Upon first viewing, the underground feature length animated film The Stolen Lyric felt like an abrasively edited student film. Its amateur animation paired with snippets of song lyrics acting as the narrative felt strange and somewhat frantic to watch. However, after interviewing the filmmaker who chooses to remain anonymous, I realized that the film is not about aesthetics or even entertainment for that matter, but rather a social commentary on corporate power.

The loosely constructed narrative is based on the heroic outlaw Robin Hood and his propensity for uplifting the poor at the expense of the wealthy. Along with his Merry Men, Robin Hood gallivants about the kingdom with a quiver on his back and a bow in his hand, acting as a vigilante during a time when justice was found in the pillories or worse, in the basket beneath the guillotine. The filmmaker of The Stolen Lyric imbues his animated characters with the spirit of Robin Hood and his Merry Men, only instead of medieval forest dwellers they are rock star city slickers who steal from the rich in order to fight back against the corporate machine.

One of the main reasons why the filmmaker chooses to be anonymous is because he is essentially stealing the fragments of around 555 songs from a wide range of 129 musical artists and editing them together into one long track. The lyrics of these songs strung together act as the dialogue of the movie with subtitles beneath to help viewers make sense of it all. "Part of [being anonymous] has to do with the underground nature of this film, which 'steals' millions of dollars of corporate-owned intellectual property as an act of artistic protest against global mega-corporate power consolidation in the hands of the few at the expense of the many," he explains. "The other part of being anonymous is a rebellion against the way the corporate system places so much emphasis on an artist’s personal brand rather than the work itself."

The narrative of The Stolen Lyric is difficult to follow as the songs change so abruptly its tough to absorb the lyrics as they cycle through many different genres ranging from Beastie Boys to Pink Floyd. Once you become acquainted with the disjointed narrative, you are able to take a step back and just listen. The filmmaker's taste in music is all encompassing, including artists as modern as Arcade Fire. Jam packed with hundreds of song snippets from legendary artists that span all eras and genres, the filmmaker is giving the viewer the gift of music. “This movie is my protest song against the warped values of a system that equates good with profitable and turns everything in its path into a branded commodity,” he says. “That’s why everything about it, from using millions of dollars of unlicensed music to giving it away for free, goes against the corporate way of doing things.”

Wherever your opinion ends up in regards to The Stolen Lyric, there is no doubt that the filmmaker took a risk to share his vision. Using film as a vessel to convey a strong message is a dying method. The movie industry's formulaic approach to filmmaking is all about entertainment and profit. The independent film circuit is keeping small time filmmakers empowered and creative. The Stolen Lyric is the manifestation of a man who is disenchanted by a world of corporate greed after spending years working on Wall Street. This is his way of fighting back.

"The main point of The Stolen Lyric is to draw a parallel between medieval society and today’s society by suggesting that today’s mega-corporations have consolidated so much power and grown so politically powerful that they essentially represent a new type of aristocracy, with regular citizens demoted from a thriving middle class to increasingly powerless peasants."