The Villains Back-Story: The Little Mermaid: Return to the Sea and Despicable Me - Essay Example

?The villain’s back-story Animated films have that capa touch people of all ages across the globe; it also touches the person’s sensibilities down to the core, consciously or subconsciously. It goes deep down into the child within each of us. When we watch the cartoons come alive in the story, we kick off our personal defensive barriers and enjoy this harmless and wholesome movie. And with our firewalls down, the sublime messages within the movie, if any, freely passes through to our subconscious self where it settles and installs itself. With this in mind, I chose two animated films that carry subtle theme that is still very relevant in our society today. The theme is “childhood neglect and adult deviant behavior”. The movies that I chose both project these messages in whispers which we easily let through our ears and into our subconscious minds. My paper shall focus not on the main plot and the main characters but on the villains and their back-stories. The movies are The Little Mermaid: Return to the Sea and Despicable Me which were released in 2000 and 2010 respectively. Both movies carry child-friendly plots. Both movies have cute little children and lots of cute little characters in it. And both movies have villains that wanted power to hold the world (or the moon for the matter) in their hands. In the Little Mermaid, Morgana, Ursula’s sister, deceived melody into stealing King Triton’s trident. She needed the trident to lord over the oceans and rule the world. Morgana succeeded in getting the trident and without delay, established her kingdom and commanded everyone to bow before her, including King Triton himself. With Morgana at the pinnacle of her ice castle and all of the ocean creatures bowing before her, see then looked up to the sky and said, "See that, Ma! Who's your favorite now?" On the other hand, in the movie Despicable Me, we have a notorious villain in the person of Mr. Gru. He walks around town with his stinking personality, and he is proud of it. When the world declared that a crime done by another villain was the worst ever, he was challenged, especially when his mother called to emphasize that her son was a loser. Gru wanted to be the world’s worst villain and prove his mother wrong. He wanted to commit the world’s worst crime. Obviously, nothing could beat him if he steals the moon. In the course of his adventures in making that dream a reality, Gru would have flashbacks to his childhood when his dream of going to the moon started. Most notable of them was when he declared to his mother that “Mom, someday, I'm going to go to the moon,” to which his mother replied, “I'm afraid you're too late, son. NASA isn't sending the monkeys anymore.” That scene got stuck inside of him and he carried that baggage even on his trip to the moon. What do these two villains have in common? They were both neglected as a child. Morgana was always second best to her sister, Ursula, or so she thought. She grew up into an adult full of hatred for her older sister. She entered into the adult world with a mind full of greed for power and a heart longing for attention and acceptance from the one person that matters most – her mother. Likewise, Gru had an equally unhappy childhood. He was raised by a single mom who does not seem to have interest in him and what he is capable of doing. He tried everything to get his mother’s attention and affection up to the point of launching a real rocket in their backyard. But for all his efforts and genius achievements, all his mother could give was, “Ehh…” and a pout. Gru never forgot those days, and grew up with the strong desire to be the best and the most in what he do hoping to finally get the attention and love that he has been longing for. Both movies, though ten years apart, have portrayed the same causal connection between the villains and their unhappy and neglected childhood. Perhaps if their respective mothers have only been more patient, more understanding and more caring, they would not have ended up as villains with such vile and loathsome personality. However, the two movies did differ on one thing. They projected different social treatment for the villains. In the case of Morgana, she ended up locked in her ice-cube prison and condemn to freeze for eternity under the dark oceans. On the contrary, Gru found reconciliation with his mother through the help, albeit unconsciously, of his three adopted children. Gru became a reformed man and actually ended up being the brave hero who is willing to give up everything for his family. When Gru gave up the moon in exchange for the three children, he was also letting go of his strong desire to be the best and most for his mother. But at the end of the day, choosing the three children over his personal interests brought him closer to his mother and actually earned him the “I’m proud of you son” badge. The difference in their endings reflects the change in societies’ treatment towards these deviant personalities. Before, society condemns these people who seem to have great difficulty in following social norms and obeying the laws of the community. They are locked up and condemned, either physically in prison or emotionally through ostracism and sheer neglect. Ten years later, society considers them as persons needing help through therapy and rehabilitation, not condemnation (Maahs 19). We now have such concepts as the cycle of violence which tells us that children, who grew up in violent households have a strong tendency to exhibit violent behavior in their adult life. There have also been several studies conducted as early as in the 1970s which prove that neglected children enter adulthood with loads of emotional baggage, making them delinquents who seek social attention and unfortunately, actually receive them through various institutions like rehabilitation homes or worst, penal institutions (Alfaro 1). This shift in understanding and treatment towards deviant behavior has made society a little more open minded and patient towards these people. They are now viewed not as the bad villains but as victims too. They are victim of their childhood and needs our help to overcome this trauma. Deviant behavior is more of a product of nurture rather than nature (Roberts). With social acceptance and programs for rehabilitation and reconciliation, these social deviants could actually find their place within a peaceful community. Next time you watch an animated film, try to get past the colorful artworks and try to find the subtle themes and poignant back stories hidden behind a few lines. Works Cited: Alfaro, J. Summary report on the Relationship Between Child Abuse and neglect and later Socially deviant Behavior. March 1978. Available at http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/Digitization/50515NCJRS.pdf Accessed on May 24, 2011 Despicable Me. Universal Pictures. Pierre Coffin, Chris Renaud. 2000 Maahs, J. Maternal Risk Factors. Life Events, and Deviant Outcomes: Assessing Antisocial Pathways from Birth Through Adolescence. Unpublished. Available at http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/189790.pdf Accessed May 24, 2011. Roberts, Y. The neurological Effect of neglecting Children’s Needs. June 3, 2010. Available at http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jun/03/neurological-effect-neglecting-childrens-needs Accessed may 24, 2011 The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea. Walt Disney Pictures. Jim Kammerud, Brian Smith. 2000 Read More