Where the Wild Things Are
Featured, Film — By Dylan Peterson on October 21, 2009 at 8:10 am
There were moments when I was able to relate to Max, but I did so as a childish adult relates to another childish adult. Even though I have childhood memories of playing in the snow and exploring fields and forests by myself with a scepter made out of a tree branch, I don’t think my emotions were as developed then as Max’s are in Where the Wild Things Are.
His many emotions are manifested as dreamy monsters from another world. Sometimes he’s shy, but he can talk too much too, or even go crazy and break things. He’s a very complex little boy, a storyteller with a powerful imagination. But instead of letting his imagination take him to places of joyous cosmic destruction and exciting alien worlds, Max goes to a place where all of his painful emotions are extrapolated.
This is when I can’t relate to Max. To be so young and so emotional is something I don’t remember. I was more like Calvin. My imagination was more concerned with killing monsters than it was befriending them.
Where the Wild Things Are kind of depressed me. Watching a kid gain self-awareness at such a young age was troubling. The fun part of being a kid was the total lack of self-awareness amidst self-absorption. I always say, life is still worthwhile simply because we used to be six. Those memories are enough to keep us going through this meaningless world, where the sun will eventually burn out and we’ll all forget that while we were here we just spent our time judging and being mean to each other.
But without that unaware self-absorption, life becomes unbearably painful. What Max goes through in the movie is a complete revelation of his self-absorption.
The strange thing about Wild Things is that a seemingly imaginative child is taught a very heavy and “adult” lesson, but all within the child’s own mind. He comes to his own conclusions about the way life works.
How horrifying.
But maybe that’s why so many people are saying that this is a movie for adults. I’m not sure if kids can actually relate to Max. As I sat in the theater, a birthday party of small children sat behind me, occasionally commenting out loud on what they were watching.
“Ohhh, look at the flowers! They’re so pretty!”
“Ewwww! That’s disgustiiiing! He’s coming out of her stomach!”
“Aw, that looks like so much fun!”
And in those moments, I felt like the movie was succeeding. I agreed with the kids, and I felt like we were all relating to a purely human experience. Beauty, disgust, fun. It was universal. It didn’t require some mature emotion to understand.
I just discovered an amazing television show on Netflix. It aired in 1987, on HBO. Jim Henson’s The Storyteller. Old, dark folk tales that might scare kids, but will express themes that both adults and children can share. It is at times creepy, amazing, and deep. Things that Wild Things tries to get at, but only occasionally achieves.
I’m troubled. Sure, the visual effects of the creatures in Wild Things were amazing. Probably the most wonderful creature creations since the Jim Henson days (which is saying a lot!). But I have a feeling that this story is not for both kids and adults, as the Jim Henson productions were. The Wild Things movie is for adults, and that’s it. NOT because it’s “dark” or “violent,” but because kids probably just won’t relate to it.
So as an adult viewer, I’m going to forget that Max is a kid. Instead, I’m going to just assume that he represents my own “inner child”. Who is my inner child? He’s that selfish little brat who wants to be heard at all times, be the boss of everybody, do whatever he wants whenever he wants, and so on. I don’t really want this person to come out very often, because he will hurt people when he does.
But sometimes, I just can’t help it. I become a man-child. When I do, I look a lot like Max. I try to escape from the rest of the real people in my life and just make myself feel better in my own head. Sometimes I write stories, or draw, or play some music. I try to escape from reality and drown myself in art. And it’s always a great tourniquet. I feel a lot better after some alone time.
Is that the moral of Wild Things though? As an adult, what does it mean to run away from my fears? Does it mean running to imagination and creativity, only to return to rationality once I’m settled down? Can I eat cake when I come back home?
In the end, I really enjoyed watching the movie, but I’ve come away from it confused (as a critic). I don’t know what to do with its message. I’m not disappointed in it, but I kind of hoped that it might have been a film that would have resonated with me on a deeper level. If anything, it just made me want to go and read old Calvin & Hobbes strips and watch more Jim Henson stuff.
