Mark Pinsky Religious Comparing to the Movie Finding Nemo - Essay Example

Finding Nemo (2003 An Analysis in Consideration of Mark Pinsky’s Take on Disney and Religion From a cultural point of view, the work of Walt Disney has entered a level of attention that can be compared to a religion. There are ‘temples’ to the religion, in the form of the theme parks. The man and the symbolic character of the organization, Mickey Mouse, are looked upon as icons of a philosophy. Millions of people worldwide make ’pilgrimages’ to the parks, with some people living in proximity so that the joy can be experienced at will. Some attend every day in order to receive the benefit of that joy. Mark Pinsky has written an examination of the world of Walt Disney in order to assess the ways in which the philosophies have formed a value system and informed culture, through children, on how to values into human experience. However, in the postmodern world some of the concepts that originated the Disney belief system have been challenged as prejudices and stereotypes are being broken and a new system of acceptance through intellectual assessment of the gray areas has begun to emerge. Through an examination of the film Finding Nemo, the theories that Pinsky has presented can be assessed and understood, while addressed through the postmodern cultural constructs that are challenging the good and evil paradigm. The history of Walt Disney is constructed from myth, the propagation of which is intended to extend the brand in order to build the business end of his career. Despite the incredible talent with which Disney created his world, he also had the business sense to understand that through image, his world could become an empire. Therefore, it is the myth of the man that is as important as the fantasies of the stories. The myths even extend to a ‘resurrection’ myth as there is a belief that he has been cryogenically preserved for the day when he will be revived by future advances in science. An analytical take on the nature of religion can be seen through a dual purpose structure in which belief and power are achieved by spreading philosophy in order to perpetuate the status of a leader. Power has come from the economic success of the company, the branding successful to the point of the construction of a socially mythic set of icons that promote consumption. Belief, through the Disney experience can be appreciated through two different sets of concepts. The first can be observed in the belief that is seen through the eyes of small children as they watch the magic of Disney animation, their trust in the sweetness, villainies, and triumphs of the characters building a sympathetic resonance that creates connected adoration. Children will demand the replaying of the film that resonates most with them over and over, sometimes even in the same sitting. The second is through the instilling of a belief in the power of values, exemplified by the demise of a villain who is contrary to the positive belief systems. Pinsky quotes Annalee R. Ward, who wrote Mouse Morality: The Rhetoric of Disney Animated Film who said “The individual Disney films act as chapters in the Disney book on what the world looks like or should look like”.1 It must be noted, however, that the ‘religious’ aspect of the Disney experience has been designed to specifically not connect to any known religious belief system. Pinsky writes “Disney’s decision to exclude or excise traditional religion from animated features was in part a commercial one, designed to keep the product saleable in a worldwide market”.2 In the process, the films tend to focus on magic, the fairytale power that fuels the sense of right and the promotion values in such a way that it does not come into conflict with religious belief, and in so doing gathers the widest audience possible. However, magic is not the only fuel that promotes the case of right within the Disney films. The fuel of luck, of the moment to moment calculation of events that all add up to the success of the protagonist also provides a position from which the positive values are supported. In the film Finding Nemo, it is a combination of the power of love and the situational ‘luck’ that propels the characters through their quest. Pinsky shows that plot problems often required “the need for a sometimes unexpected device to intervene and resolve plot conflicts” (4). Disney films use this concept liberally through events that would seem impossible if not for the ’power of right’ that provides the platform of values on which the thrust of the plot is constructed. In Finding Nemo the lack of faith with which the protagonist begins the film is reconciled by the circumstances that are both born of luck and through his actions to effect the outcome of the situations. In the film Finding Nemo, the social construction of a world built primarily on the belief of science is promoted in a post-modernist discussion that centers its discussion on two conflicting, but relevant concepts. The first is that man is in conflict, his desire to control the world through technology in conflict with his desire for the simple security of his family and home. In this case, Marlon and his family, their losses and the emotional context of the family life and its smaller community is in contrast to the technological macro understanding of a larger world that impacts the sanctity of the smaller family community. The world of Marlon is a personification of the community, the neighborhood school and the family oriented atmosphere symbolic of the interior of the middle class, suburban environment. Additionally, the conflict between humankind and the natural world, the imposition of the will of the human who thoughtlessly impacts on the environment for