The beauty of critiquing art is that we get to
disagree. Even if many like or loathe the same film, album, or book, they may
like or loathe it for very different reasons - and those reasons often open up
thrilling debate. As a matter of fact, debating art is one of those
unintentional ways that we grow to understand the heart of someone else. I will
learn a friend's hot buttons and passions very quickly by discussing an
artistic work that he or she absolutely loves - or absolutely hates. This is
why truly bad art is the sort of art that provokes little to no reaction at
all: "take-it-or-leave-it" art. That sort of middle-of-the-road
approach refuses to stir imagination or opinion and therefore does very little
to cause us to grow. It is the hot-button film that forces us to be truly
introspective. The hot-button of the moment? Spike Jonze revelation of
"Where the Wild Things Are."
Yes, I've read the many critiques that have felt
the film flounders - even the review on this very site. But, I present to you
now a last ditch argument of reasons that YOU. MUST. SEE. THIS. FILM.
TONIGHT.
1. The film captures the essence of actual
childhood in a generation of overworked mothers and fatherless boys. The film's
protagonist, Max, is in the pivotal age of transferring from a boy's world to a
man's world. This has been thrust upon him because his own father has abandoned
the family, changing everything. The father's departure has created three Wild
Things: a mother who cannot mother because she also has to father, a sister who
does not connect with her brother because she has left his age of immaturity
behind, and Max himself: the Wild Thing of the film's title. Max makes childish
decisions, but not irrational ones based on his life at the moment. He
struggles to process the change in his family and the need to fill the
emptiness inside of him. However, lacking maturity, he attempts to fill his
painful void with what he believes to be the real answer: absolute freedom.
And, as we all know, in a world of absolute freedom, our emotions become Wild
Things.
2. The film intrigues and captivates the young (but
not too young) while digging into a deep well for adults. In Max's escapist
wilderness, his emotions (in the guise of Carol, KW, and the others) run free
without barriers or borders and chaos ensues. Max claims himself King over his
feelings - certain that he can manage them now that he is the Boss of Himself.
But, these emotions will not be led, and they will certainly not be tamed. View
the film through new, adult eyes and you will see powerful symbolism in each
emotion represented, as well as in each decision and action Max takes to corral
them into a place where Max feels complete. Viewed through this filter, moments
other critics have deemed "meandering" become powerful statements of
Max's growth - moments we can empathize with as adults and perhaps even learn
from.
3. The visual approach is astounding and sets
the perfect mood. Max's wilderness is not a utopian fantasy world. It is an
ominous, daunting - yet mesmerizing place. The prospect of taking control of
one's life and situation is a place of hope: but that doesn't make it a land
that is any less frightening. Jonze captures this beautiful, terrible landscape
with a pitch-perfect aesthetic that is simultaneously like nothing you've seen
in cinema before.
4. The climax and its message. Without giving away
the ending (and if you've read the children's book, there is plenty more to
surprise you), suffice it to say that the emotional catharsis of the film's
payoff is riveting. But, again, filter the moments and the statements through
the glasses of adulthood. What is the shift inside of Max that is happening at
the film's climax? Why does he make the decisions he makes? When, in our own
lives, did we make that same decision: the decision to become a grown-up? And,
then of course, debate it.
And that is the true joy of a film experience like
"Where the Wild Things Are." Inevitably, I will see something that
you will not and vice-versa. By debating it and dissecting it and even by being
perturbed at how we don't see eye-to-eye, we will both grow. I will understand
more of you than I did before, and you will understand more of me.
