How to Train a Dragon? – Something I did not like about the movie
I saw ‘How to Train a Dragon’ sometime ago. This is the movie which to my knowledge has got the highest rating (98%) in the ‘rotten tomatoes’ website which is highly critical of movies. Robin hood has 44% rating, Shrek 52%, Prince of Persia 40%, Iron Man 74%. So the 98% says a LOT. I suspect blogs are overflowing with praise for this movie. This is the reason why I want to say something I did not like about the movie. On the record, I ENJOYED watching the movie, but for the sake of the review, I want to take a counter perspective. So bear with me, in case you think I shouldn’t take a counter perspective just for its own sake.
The story is about a little boy in a Viking village who does not have the physical make-up required to be a warrior which is the defining attribute of a true Viking. He is made fun of by the whole village. Little guys and girls his age shun him. Though physically inept, he is an intelligent guy who eventually finds his own intelligent way of winning the Mother of all battles almost single handed, much to the amazement of other Vikings. I liked the meta-narrative of the movie. I like the fact that the movie valued passionate individual ability over a cowering conformity to the societal expectations. What I do not like about the movie is in the way the meta narrative was setup through the characterization of the little kids.
The story revolves around a few kids and their training to slay dragons. There are three boys and two girls (I may not be right with the numbers). The kid who is portrayed as being dumb is an overweight dude. I often wonder why almost every movie for the kids needs to have a fat dude who almost always messes up and is made fun of and is made to feel unworthy. He isn’t even considered worthy of a date. Why should little kids be infused with blithe assumptions that to be fat is to be dumb and unwanted? It does not surprise me that often in schools, it is the unshapely kid who gets bullied and shunned the most.
We do not allow our kids to see movies with explicit violence and sex because we do not want their impressionable minds to be corrupted. How much more should we be careful when some ideas enter their minds through the apparently good channels but maim their ability to rightly value the other people? If the media should subtly encourage young ones to think is not wrong to make ones physical appearance as a criteria in judging their self worth, who can help them make right value judgments.
The same problem with wrong values is exemplified in another character. In the movie, the skinny kid who is the hero is shunned by the girl whom he is attracted to. I did not like the characterization of the girl. When other kids in the group ridicule him, she too joins the jocks and makes fun of this nerd. Later, when she realizes that the skinny kid is an impressive in his own right, she treats him with special affection which later blossoms into love.
The problem here is this. This dynamic of how the antagonistic relationship turns into one of love when the guy proves himself to be impressive alludes to a belief that for a girl to be attracted to a guy, the guy has to be impressive in some way. Looking at this another way, it also appears to allude to the idea that for a girl, it is cool only if fall in love with impressive jocks or impressive nerds. I think this ought to be a huge myth. When I look at successful marriages, the impressiveness of the male is hardly a criterion. In fact the more impressive the male, the less successful the marriage is. The families of famous guys from NFL players to Golf proves just this. Unfortunately, the movie exudes the idea that it is not wrong to value a person based on the person’s impressiveness. Kids learn quick.
Just because there is no violence, no occult magic and no sex it does not mean that the movie is good for kids. Giving kids the right framework for values is primal. In the last few months I read in the news about at four or five kids committing suicide because they did not like school for some reason or did not like their grades. I am not surprised that a kid who see movies where he is not taught to value life the right way, will pass his own skewed judgment on life and will deem that it is not worth living.
Unfortunately, this truth that not teaching right values to kids is a costly mistake is completely lost on the movie makers and the movie viewers. After all, our generation is permeated by the nihilistic secular worldview. When God who is the ultimate value-giver is jettisoned out of our secular worldview, we lose our ability to rightly value things. How dare we blame our kids for committing suicides when our culture does not give the right framework for values? The kids are just taking our values or the lack thereof to its logical conclusion.
The story is about a little boy in a Viking village who does not have the physical make-up required to be a warrior which is the defining attribute of a true Viking. He is made fun of by the whole village. Little guys and girls his age shun him. Though physically inept, he is an intelligent guy who eventually finds his own intelligent way of winning the Mother of all battles almost single handed, much to the amazement of other Vikings. I liked the meta-narrative of the movie. I like the fact that the movie valued passionate individual ability over a cowering conformity to the societal expectations. What I do not like about the movie is in the way the meta narrative was setup through the characterization of the little kids.
The story revolves around a few kids and their training to slay dragons. There are three boys and two girls (I may not be right with the numbers). The kid who is portrayed as being dumb is an overweight dude. I often wonder why almost every movie for the kids needs to have a fat dude who almost always messes up and is made fun of and is made to feel unworthy. He isn’t even considered worthy of a date. Why should little kids be infused with blithe assumptions that to be fat is to be dumb and unwanted? It does not surprise me that often in schools, it is the unshapely kid who gets bullied and shunned the most.
We do not allow our kids to see movies with explicit violence and sex because we do not want their impressionable minds to be corrupted. How much more should we be careful when some ideas enter their minds through the apparently good channels but maim their ability to rightly value the other people? If the media should subtly encourage young ones to think is not wrong to make ones physical appearance as a criteria in judging their self worth, who can help them make right value judgments.
The same problem with wrong values is exemplified in another character. In the movie, the skinny kid who is the hero is shunned by the girl whom he is attracted to. I did not like the characterization of the girl. When other kids in the group ridicule him, she too joins the jocks and makes fun of this nerd. Later, when she realizes that the skinny kid is an impressive in his own right, she treats him with special affection which later blossoms into love.
The problem here is this. This dynamic of how the antagonistic relationship turns into one of love when the guy proves himself to be impressive alludes to a belief that for a girl to be attracted to a guy, the guy has to be impressive in some way. Looking at this another way, it also appears to allude to the idea that for a girl, it is cool only if fall in love with impressive jocks or impressive nerds. I think this ought to be a huge myth. When I look at successful marriages, the impressiveness of the male is hardly a criterion. In fact the more impressive the male, the less successful the marriage is. The families of famous guys from NFL players to Golf proves just this. Unfortunately, the movie exudes the idea that it is not wrong to value a person based on the person’s impressiveness. Kids learn quick.
Just because there is no violence, no occult magic and no sex it does not mean that the movie is good for kids. Giving kids the right framework for values is primal. In the last few months I read in the news about at four or five kids committing suicide because they did not like school for some reason or did not like their grades. I am not surprised that a kid who see movies where he is not taught to value life the right way, will pass his own skewed judgment on life and will deem that it is not worth living.
Unfortunately, this truth that not teaching right values to kids is a costly mistake is completely lost on the movie makers and the movie viewers. After all, our generation is permeated by the nihilistic secular worldview. When God who is the ultimate value-giver is jettisoned out of our secular worldview, we lose our ability to rightly value things. How dare we blame our kids for committing suicides when our culture does not give the right framework for values? The kids are just taking our values or the lack thereof to its logical conclusion.