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Dont know if this has been discussed yet but we recently saw the ‘Small Foot” movie and it so reminded us of the faith crisis many Mormons have. Here is a partial review I made of this movie: Within this movie, are actually powerful messages about life. Here is what I got out of it:
The film follows a community of yetis/bigfoots who live in a blissfully insular mountain community above the clouds. They live according to community rule written on stones, kept and interpreted by their spiritual leader, the Stonekeeper (voiced by Common), who literally wears the law/stones in a papal-type vestment. The yetis don’t question the authority or logic of the stones. When someone does ask a question, the Stonekeeper (who feels like a mix of Moses and the pope) repeats the community’s mantra to just “push the questions down.” Don’t question. Just believe. The only thing more dangerous than fear, according to the Stonekeeper, is curiosity.
One of the stones insists there is no such thing as “smallfoot.” So when a young yeti named Migo (Channing Tatum) stumbles on a smallfoot/human—a hilarious TV personality named Percy (James Corden)—and shows him to his fellow yetis, the community is thrown into chaos. The Stonekeeper’s authority and his whole system are undermined. The heroes of Smallfoot are the young yetis who dare to question everything. Migo is allied with the Stonekeeper’s daughter Meechee (Zendaya), who leads an underground group called the Smallfoot Evidentiary Society. This empiricist group aims to prove the truth of smallfoot’s existence even if it means the stones are proven to be outmoded myths.
Ok, this reminded me of movies like “Fiddler on the Roof” where Jewish traditions are challenged and “A Few Good Men” where Jack Nicholson yells out, “You can’t handle the truth.” Like everything in life, there is a balance to be found. Some people find one ‘untruth’ in something and throw the ‘Baby Out with the Bath water” as they say. The movie makes you ask yourself certain questions like:
1. Are you brave enough to question things and be ostracized because you want to know the truth? Is it alright to challenge and question your parents, authority, religion, and rule of law?
2. How much do most people really want to know the truth? How many people don’t go to the doctor because they don’t want to know if they have cancer or a serious illness? Do you really want to know if your spouse is cheating on you?
3. One of the reasons I believe in Christ is because He is a man who was not afraid to challenge the status quo of his time. How he treated women and the poor was not typical of His day. He worked on the Sabbath and made people think! He stood up to the religious leaders of his day. He was willing to give His own life to save others.
Ok, enough deep stuff…go and enjoy it and tell me what you get out of it?
Interesting. I saw the commercials and dismissed the movie as one of the lower quality animated movies, like Barnyard or something. Thanks for the report, I’ll have to check it out someday.
Have not seen the movie yet but it looks funny. Our western culture tends to value individuals that challenge the status quo at great personal sacrifice.
bridget_night wrote:
1. Are you brave enough to question things and be ostracized because you want to know the truth? Is it alright to challenge and question your parents, authority, religion, and rule of law?
Truth can be a slippery thing. Are people that challenge the “rule of law” terrorists or freedom fighters? Does the relatively harmless “occupy wall street” movement have truth on its side? They certainly seem to be questioning and challenging our economic system. Is there a happy medium where we can both question things and learn truth without working to destabilize the communities we live in?
bridget_night wrote:
2. How much do most people really want to know the truth? How many people don’t go to the doctor because they don’t want to know if they have cancer or a serious illness? Do you really want to know if your spouse is cheating on you?
I think there are assumptions built into those scenarios. If you have a serious illness and you find out then you could search for a cure or at least use the time to prepare for death. If your spouse is cheating on you then the person that you most trust is actively betraying you behind your back. Who would not want to know?
With religion it is trickier. Suppose there is no God, life has no purpose other than to procreate, and no matter what any of us do humanity is doomed to extinction. Would you want to know? Would you want to make sure that everyone around you also knew the truth to make sure that they do not comfort themselves with false hope?
Cool! Now I have to watch it, along with Sherlock and Watson Wasn’t it Gene Hackman who said you can’t handle the truth? Roy wrote:
bridget_night wrote:
2. How much do most people really want to know the truth? How many people don’t go to the doctor because they don’t want to know if they have cancer or a serious illness? Do you really want to know if your spouse is cheating on you?
