Saori Shiroki’s animation “Woman Who Stole Fingers” is a four minute art film that is about — as the title suggests — a woman who steals fingers. As appealing as this sounds, she doesn’t just steal anyone’s fingers. In fact, the person she only steals fingers from is her child! A strange concept for an animation, I know, but maybe it’s not so strange when you know that it’s an art piece. While there may be a stigma around art media and their creators’ pretentiousness with trying to force any form of “symbolism” and “message” into their film, “Woman Who Stole Fingers” is quite different. While the message of the film is obvious by the end, Saori Shiroki’s storytelling through her chilling visuals and unusual animation style perfectly captures the feeling of helplessness and claustrophobia a child can feel under the watch of helicopter parents.

Helicopter parents, first coined in 1969, is a term assigned to parents who are very controlling of every aspect of their child’s life. These types of parents control what people their children see, what specific activities they participate in, and what path their child will take in life. No freedom is given to the child. While the dangers of this parenting style is obvious, it’s important to note that it forcefully nurtures a codependent relationship between a child and their parent. This is the aspect of helicopter parenting that is highlighted in “Woman Who Stole Fingers”. There is a particular scene where both the woman and her child are outside, walking around in their front yard. The child wants to venture beyond their front yard, but is aggressively prevented by the woman. She shoves her child inside their home and proceeds to “steal” their child’s fingers and toes. The child attempts to leave the house, but fails miserably due to the obvious circumstances. From this moment onwards, the child is now reliant on the mother to accomplish anything, highlighting the forced codependent relationship that forms within families that have helicopter parents.

The power and emotion found in the aforementioned scene is really elevated by Saori Shiroki’s unique art style and animation technique. The muted colors paired with the harsh brush strokes for both the background and the characters make for a beautiful pairing. This pairing really emphasizes the barren and desolate home that both the woman and child live in. It’s reminiscent of an abandoned or broken home, which in turn enforces that feeling of helplessness and being trapped by a helicopter parent.

“Woman Who Stole Fingers” really does make the most out of it’s four minute runtime and I’m amazed how well Saori Shiroki was able to emphasize that feeling of helplessness with very little. My main fault with the animation is its runtime and would’ve liked more exploration on the idea of helicopter parenting and how destructive that type of relationship is between a parent and their child. Though for what it is, it’s a great psychological horror animation and I would recommend it to anyone that is a fan of the genre.