The film told me that it’s not fun to grow up, which is true I guess. But being a kid is wonderful, and Wild Things didn’t really express that. Maybe it didn’t want to. Why not? That’s what I can’t figure out.
21 Comments
I wonder of “Where the Wild Things Are”‘s appeal stems from us wanting to believe we were deep, old-soul kids, when really we just thought the flowers were pretty.
Dylan,
Thanks for the insightful essay. I had a reaction to the movie similar to yours. There were moments of visual brilliance in the film, as Jonze strung together one memorable image after another. But I left the movie deeply unsettled.
Part of this feeling is that I wanted to view the film on the filmmakers’ terms – but I could never figure out for sure what kind of movie Jonze intended to make. Certainly not a movie for children. (One mom left the theater with her four kids halfway through the movie when I to see “Wild Things” last Sunday.) A movie about childhood? Maybe. But like you, Dylan, I was disturbed by Max’s early entry into self-awareness. A movie about a certain kind of childhood – specifically a fatherless childhood? If this is the case, many of my questions might be answered. I would actually really like to hear Don Miller’s take on the movie, to see if he viewed the film this way.
The closing scene of the movie was supposed to be hopeful, but it rang hollow for me – too little too late, a single moment of resolve in an entire movie of discomforting minor chords. A friend suggested I was overthinking the movie, which is maybe true. But if so, I actually blame Jonze and Eggers. The movie was deeply psychological, and I felt sometimes like I was meant to be engaged in a session of Jungian analysis. The viewer is asked to look for parallels between the monster characters and people in Max’s real life. And what was with all the tunnels and holes and enclosed spaces?
All this from a film based on a children book with eleven sentences. Not only that, apparently there was an enough left to explore that Eggers felt the need to also write a novelization of the adaptation. It’s called “Wild Things.”
I want to see the movie again soon, to see if I come away less confused. It will be interesting to follow your lead, Dylan, and try to watch it as a movie about my “inner child.”
i don’t think he completely left out that childhood is fun, there was plenty of fun to be had (the snowball fight, the dirt clod fight, the wild rumpus), it’s just that the fun doesn’t last forever.
Kids get sad too. I’m glad there’s a (incredibly beautiful) movie that explores that.
I have read about the movie, but have not seen it yet; you have confirmed for me that my impression of the movie was correct. I look forward to seeing it, but won’t be taking my kids.
By the way, I am finding as a parent (for 8 years now) that lots of movies i watched as a kid are not really appropriate for kids, at least not young ones. I put Wizard of Oz at the top of this list, but there are others.
That is so true. I don’t have kids, but whenever I go back and watch some of the movies from my childhood I am shocked at all og the adult themes and humor I missed. Even movies they market to kids now are often filled with sexual humor, suggestion, and tons of innapropiate subject matter. Just take a look at the nightly programming of the “ABC family” channel and you’ll see tons of things most people wouldn’t associate with “family” friendly.
This is such a polarizing movie. Some people really love it, and they’re entitled to their opinion, but I think there are just some inherent problems in adapting a kids book into an adults movie that wears a ‘kids movie’ disguise. I mean, the kids book wasn’t an adult story disguised, why is the movie?
But John, I think we do need to see it again. This film might just be ahead of the curve. It is incredibly unique, I’ve never seen a film like it. Time will certainly tell. Either Jonze has tapped into something totally new, or we’ll never see anything like this again.
And John, you’re totally right on the psychological aspects. I’m usually all over the Jungian stuff. Synecdoche New York is one of my favorite films. But for some reason, it just feels a little contrived in Wild Things.
Dylan,
You bring up an important point. I have heard several people say that the book WAS an adult story disguised as a kids book.
If Jonze and Eggers started with that belief – and I haven’t heard them say anything like that – it could explain some of the tension I feel.