frivolous satisfactions, is discussed within the conflicts between the ocean and the desire for the dentist to have representation of that world within his office. The film begins with Marlin having lost his ’faith’, his life bereft of the belief that everything is safe and secure, built upon the loss of his wife and all of his children through an attack. As the film was released in 2003, it is likely that it reflects the reactionary world that existed after the attack on September 11, 2001. Even though the film was undoubtedly in production prior to that time, the cult of fear that erected within the United States and spread to countries around the Western world undoubtedly influenced the construction of the fearful Marlon who was crippled by a loss in faith in the security of his home life. Therefore, the first step towards supporting the religious connectivity that the Disney films have to religious systems is in addressing fears that are more often engaged with belief in order to still them. Through faith, emotional fears are calmed, but when that faith is lost, insecurity begins to be the foundation of how life is lived. This is the state in which Marlon is living through the loss of his wife. Pinsky states that the ’Gospel of Disney’ is centered on the ’me’, the desire of the individual and the expectations of wish fulfillment. The center philosophy states that “when you wish upon a star your dreams come true”, thus all that is needed for everything to be ok is that someone is to believe that they will be fine (10). However, it must be noted that villains have not earned this right of wish fulfillment, their nefarious desires not worthy of the fulfillment of a wish. In Finding Nemo, the adversarial relationships is between the natural world and the artifices of mankind. The dentist who captures Nemo is not the direct villain, but his belief in the absolutism with which the human ’right’ is defined, that belief that mankind can disrupt any cultural or eco system desired. Therefore, the wish of the doctor to have a fish tank in his office is represented of an evil act, thus his wish cannot be sustained. The oblivion of the evilness of his act centers him as a buffoon, thus the dentist is not fully discussed as evil, but his act is the focus of the evil intent. The dichotomy of what is evil and what is not evil is discussed at length through the discussion that is made by the sharks about eating other fish. Pinsky states that one of the values that have been traditionally engaged within the films of Disney is that “good can always triumph over evil”3. However, in films such as Bambi, human kind has been determined as the actor of evil.4 What Finding Nemo does, however, is create a discussion that is based upon a wider understanding of the nature of evil. In response to a world that tries to identify evil through prejudices and uninformed stereotypes, in which entire cultures become part of ‘the axis of evil’, this film reveals that stereotypes do not take into consideration the motivations of actions. Intent is discussed as the sharks try to deny their nature, to deny themselves their natural food sources, in order to adhere to a higher purpose. Where often sharks have been framed as evil, as in The Little Mermaid (1992), in this film they become a resource in which to discuss the nature of evil. It is shown that the sharks are not evil, but that their actions are evil to other species. Where most of the narratives about good and evil have been simplistically rendered by the animated films by Disney, in the postmodern world, this discourse has begun to change. As an example, in 1991 Disney released Beauty and the Beast in which the tradition of promoting the idea that beauty equals good is challenged.5 An evolution of thought is shown as the films through the last two decades have begun to challenge the original absolutes on which the Disney world has been constructed. Good is not always signified by beauty, neither is evil signified by ugly, just as motivations and the result of an action are not always definable by the concept of evil. The dentist is presented as someone whose understanding of what he is doing is undeveloped, his impact on his ‘prisoners’ based not upon evil, but upon his ignorance. The final message can be seen as Marlon realizes that the good in his life is not dependent upon the impact of an elusive concept of good and evil outside of his control, but on his willingness to engage the world and construct the results through the power of his own belief and faith that the outcome will work out. While the message is more complex than seen in many of the other Disney films, it is based upon a world in which global communications has forced value systems to engage motivations as either being informed or uninformed. While the world of Disney is defined by an overwhelming sense of the system of values, the films that are defined by their sense of the changing modern world. As Pinsky has developed a discussion on the nature of the Disney philosophy as it relates to belief and values, Finding Nemo reveals a changing system that shows how the world has engaged a new way in looking at values through motivations and information which provides context for actions that might otherwise seem evil. Marlon regains his faith in the security of his life based upon his own abilities to affect outcomes. As Pinsky discusses the nature of religious devotion as it is a part of the Disney animated film experience, Finding Nemo reveals the changes of that discussion as values and beliefs have shifted in postmodern society. Works Cited Pinsky, Mark I. The Gospel According to Disney: Faith, Trust, and Pixie Dust. Louisville, Ky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2004. Read More