I may be a little late to "The Little Prince" party. The Netflix film, released August 5th, is the latest in a long line of adaptations of the 1943 novella. It’s a decent film, accurately portraying the majority of the original story, though only in small pieces amid a fairly generic,modern, coming of age plot. I do recommend the film for its animation if nothing else. What struck me about the original tale, out of all of the numerous bits of wisdom it offers, was the way it explains love, and connections between people.
Too often, media, both child and adult oriented, presents relationships, like those of friends or lovers, as destined, and as perfect because of who the characters are. Two people meet, and whether immediately, or eventually, find they are “a perfect fit” for each other, completing each other flawlessly as if meant to be. The Little Prince shows a different form of relationship, one where neither person possesses clear, inherent traits that make them a good partner to the other, nor do they have clear needs which can only be met by a certain person. Rather, it’s the time and attention they give to each other that eventually leads to a mutual bond.
As the fox says before allowing the prince to tame him, “taming” means to establish ties, in that:
"To me, you are still nothing more than a little boy who is just like a hundred thousand other little boys. And I have no need of you. And you, on your part, have no need of me. To you I am nothing more than a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But if you tame me, then we shall need each other. To me, you will be unique in all the world. To you, I shall be unique in all the world....”
Taming even in reality is a long process, encouraging a wild animal to trust you and stay with you by forming a bond with it. A fox isn’t a stray dog that will quickly seek you as a master and rely on you like a dog does. And neither is a friend just someone who needs you, or seeks you out to fill an absence in their life, true friendships start from two whole people who agree to be together. It’s through mutual effort and desire that the bond is formed and becomes special. Once you have invested time into a relationship, then it is truly meaningful, and needing someone then is a result of knowing and valuing them, rather than needing what they can provide for you.
The Prince references this idea again when he speaks to the rose garden, comparing them to the rose he grew and fell in love with on his asteroid.
“You're beautiful, but you're empty...One couldn't die for you. Of course, an ordinary passerby would think my rose looked just like you. But my rose, all on her own, is more important than all of you together, since she's the one I've watered. Since she's the one I put under glass, since she's the one I sheltered behind the screen. Since she's the one for whom I killed the caterpillars (except the two or three butterflies). Since she's the one I listened to when she complained, or when she boasted, or even sometimes when she said nothing at all. Since she's my rose.”
This concept of relationships is, in my opinion, healthier and more realistic than the idea of ‘soul mates’. It’s easy to meet someone and immediately think they are perfect for you, but that makes it equally easy to walk away from them when you don’t get along perfectly, when you see that they have traits that you don’t like. The prince left his rose because of this, he didn’t think he could love her because she was vain and boastful, but after leaving her, and learning from the fox, he realizes that love doesn't come from thinking someone is perfect, but from the time you dedicate to them. In this view, trying to deal with your partner being boastful, or any flaw, isn’t a desperate negotiation to try and fix what started out as a perfect bond and is now falling apart. But rather, it is another way of giving your time and appreciation to them, strengthening the bond between you, and making your relationship all the more special.