John
No kidding?? Well that is interesting… I wonder if Sendak can confirm that.
i wonder if some of the varying reactions to the movie have to do with our own experience of childhood. the general “boy” things that go on throughout the movie are usually universally relatable, but the deeper and darker side is what people take issue with. and i feel like some kids are able to go through more of their childhood with that unaware self-absorption than others, but it always comes to an end at some point.
that’s why i wouldn’t call this a movie about childhood, but one about growing up. parents don’t want their kids to see it maybe because they don’t want them to grow up yet. which is fair in many cases, as a lot of kids are too young to grow up. not that the movie will make them “grow up” per say–but i think kids pick up on a lot more than we give them credit for. and they experience it emotionally beyond what they can process with words, which is where the imagination comes in a lot i think.
perhaps one way to look at the movie is as a fight against the loss of childhood. max has a difficult family life and it obviously affects him a lot. i think there is a lot of his dad in carol, as well as some of himself. which maybe suggests there was some physical violence in his home–so max is processing all of this the way a kid can, through his imagination.
maybe that is over-thinking it, but i think this emotional trauma and the loss of innocence is a characteristic of contemporary childhood. and if we have an issue then it’s less with the filmmakers and more with what we have done to childhood. maybe this movie is showing the truth that as kids we can’t fight the monsters anymore–not when they are our own parents and broken families.
Great points Luke. It’s funny, I didn’t want to overthink the film either, i wanted it to just be pure fun. But like John already said, Jonze and/or Eggers made it pretty hard to just sit back and enjoy its ride.
But to your points, I wondered if perhaps the film wasn’t about typical childhood, but ‘troubled childhood’. Maybe since I wasn’t a deeply troubled child is why I’m unable to relate to Max as a kid.
What an incredibly bleak message if that’s the case though. If you get so screwed up as a kid that you can’t even escape trauma within your own young imagination… yikes. But maybe it’s true. Maybe that’s the point.
One divergence that I found especially troubling was how the film version of Max ran away from home. In the book, Max was in the midst of a punishment. His mom sent him to his room, and Max turned to imagination from there (a pretty typical parent-child relationship, not very troubling). The film Max was like a cranky asshole though. He was never punished for anything. He just rebelled, and in the midst of his rebellion “grew up” and went back home. Is it possible to become an adult at age 9?
All this said, I’m still not sure what to do with its message. Feel bad for Max? Celebrate him as a hero who has gone through some sort of emotional abuse and overcomes it by “growing up”?
(shrug)
I was uncomfortable at times with the anger and isolation in the film. I don’t know if I ever felt that volatile.
I didn’t know it was going to be that serious.
It felt like Max had grown up too much at the end. Like Dylan said, “too little too late.” I couldn’t imagine Max still being 6 and thinking/acting like a normal kid.
I heard lots of kids saying the same stuff in the theatre. Surface reactions.
I think it’d be great to interview several kids who saw the film and get their impressions. Without leading, did they feel bored or scared of certain elements in the film?
I really liked the movie. I loved the story as a child and love it again as an adult reading it to my two-year old. This movie dealt with a lot of the very destructive emotions that a child can feel when they watch the destruction of their family when parents’ don’t stay together.
As for his self-awareness, I think it’s entirely possible for a child to have adult-like awareness. That can be one of the unfortunate outcomes of family situations like this. My parents divorced and brought other people into our home. It was terrible and I ran through the forest and screamed many times. But as an adult watching the movie it was like watching years of therapy on the big screen. It felt theraputic.
And yes, now that we’re adults, we can have a big piece of chocolate cake when we come home and fall asleep at the table.
ps-the book is kind of scary. Has anyone thought about that? It’s not like it’s cozy. As I kid I never really felt completely safe with the monsters and as an adult I feel the same way.
