By now many of you will have seen Happy Feet,
the digitally animated movie about Emperor Penguins in Antarctica. Many of you, like me, will have marveled at the
beauty of the images, the realism of disintegrating icebergs, thundering
avalanches and Elephant seals. This movie had the opportunity to capture the
hearts and conscience of the younger generation. It could have taught them
valuable lessons, preventing the repetitions of past mistakes. The movie blew
it, leaving me wondering what vested interests were involved.
This movie is about a penguin that is different, growing up in a society where
conformity is essential to belong. Those who are different bring shame to the
family, are suspect and victimized; Reminiscent of the era seen in western
society during my childhood. Those of us who were different in the 1930’s, 40’s
and 50’s were pressured to appear “normal.” Those who could not were seen as
freaks. President Roosevelt of the United States was never photographed in his wheelchair because it
was thought that no American would feel safe being led by a “cripple.” So
people who were different were made invisible. They were banished to
institutions, hidden in the closet or asked to sit at the back of the bus.
Mumble, the different penguin, represents those victimized by his society,
which relies on ancient dogma and value systems to survive. A society where any
challenge to the status quo is met with resistance and is made the scapegoat
for any crisis.
In the 1960's there was a rebellion to shake the status quo. People marched to
Ban the Bomb, others marched against the war in Vietnam, women marched for liberation, blacks marched for
civil rights, gays and lesbians marched for human rights, the disabled asked
for equality. They came out of their institutions, their closets and moved to
the front of the bus.
Those in power in Happy Feet remind us that oppression is still a force with
which to be reckoned. Mumble must conform or lose his soul. But he knows he has
no choice. He must honour his unique spirit. He is the revolution. He sets off
to find the solution to his tribe’s dwindling fish supply. He discovers the
problem is human greed, indifference and selfishness. Discoveries made possible
because he was forced to look out beyond the wisdom of his ethnocentric tribe.
Discoveries made possible because he accepted and asked for help from diverse
strangers – The amigos,Adéliepenguins, and Lovelace the Rock-hopper guru.
The movie fails us all with its happy ending. To this point the movie has been
a metaphor for all those oppressed by rigid doctrine and prejudice; a beacon
for those who risk the unknown and venture forth with an open mind. To then
trivialize it with an unrealistic ending – humans stopped stealing the fish so
the penguins could live happily ever after - trivializes the roll of those kids
sitting in the movie theatre. For it is in their hands, they can influence
adults today. The movie could have ended with a question mark. We do not know
the answer, but maybe they will.
The movie is billed as a comedy yet it graphically showed how the food chain
works. Leopard seals do eat penguins; Skuas rip open the stomachs of penguins
to eat the krill digesting there. But there is a balance in nature. Only when
humans are part of that food chain is that balance lost. This movie could have
taught so much about all our responsibilities.