Article written by Michelle Contarino.
Children. Yes, you heard correctly. This week, we are going to be talking about children; specifically, children in film. Don't worry, I'm avoiding the typical response you're probably expecting to hear, such as why children in film are expressive little munchkins who immerse the audience with their innocence. Rather, what I've decided to look into, are films where the children are the main focus of the story for whatever reason, and how these children face the hardships of the world they live in.
The first film I've picked is Matilda, mainly because I enjoyed this film growing up, but also because I find that it heavily touches on 'abuse of authority'. When I was younger, I was scared of authority (especially if that authority was someone I didn't know personally). Anyone else agree? Whether it be a strict teacher or a domineering father, we all could relate to the fear of somebody bigger than us who could order us around and do what they like. Mrs. Trunchbull is that character. Looking back now, she reminds me of a raging bull with conceived entitlement. When I was younger, I remember she was the evil headmistress who could lock you up just because she had the power to do so, which used to frighten me.
Matilda, our main character, proves that authority is only what you make out of it. She's had to deal with misguided authority her entire life, being the daughter of a no-good car salesman father and a self-absorbed, bingo-obsessed mother. She's a charismatic young girl who, even now, I find myself relating to. As someone who loves to read (and did lots of it as a child rather than play outside) I can understand Matilda's struggle to be a child in a family who does not appreciate the use of knowledge or literature.
By the end of the film, Matilda is able to derail Mrs. Trunchbull's influence on the school and escape the power-abuse she was subjected to by her family. Overall, the film is a worthy example of how authority can be a guise for cruelty, and how it can be defeated and overcome. This can be related back to us in simpler ways. For example, move out of home recently? Lucky for you, you're now free to a life without your parent's (hopefully not cruel) authority restricting you.
The second film I've picked is Bridge to Terabithia. Oh yes, you're thinking, the film where I cried my eyes out at the end. That one. Yes, you're right on the money. I don't want to look at this film only because it makes us cry; I want to look at it because I believe that it employs real struggles that children face, in a film you'd never expect to find them. I came into the film hoping to be entertained by two children creating a fantasy world and having the time of their lives, and while this was a premise, it was not the main premise.
Our main characters, Jess and Leslie, both have with their own troubles. Jess feels forgotten by his parents as they dote on his younger sister at home and he is also bullied at school, while we find out later in the film that Leslie never really had friends at her old school. The struggle of finding comfort at home and comfort in friends, at a young age, can be difficult. Bridge to Terabithia uses these struggles to capture the youth of our two main characters. Other than these two characters, we have the school bully, Janice, who is found to be abused by her father and hence is a bully by default. This is another real-life issue that can be acknowledged and, for some, it lessened the hatred we felt for her while also creating an empathetic understanding of her character.
The sad moment that had us in a blubbering mess is, of course, the premise I was talking about earlier. Death is a tragedy as we know it, but for children it can be an inconceivable notion, and something that is hard to accept. The film manages to display, through the fantasy world it creates, an escape from life into a world (a child's mind) where such permanent things do not exist. The end of the film, where Jess invites his younger sister into Terabithia with him, is an embodiment of this; it is where he can keep the memory of Leslie alive in a world that never dies.
The third and last film I have picked is The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. This film is, by far, the most confronting I have decided to talk about. Although I said I would be bypassing the conversation about childhood innocence, I believe that this film eloquently harnesses this trait for the portrayal of friendship between our two main characters, Bruno and Shmuel.
The film is set during the second World War and is a reiteration of this devastating time, seen through the eyes of two eight-year-old boys whose differences unfortunately separate them by their living conditions and existence in society, but this does not stop their close companionship. Their childhood innocence is important as it is what divides them from the other people in the film. Shmuel, a Jew living in a Nazi extermination camp, does not realise that he is in an extermination camp or know the reason why, and Bruno, a German boy whose father runs the camp, is taught that Jews are evil but does not comprehend the motivation for that way of thinking.
As children, we used to see the world in a different view to the one we do today. Now, we're subjected to prejudices and all sorts of other demeaning modes of thinking. Bruno and Shmuel's friendship in this film is a lesson in acceptance that even adults, like us, after watching would hopefully understand. Their childhood innocence teaches us that no matter the race or differences between people, we should learn to agree that everyone deserves a chance at a proper life, as well as treatment equal to that of our own.
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