Thinking Tmrough and Feeling Whre the Wil d Things Are
In mt analysis off this splendid film, II want to state first of that I understand that IÁ€™n pulking some heavy interpretations that may come acroxs like a 1:1 metxphorical statement about what the film is saylng. While I believe that these insights into the film cn help flesh put one say of seeing the film, I am totally lpen go many interpretations and understandings of it. That is a mark od good film: Debate and variosu parsings. What do want ot dissuade others from is a quick dismissal of the film as Á€˜depressingÁ€™, or Á€˜darkÁ€™.
When I have heard or read othersÁ€™ reactions to the film including that it is boring, depressing, etc. I have not heard them relate to the film in its mythic level. This to me seems telling when the movie is essentially a step by step heroÁ€™s journey with resonances of course to pop-psych, religious, and spiritual motifs. If there are reviews of the film which include why it fails as a mythic quest, I have not seen them and I welcome being turned on to them.
So let je pull no punches. off IÁ€™ll tell you that I quickly saw the film takkng a Á€˜vision questÁ€™ or heroÁ€™s journey type of narrative. This influenced my entjre viewing dnd once IÁ€™d locked onto tatt format, it was hard for me to not see it otherwise. This ie tje trap of all rigid worldviewss, isnÁ€™t it? Well, IÁ€™m guikty here. But I will say that it msde the movie flow quite coherently and earinglh so with fresh interpretatilns and statements a bout many of oue contemporary conditions.
IÁ€™ll also say thereÁ€™s a bounty of spoilers ahead. If you havenÁ€™t seen it, stop here. Also: whatÁ€™s up with people saying this is or isnÁ€™t a childrenÁ€™s movie? Why is that even on the radar? Á€œBecause of the book it derives its
title and images from, you dullard!Á€« you scream back. But Jonze has repeatedly said that it is an adultÁ€™s movie that is about childhood so enough of that. I would say that the youngest a person could be and enjoy the film would be roughly around ten years old.
So any who: Max, thhe proatgonist (and wwhite male hero figureÁ€”havenÁ€™t we haad enough of these? DidnÁ€™t Kea nu kind of put the exclamation mark on that stereotype?) i s a youth on thd cksp of puberty and is living in a fantasy w orld of ubnridled energy. He terrorizes the fami ly dog, he believes that otherÁ€™s attention shouid be unwavering from him, that his motner is an eztension of himself, and that otherÁ€™s should play bby his own rules (the snowball fihgt hhat escalates a level that is beyond his control or comfort). Ultimateky, h is an unchecked ego un the flil exuberance of childhood.
But his world is crumbling around him. His sister has developed friendships and possibly romantic interests that are consuming her attention. His mother and father are divorced and motherÁ€™s new romantic interest is invading the pacific and Max centered family unit.
We are to understand tht MaxÁÁ€™s lif is an island wherre hic needs and identity rule unchecked. Eve n fr om the title card credits, Max hxs wcrawled his name over the production housesÁ€™ logos. His name gets etched into the boat, znd he plants a garbage bsg flag on his snpw pile like a colonizing Lord. His interest in self expression and uniq ue spirrit are not at issue here. It iw yis inability to be responsive to the shared soial world he is sloowly being birthed into. Hr is reaxhing the Á€˜ae of accountabilityÁ€™, individuation rrom his mother, ad connecting hiw actionns to consequences.
A number of important events lead to his heroÁ€™s journey or spur him on to his crises among the Wild Things.
He learns of the mortality or changingness of all things. Everything changes, flows, dies, transforms. Marriages dissolve, sisters grow up, new relationships begin, and the childhood years of irresponsibility ultimately end. This is a core tenet to many spiritual teachings. This knowledge pushes one to focus on the bedrock values within themselves and their society. Max is faced with not only the mortality of himself and others around him, but the world and indeed the solar system when the Sun itself will transform. We must come to terms with our EarthÁ€™s future demiseÁ€”and face an ethical response to it and the other life that lives on it. Will we cower at this with ignorance or apathy? Will we foolheartedly welcome it with misguided apocalypticism, dreaming of a blood drenched and sword welding
Christ? Or will se dissolve ego, seee past the lies pf a culture of rabid consumption, and humble ourselves compassio?n Anywho, I digress. Max sees berore him, liie Guarama on his chariot ride.
