**This article may contain spoilers, however, if you are a user of the interwebs, I’d be surprised if you’ve managed to avoid spoilers thus far.
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is set in the 1920s, long before the days of smart watches, Instagram selfies, and Taylor Swift’s relationships trending on Twitter. The 1920s were an era vastly different from today’s technology driven, media obsessed world.
Despite the differences, and while Fantstic Beasts is a work of fiction, I believe we can learn a lot of from this film that’s relevant to our reality of today.
The main character of the film, is a magizoologist, or someone who studies magical creatures. Newt Scamander has a suitcase filled with magical creatures. After accidentally setting a few of them loose in New York City, Newt ends up caught in an incident involving an obscurus, the repressed energy of a magical child.
Throughout the film, we see a society that shows contempt towards magical beings. In one particular scene, a young girl, Modesty, is playing hopscotch and chanting a haunting anti-witch anthem:
“My mama, your mama, gonna catch a witch,
My mama, your mama flying on a switch,
My mama, your mama witches never cry,
My mama, your mama witches gonna die!
Witch number one, drown in a river!
Witch number two, gotta noose to give her!
Witch number three, gonna watch her burn,
Witch number four, flogging take a turn."
The clear intolerance and fearful attitudes towards witches is reminiscent of the Salem Witch trials. The wizarding community is forced underground, and those possessing magical abilities while living amongst no-majs (non magical people) are more often than not, forced into suppressing their abilities. Bottom of Form
During the film, we meet Credence. At first, Credence seems to be a shy, awkward kid whose mother has taken an extreme disliking toward him. By the end of the film, however, we discover that there is more to Credence.
Throughout the film, Credence’s mother is clear about her intolerance of magic, and has a habit of taking it out on Credence through abuse. The repercussions of the intolerance plays out in the end as Credence reaches a boiling point and unleashes his obscurus full on. The obscurus destroys everyone and everything in its path.
During this attempt to find the obscurus, we see three sides show up. There is MACUSA, the magical government operating in America, which aims to control the obscurus dilemma through execution in attempts to protect the society. We also see Percival Graves, the director of magical security, who is secretly working to find the obscurus in attempts to exploit it. Finally, we see Newt Scamander, who wishes to help by protecting the obscurus.
This battle for the obscurus’s fate is much like a situation our own world faces. While it may not be over witches and wizards, we are in a world of intolerance and fear. We hate what we don’t understand, just as the no-majs hated the magical community. We are in a battle for the fate of the outsiders. Thankfully, they aren’t going to unleash an obscurus on us. However, by preaching intolerance and openly abusing those who may not be like us, we are unleashing a hatred that very well could bring about our own destruction.
Newt understood the importance of loving those around us, something the no-maj’s never did. Newt understood that even those the rest of the world looked past could present incredible possibilities. Even most of the wizarding community didn’t understand many of the magical creatures Newt protected and cared for in his suitcase. But Newt saw their potential.
I think it’s time we stop living out of fear and intolerance and be like Newt. I think it’s time we open our suitcases to everyone around us and invite them in.
