The other night, I was watching (yet again) the 1995 motion picture classic that is Balto. I have to say, it's right up there for being one of my all time favorite movies, animated or otherwise. Plus, as I got older and developed a crush on Kevin Bacon ( that's right, I said it) after watching him dance up a storm in Footloose and then found out he voiced the title character of the film, I loved it even more. Seriously, if you haven't watched it, do so. It is loosely based on a true story and also has a wonderful message for kids about embracing who you are. Just lovely really.
But no this post isn't just about Balto, but rather something that dawned on me while watching the scene ( alert: spoiler! In fact, there may be a lot more to follow. You've been warned!) when Balto is getting attacked by a ginormous bear. Anytime I see a wild animal attack another animal or person in a film, I always have this thought: that would never happen in real life. And not just because it's a movie, and that's where unrealistic things happen for the purpose of entertainment. That's what movies are for. No, I more so have this thought because animals rarely ever attack another living thing unless it provokes them ( like a mother animal attacking anything that comes within a sniff of her babies) or if it their food source ( like fox eats a rabbit). They just don't attack you for the fun of it.
Nevertheless, this is how it is depicted in many animated movies.
Not the actual bear scene from Balto(1995) , but this fan art was just to damn cool to pass up.
Mordu and Merida in Brave (2012). Now this is a bit different, as Mordu is more of plot device and not actual a true bear, so it will kind of prove my point.
Belle being attacked by a copious amount of wolves in Beauty and the Beast (1991)
Tarzan fighting against Sabor, a leopard that he holds a vendetta against for killing his parents in Tarzan (1999)
A wolf attacking and subsequently dragging Kristoff off the sled while Anna smugly watches in Frozen (2013).
In all these movies, and many others ( both animated and live-action), animals are shown to just attack anything because they randomly see them passing by. Yes, I know that there has to be some action, some terrifying attack scene. It's what makes a movie a movie. I'm not here to critique movies, as I really am not an expert on them. Like, not even close to an expert. I'm here to point out what I really should've noticed a long time ago when watching these movies. That is that these attacking animals are modeled after the only true animals that attack with little to no provocation most times: humans.
It really makes sense. Humans are the ones who think these ideas, write the scripts and animate these animals. So of course, we personify them. The protagonist animals are pretty much like people, so why not the vicious, secondary ( or primary, in the case of Mordu), attacking animals as well? Seems only fair. But it just kind of hit me, that wow, we are the only true animals that attack something for no reason sometimes. Like, you see a girl walk past you wearing something you find hideous. You either mentally degrade or verbally degrade her. But what did she ever really do to you, other than cross your path? Nothing. But in animated movies, this means enough to attempt to kill another living thing. And while we humans may not be tearing each others hearts out or using our claws to make someone bleed to death for being in our space ( though we have done it for other reasons), we are still in some capacity attacking another living thing. And we're really the only animal that does so on a regular basis.
Mordu is probably the best example of this as he was originally a human and even though he has lost pretty much all his humanity, he still attacks people more so like a human would than a real bear would. He just wants to attack anything that gets in his way ( and serve as way for Merida to discover her fate); a real bear will attack you if you're a.) a smaller animal they can eat b.) your impinging on their cubs or mate c.) if your threatening it with a gun or something and it wants to protect itself. d.) they're all rabified and stuff. Animals will not attack you if they don' feel threatened most times. There are probably cases of where they may attack you just cuz, but more often than not, they won't be a Mordu. Or a Sabor. Or that nameless bear from Fox and the Hound.
No, this post was not some PSA about being kind to animals ( although you really should) or anything like that. It was just a random thought I had and wanted to share. It's interesting how animals are seen as dangerous in movies when really it is the personification of them that makes them seem so evil and dangerous in movies. Just an interesting thought.
Over and Meowt
Marli J
No comments:
Post a Comment