In the midst of classes on public policy and debates on immigration, I began to feel heavy under the weight of problems much bigger than myself, and so I turned to Netflix to choose a light-hearted movie that I knew that I would enjoy. I chose the movie "Babe."
To be sure "Babe" is an iconic treasure from my childhood. I’m sure five-year-old me loved the adorable little pig, comical duck and musical mice, however, five-year-old me was also apparently oblivious to the various dark and serious themes represented in the movie. I still highly recommend "Babe" for children of all ages, but I would also highly encourage adults to watch it, and take note of the important lessons it has to teach.
Essentially, "Babe" is the story if a sweet little pig living on a farm desperately trying to find his place among the other kinds of animals. Upon arriving at the farm, Babe is quick to realize that he is the only pig on the farm, and he immediately feels alone, but having the sweet nature that he does, Babe quickly makes friends with the sheepdog named Fly, and is accepted into her family. Babe’s friendly nature wins over duck, sheep, dog and horse alike. Unfortunately, Babe has to deal with the deep seeded issues between his sheep friends and his sheepdog friends.
The prejudice between sheep and sheepdog was a seemingly unbridgeable gulf. “Fly decided to speak slowly, for it was a cold fact of nature that sheep were stupid, and there was nothing that could convince her otherwise….The sheep decided to speak very slowly, for it was a cold fact of nature that wolves were ignorant, and there was nothing that could convince them otherwise.” The “facts of nature” were deeply embedded in the realities of the farm animals. Those that lived closer to the master were valuable and respected, while animals that lacked in alternative purposes were expendable. However, Babe, being who he is, does not accept this reality and instead treats all animals with equal love and respect.
In trying to prove that the current system is flawed, Babe attempts to become a sheepherder just as his dog friends. However, he does so by approaching the sheep as equals and respectfully asking them to do what he needs them to do. By doing so, he wins over the sheep and convinces the sheepdogs that his methods were superior to their own.
Babe lived in a discriminate world that rotated on a system of personal value being attached to role and identity, however, Babe did not become bitter or angry or complacent. Babe chose to live by his own standards despite what society was telling him. He never let the sheepdogs, the cat or the farmer put a price on his worth, or put a limit on his abilities. Babe took the hard path and went against the system that made abuse and discrimination the norm. That made him unique and by any standard, a good creature. But what made him an extraordinary creature, and an animal that could change the farm for other animals was that he approached every situation with love and acceptance, and never with anger or discontentment.
The narrator introduces the story with, “This is a tale about an unprejudiced heart, and how it changed our valley forever.” At this point, it can be easily seen that Babe comes from a harsh and dark existence. He has no reason to be happy with the world or others in it that treat him so cruelly, but despite being the lowliest and most looked down among of creatures, Babe chooses to be more, and by doing so he makes pigs a creature worth being and worth becoming. We could only hope to be as pigs and as daring, loving, and caring as Babe.