Six “kids” I am close to saw the movie together. Ages 13-21. All of them fatherless boys with very troubled family lives. All of them striving for a different future. All grown up before their time, I admire the strength of character my young friends possess. I saw the movie through their eyes. Perhaps this is the demographic Jonze/Eggers will appeal to/relate best with. Each of the kids seemed to be experiencing something I knew nothing about. They were crying at different times. Laughing when I did not know it was time to laugh. And when unconditional love was displayed at the end with no yelling, no swearing, no beating or being throwing back out on the street…the lights came on revealing six young men still in tears and unashamed. One comment was made softly. “His mom stayed awake the whole time worried about him. I wonder what that’s like?”
Maybe we don’t all “get it”. But maybe we are not supposed to. Like all art, it is deeply meaningful to some and just a pretty picture to others.
I just saw the movie tonight and was wondering what it all meant. Then I saw your post and cried…i get it now.
seems that as a critic, you should walk into a spike jonze movie expecting to walk out a little confused…
that’s part of what makes him special…
i don’t think this is a piece meant to be swallowed in one bite.
i loved that fact that he didn’t try to make it appealing to kids just for the sake of it… instead, he told the story that had to be told… (call him anti-disney)…
the film was precise… perfectly acted, filmed and written… not one word was token, every expression intentional, and every shot beautiful…
can’t wait to see it again.
Hey Dylan,
Thanks for reviewing this film, I just saw it last night and was blown away. I must confess I came away from it with a different perspective.
First of all, I didn’t expect a Spike Jonze adaptation of any film, even a classic children’s book, to really be *for* children, and I read one reviewer who I believe aptly put it that this film is *about* being nine, not necessarily *for* nine year olds. And on that level I believe it worked.
As someone who came from a ‘dysfunctional’ family who faced a lot of what Max was facing in this story at 9, I thought the film did a fantastic job of addressing, through the creative story telling of a confused, scared, and hurt little boy, all the mixed emotions that exist inside a kid’s head when faced with some very difficult and often adult realities. I think the writers did an amazing job of addressing what was going on in Max’s heart and mind about his parents’ break up, his mother’s dating, his sister’s nonchalance despite his desire to be close to her, and the complexities of family life in general. I thought the various wild thing characters did a great job of manifesting those confused feelings and thoughts in the context of the emotional ups and downs of a child max’s age.
I was deeply moved by the film, moved to tears at a few points, and I think to assume that Max had it all figured out in the end is not perhaps the best interpretation of the film. I think that we, as the observer, as adults with an ability to look back on our childhoods and process, take more away from Max’s experiences, on an intellectual or analytical level, than he did. Rather, I think in the film Max was able to learn a few more simple emotional lessons, like being in a family is hard, but still worth it, and at the end of the day even when she’s not perfect ,it is sure great to have a mom.
Thanks for reviewing the film so we cold have a chance to discuss it.
-Nicole
this movie was quite good in visuals and had some very interesting themes. It was also confusing and hard to actually grasp the overall concept. I could not wrap my head around all of characters. Their dialogue was very heavy-handed and obtuse. I also wondered how Children could relate to the many characters. The climax was really missing some key elements such as a developed plot line and the characters were very unpredictable. My friend suggested that It was just a big character study. I could see that, but each characters behavior was a bit erratic. I couldn’t really love this movie. I also didn’t read the book.
I struggled with this movie when I left the theater. Having grown up in a dysfunctional family, it stirred up some “stuff” in me. It took a few days to process, but now when people ask me what I thought of it, I say, “It wasn’t what I expected” and, “I loved it.” Such a deep movie, full of rich images, deep characters, and a subtle slow story with so many undertones that you’ll find yourself watching it over and over again, each time gleaning something new. Great review, Dylan.
I mostly concur, especially with regard to Max having to deal with his selfishness and not connecting deeply with the film. Here’s a link to a longer version of what I thought:
http://mikerad83.blogspot.com/2009/11/where-wild-things-are-reviewed.html
I agree very much with this review. Here’s mine that I wrote for fun: http://wayfaringwordsmith.blogspot.com/2010/01/whimsical-inventive-and-frightening.html