition was the concept of a slice, which the juried films portrayed with a variety of techniques, ranging from incorporating slices of food in a film, to a more subtle psychological slicing up of a film’s characters, to even slicing the movie screen in half.

The Switch weaves an unusual story that reveals the painful experience of a grievously fated intimate attraction. Specifically, the film traces the course of a serendipidous encounter between two people whose surface disparities form the basis of their strong mutual attraction, while a more fundamental difference between the persons ensures that the yearnings of both for the most intimate level of love with each other will be doomed. However, the ending of this film expresses an important message to more attentive viewers about the relational importance of the experience of surprise.

A major implication contained within this humorously bittersweet short film is that while life’s ambiguity ultimately is irreducible, learning to embrace the ambiguous and uncertain nature of our lives can vitalize and enrich our experiences of surprise. In other words, focusing upon the present can expand our capacities to become more engaged in depth with the ongoing, day-to-day events and loving relationships in our lives. This in turn calls for us learn how to become prepared to be unprepared for new emotional experiences.

To Switch or Not to Switch. That is the Question.

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