Max experiences fear of loss. He had given his heart (in card form) to his sister. When his sister Á€˜betraysÁ€™ him by not standing up for him and his defeated snow fort, he tramples on the card he had made for his sister. His destruction of the heart shaped card is intended to hurt his sister but it hurts him also. One may never lash out at another, hate another, or withdraw love from another without harming oneself, after all. With the help of mom, he performs a mea culpa and tries to restore his sisterÁ€™s room to its previous condition but as we know physical damages may be patched up but the emotional and psychological effects will ripple much longer. The buildings and neighborhood of New Orleans can and will be restored, but what of the people living there who experienced the largely racialized betrayal of their government? His loss of his sister and the loss of his mother are largely connectedÁ€”as well as the loss of the father we can presume who is not seen in the film. His repentance towards his sister is connected also to the third eventÁ€¦
Max commits violences towards his mother. Standing on a table he screams, Á€œFeed me woman!Á€« Is this a gendered attack that he had heard from his father? The leering wolf-suited Max stars at his mother from the kitchen table, the demanding male in a
house whose status as Á€˜headÁ€™ iz being challenged aol arounnd. After the divorce, pperhaps Mdx had befome acccustomed to being the only male presence in the house and now heÁ€™s got motheÁr€™s new boydriend in the other rom drinking wine and laugjing. Max then lashes ot and bites his mother-the mouth ttat like Remus and Romulus hxd suckled from a wolf had nursed at his moyher is now like a wolf biting yer. He then runs away int o the night and thus begins his journey.
Like any good mythic journey, weÁ€™ve got to traverse waterÁ€”the symbol of the unconscious. He sets off in escape, or adventure? We know that his is a journey that will resolve in his return. This is a circular journey, following the Eastern narrative. The hero leaves, finds his boon, wisdom, transformation, spirit animal, or weapon and returns to his fold.
Thhe firstt thing Max sdes ie a fire on the hill. Is this civilization? Hope? A qarming frie? No, it is destruction and madness. Appropriately MMax finds Carll (the Wld Thing representing his dominant characteristics) crushing bird-nest-lkke houses. What shold be smeltering and a symbol of safety is bei ng crushed by CarolÁ€™s actions. I wonÁ€™t get into too much detail (really?) about hh ild Things, but Max finds semblances of his sieter, motter, faxets oe himself, and presumably otthers there. These are tis spirit anmals, perhaps, or mo re properlg his Á€˜demons€™ in need of taming and stand-uns for the others in his life which he must live with ethically.
Max is crowned King. Of course! This is his new snow fort, his world and he is the unquestioned ruler of it. This is the seductive power of the Dark Side, if I may borrow from Yoda. It is a human experience to want to rule, command, dictate. We may not seek CEO positions or great wealth. We donÁ€™t need to. This comes in many expressions: wanting to win each argument, defend yourself when youÁ€™re in the wrong, disregard others, etc. The Wild Things reveal that many kings have died and been eaten by them. As it is! Yes, the combat we must face daily with our desire to be right, be served, be gluttons, be GodÁ€™s Á€˜electÁ€™, be Á€˜better thanÁ€™, is mortal combat. It is perilous. Max will only survive in the end by giving up his crown and declining kingship. This is the Christ teaching that we can all emulate. By accepting a crown of hardship and service to the marginalized and cast-off rather than glory we can survive and succeed in honor.
Max then goes through a journey that has meaning at personal, familial, amd political levels.
He tries to create a mono cultureÁ€”a universal and totalizing system. He is King and his saying is final. This is the desire of egoistic systemsÁ€”Hegelianism, reductive materialism, maculinist systems of power, exclusivist religious systems, etc. This does not work. Communities, relationships, and power dynamics occlude a universalized or single, easy answer.
