Happy Feet
Warner Brothers Academy Award winning film “Happy Feet” (Best Animated Feature) is not just a clever film that entertains; it has a message, in fact several of them.
The environmental message is clear and easy to understand. Man can, and often does, create damage to various ecosystems around the world. Many viewers will miss however, the dishonest approach to the message. The Sea Lion and Orcas-along with humans- are monsters who feed on those below them on the food chain. This is assumed, yet, in the grand finale, Penguins are seen tossing about, with great joy and a charming soundtrack, the abundance which has been granted them-small fish! The same fish our hearts went out to in “Finding Nemo”. Apparently it is okay to eat other creatures as long as the film is about you. Man does have a responsibility to be a good steward, but eating fish that Penguins want is not wrong.
More difficult to see is the covert propaganda of a One World Government. After the protagonist, Mumble, has alerted the humans to the trouble (businessmen are taking their fish), a montage of images of humans in meeting after meeting working to stop the carnage is shown, and the day is saved. These humans and the meetings, which look strikingly like the United Nations, finally stop the greedy businessmen. The underlying message comes into focus-a One World Government is required to stop those darn capitalists!
The idea that traditional leaders and traditional ways cannot be trusted is rather clear, and faith in a higher power is shown to be a big lie which even the leaders don’t really believe in the end. However, the film makers use terms which covertly strike at Christianity in specific. The Penguin leaders are called “Elders” who worship the “Great Guin- who alone has the power to give and take away”; the head elder has a thick Scottish accent. Mumble is a little penguin born different. All the other Penguins sing, but he tap dances. He eventually shows the others how to dance. This leads the elders to proclaim that “the scarcity” has been brought about by “backsliders” and their “pagan displays”, whom are called to “repent my brethren” and “renounce your peculiar thoughts…if we are sincere and devout in our praise the fish will return.” Mumbles father says, “Our son is all messed up” and asks him to stop dancing. Mumble responds, “Don’t ask me to change Pa, cause I can’t”. The reference to homosexuality is obvious to those with a discerning ear.
The assumptive ideas and terms in this film will not be discerned by most, and certainly not by the target audience, the youth of the world. If all the messages take hold we will soon have a society which thinks there is no God; that it is wrong to eat meat; that business is bad; that any behavior is acceptable if you are born different; that tradition is oppressive; and that a One World Government will save us. Too late.