June 17th, 2016 was a day my inner child really came out. It was a day that us older kids have been waiting for for more than thirteen years. This day made history, a one for the books you may say. On this wondrous day, "Finding Dory," the sequel to "Finding Nemo," came to theaters.
Now unfortunately on this very day, I had a full 10 hour work day. Something my 6 year old self would've never even imagine. But when I got off, I dragged my friend, bless her soul, to the movie with me. As we sat down in the theater, I was filled with a child like excitement, living out my 6 year old dreams. As the movie started and sadly ended, I sat in the chair, just thinking. I was thinking about how wonderful this movie was, not just the characters and the animation, but also the message, and the specific issues that the movie addressed that its target audience wouldn't necessarily catch. And that's what I'm going to be writing about today because I did catch the message, and the ever so important social issues that the writers sneakily added in. Now if you haven't seen this movie yet, one, what are you doing? And two, it may have some spoilers/ you might not know what I'm talking about, just a fair warning. So lets finally dive into this shell we?
The first issue that was in the movie was their take on our polluted ocean waters, and how it effects species living in that ecosystem. When Dory, Marlin, and Nemo are swimming away from the octopus at the beginning of the movie, Dory gets her fin caught in a soda six-pack plastic ring. She is sort of oblivious to it. But it just goes to show that our actions as humans, big or as small as littering, can effect, species, whether we know it or not. According to BlueVoice.com, ocean species "are suffering dramatic rises in devastating illnesses, such as nervous and digestive system problems, liver disease, contaminant-induced immunosuppression, endocrine system damage, reproductive malformations, and growth and development issues. Worse yet is the alarming growth in cancer cases. Many scientists around the world believe these illnesses are being caused by contamination of the ocean with man-made toxic chemicals." Wow that's a lot, I know, but its all facts. Wow, these Pixar writers are getting deep right off the bat!
The next message touches on the characters disabilities and how they make each person who they are. We all know that Dory has short-term memory loss, and this essentially is reason why she is trying to find her parents. You see how Dory struggles with her memory loss throughout the movie, and how she, and others, believe its her weakness. But Dory soon comes to realize that she can over come her memory loss, and that it doesn't have to be her weakness. We also meet a whale shark by the name of Destiny. She can't see right in front of her, but only the sides of where she is swimming. When we first meet this character, she is continuously running into walls, and gets frustrated by this quit a lot. But Destiny soon realizes that her nearsightedness shouldn't be something to dwell on, considering she has amazing whale communications skills, that end up saving Dory from the pipes. We also meet Bailey, a beluga whale that struggles with broken sonar. But at the end of the movie, he realizes the he has the "best pair of glasses" in the entire ocean. I think that this I an amazing message. It showing us that everyone has a weakness or something that they wish they could change about themselves, but we all have to understand that we are all different in great ways. I would say that the creators really scored on this one.
This next message is probably the most serious one of all and its on the topic of bullying. A new character that the public seems to love from this movie is a sea lion named Gerald. Gerald seems to be different than the other "cooler" sea lions on the rock. The "cooler" sea lions won't let Gerald sit with them on the rock, and say lines throughout the movie that aren't the nicest about Gerald. They also boss him around, and take advantage of how oblivious he is. But its interesting that Gerald doesn't fight back. This is perfectly representing the idea of bullying, and this is an issue that has been around for quit some time. But in the end, Gerald sits on the rock while the others wade in the water in disbelief.
This last message that we learn from this Pixar masterpiece is that each parent is different, and there is no perfect way to parent your child. Now I do have to say that this isn't a topic that I relate too, but in a sense I do since I too have amazing, hardworking parents. Dory's parents praise her, and support her. They never get frustrated helping her when she forgets something, and never seems to yell at her either. They build her confidence, and show her that its ok to be different. Another fish parent in this movie is Marlin, one of the main characters, and Nemo's dad. Now we all know how Marlin was very paranoid in the first movie, and was always watching Nemo's back. He continues this in the second film. He is very overprotected of his child, which makes sense considering the whole plot of the first movie. I thought this was a simple, yet touching message that they added in, say that all parents may have different ways of teaching and leading their children, but in the long run, no matter what, they love their children unconditionally, and just want the best for them.
Who knew that an animated movie could really make you think! This movie will forever be one of my favorites. From discussing our world's polluted waters, to bullying, to believing in yourself, this film made me realize how big of an impact one simple animated children's movie could make. What one shell of an adventure!