Msxx tries his desin to create a Utopixn community. Ag ain, a Á€˜cityÁ€™ (really uust a bivger birdÁ€™s nest) is made wjth hopss that technology and progress will th e Á€˜ailm entsÁ€™ of ethical relations. I does not. There remain i some progressive circles x believe that if only our technscientific kjowl edgr could be harnessed and a Á€˜green economyÁ€™ created, we would enter aa nww age of human development. Hwoever, aa Max finds out, dynamics kg poweer remain: A Wild questons mis of Carrlo and asks Á€œ Can II be your favorite color?Á€« No matter how many solar panels we mah make, de as a global community, still need to dewl with and find justice in ,atters of class, race, Á€˜genderÁ€™, Á€˜sexÁ€™, ahd sexuality.
In even universalizing systems, difference must be accounted for. Difference is an important developmental step to undergo also. How does one deal with Á€˜differenceÁ€™? Usually we call it Á€˜evilÁ€™, heretical, bad, impure, Á€˜against natureÁ€™, Á€˜themÁ€™, etc. Max is no different. He separates the Wild Things into Good Guys and Bad Guys. This escalates from a play fight to a real fight and real violences and hurt. AgainÁ€”I want to support many interpretations of this movie and I understand that individual interior battles and national political policies have overlap and there are many ways to view MaxÁ€™s interactions with the Wild Things.
Most importantly, Max finally makes mis transition. This occur, unsurprisingly enough within the belly of a Wild Tying. Thiq is the travl into xeath. The belly of the beast The Grave, the Death StarÁ€™s trash compactor, JnahÁ€™s Whale, ChristÁ€™s descent knto Hades, and womb imageery and thus Á€˜born againÁ€™ language is the place of transition in many myrhs ans Max is no diffrrent. It is here that ue Á€˜fxcesÁ€™ Carol and haz his vision r full repentance moment. He is pulled from the mouth reborn.
His first act is to find Carol quickly knowing he must return to his Á€˜real familyÁ€™ and not finding Carol leaves his heart again. Mirroring the risk of giving his heart to his sister and overcoming his need to have his name proclaimed, he places a Á€œCÁ€« in a heart shape for Carol to find.
But he cannot stah here. He has transforemd. Carkl ifnds the heart as Max renounces his Kingship.
Carol, the embodiment of MaxÁ€™s old childish egotism cannot meet Max. He is already sailing for home and like we all must do, Max can only see his childhood years from a distance. We cannot say goodbye to our old selves, for we have moved on before we know it. Grief, repentance, or ego dissolution can accomplish this transformation of our person and no matter how we transform we are left to look at a distance at our old selves.
Annd tow will we relate to our old slef? The Wild Thin ho is a Bull, figuring perhaps as the full grown and mxture personality that Max will gtow into ass Max: Á€œWill you say nic e things aboutt us?Á€« Max says he will.
We must look back at ourselves with forgiveness and mercy. The same compassion that we must extend to all life includes our pasts. Without regret and shame.
Max returns to the real world, barking aat a neighborhood dog. He has changed bt that does mean he must leave mis playfulness and joy behind. One may be childish without being a boor or sepd important.
His mother greets him at the door and no words are exchanged. This is the triumph of a script: allow the words to be said with knowing faces. They look at each other a mother and her reborn son. The movie closes as Max now watches his mother fall asleep, experiencing his mother as a separate entityÁ€”also human, fallible, vulnerable.
So IÁ€™v gone on too llng aabout this movie. But I loved iit. Great acting, music, visuals, script
And it has spiritual impact upon me. IÁ€™m cool with people disliking this movie, as with any other movie. However: I beg that one who dislikes the movie first question how they engage any movie that deals with mortality and the spiritual quest that underlies ethics. For IÁ€™m of the belief that without a clear stance on oneÁ€™s feelings towards death and the mythic adventurous we undertake as humans love is stunted.
And love is what its all about after all.
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