I think there are assumptions built into those scenarios. If you have a serious illness and you find out then you could search for a cure or at least use the time to prepare for death. If your spouse is cheating on you then the person that you most trust is actively betraying you behind your back. Who would not want to know?
With religion it is trickier. Suppose there is no God, life has no purpose other than to procreate, and no matter what any of us do humanity is doomed to extinction. Would you want to know? Would you want to make sure that everyone around you also knew the truth to make sure that they do not comfort themselves with false hope?
I think there is almost a leap of faith required here. I think most believers hold that if they lost their faith in God, heaven, eternity, etc, there is only existential misery and cold, dark nihilism left. Maybe some people couldn’t cope with the loss of faith here. But once you take the “leap”, things really aren’t so bad on the other end. If life doesn’t have a God-given purpose, you are free to give it purpose. If life has no meaning, you bestow life with meaning. If there is no center of the universe, you become it’s center. When nothing matters, suddenly everything does.
I appreciate that dande. I suppose I was responding to the questions that I felt were leading. Only very few “head in the sand” and “all is well in Zion” individuals would not want to know about an illness or infidelity from a spouse. I feel that be an unfair comparison. I suppose a better phrasing might be “If the stories that you tell yourself to give yourself a sense of meaning and purpose were false – would you want to know?” OTOH, sometimes belief in religious institutions can be harmful especially to individuals that do not quite fit the mold. I believe that those tendencies (to cause harm to those on the margins) should be actively mitigated as much as possible. Luckily, we live in a society where the religious authority and the government authority are separate. The form of government among these Yeti Big Foots appears to mix both government and religious power as the basis for their authority. I would find that form of government oppressive.
I saw Small Foot! He is real! 😆 The religious comparisons were thick in the beginning. The Yeti’s were given a false reality in order to protect them for contact with the outside world. The Yetis had retreated to the mountain eons ago to escape bloodthirsty humans. I believe it is important that the “stonekeeper” knew that he was spinning a false narrative (that nothing existed outside the mountain). Also many of the Yetis were engaged in endless manual labor to power the machine that created the steam that obscured the village from outsiders and the outside world from the villagers. If the charade were to be exposed, they could spend their time on more useful pursuits. There is a scene where Migo’s dad takes a moment to mourn his loss of purpose now that his life’s work and legacy has been revealed to be meaningless.
***SPOILER ALERT***
In the end it appears that the Yetis make a decision that 1) Humans attacked them so long ago because of fear and 2) Because of advances in technology and human societal equality – humans can now be safe to co-exist with Yetis.
I understand that this is a children’s movie and simplified happy endings are the order of the day. However, I find the decision of the Yetis to have open and full contact with humans going forward to be the beginning of the end for the yetis.
https://nypost.com/2018/12/01/the-sentinelese-tribe-needs-protection-from-western-arrogance/ No matter how you slice it, the yeti way of life will be ending. Even if the Yetis had immunity to human diseases and even if there were no episodes of violence going forward – the yeti culture would quickly dissipate as outside influences intruded on tribal life and young yetis would leave the tribe to live lives of relative convenience outside of it.
Quote:existential threats to these populations do not come solely from disease or the barrel of a gun. Any attempt by outsiders to intrude in the lands of isolated tribes amounts to a form of coercion.
Those who seek to change their culture, their gods or their beliefs are practicing a form of violence. Perhaps people will only understand this when extraterrestrials arrive here and try to evangelize us with their gods and doctrines.
Every time there is sustained contact between isolated tribes and the outside world the consequences for the tribe are disastrous.
I saw the movie this weekend with my kids and was really struck with the parallels of a faith crisis. A few things stood out to me: 1. Questions. Questions are discouraged and people are asked to rely on faith, the Stonekeeper also does a great spin job on questions when he convinces Migo to lie for the greater good; 2. Migo wishing he could go back to the way things were, not knowing the full truth; 3. The idea of the noble lie for the greater good. I really liked the movie, gave my wife and I a lot to talk about.
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