A boy too old to be a kid, too young to be a man: Utilising animation in affecting narratives

In my most recent ‘Fi’s favourites’ post, I spoke about The Tale of Princess Kaguya and the difference between Eastern and Western cinema, particularly the differences in our uses of animation. In the West, animation is typically seen as something for children and in the East, it is, for anyone, a safe fictional space used to explore whatever one desires.

All this talk of animation and children’s films got me thinking. While the two films I will be discussing in this post are aimed at children, they show the same innovation utilised by Japanese cinema as well as similar values and explore difficult and heavy themes not present in typical children’s films. Both utilise a fictional space, removed from our own yet still connected—a place for discussion and exploration. J.A. Bayona’s A Monster Calls (AMC) is based on the book by Patrick Ness and the other film I will discuss is the Disney/Pixar collaboration of Onward. Both films are not just places for children where fairytales come true, but deal with genuine issues facing children in their daily lives.

It may be obvious that I have a great interest in children’s cinema; so much so that I wrote a thesis on the matter. The way young children interpret and understand films is different from another group. Young children often incorporate scenes from films into their play, re-enacting key moments. They use the film to learn about life. They use it to understand social situations they have not yet encountered in their own lives. At the time, I was investigating the repetitive presence of negative stereotypes in children’s film and their effects. I was examining the stereotype of the evil stepmother and looking at the issue of if a child had not met a stepmother in their own life, whether they would use film to fill in the gaps of their understanding. Given that it is typically a negative archetype, their impression and understanding of a ‘real life’ stepmother would likely be negative, and they could be fearful.

The world we show children and the people in this world are important for children’s learning and understanding of how the real world works. This is why it is positive to discuss and show difficult situations and themes in young cinema. Animation is detached enough from our real-world that dark and heavy topics don’t seem overbearing, but similar enough so that we can still engage with the issues they presented to us.

Onward is set in a mythical and magical world with dragons, unicorns, pixies etc. This magical land doesn’t totally reflect our own, but it has structures that we can all understand and relate to. There are schools, police, traffic, driving instructors, mothers, fathers, brothers etc. Onward introduces many issues: modernisation, history, heritage, loss of tradition and values and single parenthood, to name a few. The core topics it introduces are death, illness and family structure. Even though this is a magical world, death and illness still look the same, or rather feel the same.

Onward still follows the classic film structure found in most children's films. The hero is introduced, encounters struggle and grows as a result. There are the same hijinks and humour present in all Disney and Pixar films, but the core narrative is centred around something very different. Terminal illness is a subject most adults struggle with facing, but this film doesn’t compromise by taking a soft approach, instead addressing the complications many children face. The confusing physical changes that illness causes, how unrecognisable the ones we love can become as a result of it and, because of this, when it may be time to say goodbye, we aren’t ready or able to face it.

Another concept addressed by the film that I believe really pushes it to the next level is the idea of parenthood. Sometimes fathers or mothers can not fulfil their roles for one reason or another, but a sibling can or even a different family member. It might take us a while to realise it because they don’t have the title of a parent but eventually, you see that they’ve been there all along. In these modern times, when family units change and don’t always resemble old structures, it is important to address it in a medium that children can both enjoy and understand.

This journey does not go the way we expect. Many people who deserve a happy ending make sacrifices so that somebody else can. The journey had a much easier solution than first anticipated, which could have saved precious time, but it isn’t about the destination, as they say. It's the journey. Much like in The Tale of Princess Kaguya, we don’t always get what we want but what we need. Not only does Onward utilise animation like Eastern cinema, but it also shares many of its values.

AMC is live-action but combined with animation. It might be a tougher film for children as it may resemble their own lives too closely, but the use of animation provides not only moments of relief, but also space for some of the tougher issues to be broken down and explored more easily. Animation is appealing to children, and when combined with live actions, it redirects your focus, gets you thinking and questioning.

Animation is used in two forms in this film. One is the CGI tree monster and the other is the more simple, hand-drawn watercolours. Typically monsters, by their definition, are to be feared. Here, its power, anger and strength are utilised to confront the difficult and conflicting thoughts of the film's protagonist, Conor. The monster looks scary, but is Conor’s greatest ally and reminds us that there is a powerful and strong monster inside all of us that sometimes needs to be unleashed.

Much like Kaguya, AMC uses fables to provoke thought. These fables are animated. There are four tales, each with lessons, such as just because the future is uncertain doesn’t mean it’s bad, there is not always a good guy, be careful who you trust, true things can feel unfair, most people are not good or evil, but both; the importance of faith and morals and bad things happen to good people. Most if not all of these lessons can be seen in Japanese cinema. Why? Because it is what happens in real life to real people.

Conor is often frustrated by listening to these tales as they twist and turn in ways he can not predict. He can not use his typical understanding of fairytales to decipher them and must work harder to grasp them. We get much visual explanation from the animations and we can understand them better and relate their importance back to the film's main narrative. Conor is not told the significance of the tales or their relevance to his life and so he is forced to fill in the gaps for himself, causing him to think and realise things for himself. This would have been a great film to discuss for my thesis. It really breaks from stereotypical fairy tales and encourages children to see things in a new light.

Like Onward, AMC deals with the difficult topic of a terminal illness. The animated elements of this film break it down and give children visual relief while helping them understand. Even though the animation helps children understand, the film comes back to real life and importantly notes that Conor had all the tools provided by the tales and the strength of a monster inside him all along.

In one of the film's most poignant moments, Conor is pushed to speak his innermost thoughts. He screams “It will kill me if I do.” and the Monster retaliates with “It will kill you if you don’t.”. This is a struggle that plagues many children and even adults. Things in our heads become so large we wonder how we could ever say them, but once we do, a weight is lifted and we wondered how they ever grew so big and took up much so much space in our heads.

Both films, like much of Eastern cinema, use animation to explore complex ideas and feelings. These films are targeted at children, but that doesn’t mean they can’t tackle serious and real issues. Animation is a wonderful and effective medium that can be utilised to explore the most challenging topics and explain complex emotions.

You know how people say it is easier to tell somebody something when you aren’t looking at them? Taking this idea, animation may be the perfect medium to address reality while looking at it from outside of it. The most difficult and challenging issues we face in our society may be easier and better addressed a step or two away from it. Regardless, animation is being utilised is new and exciting ways. Not only is it a visually stunning medium, but emotionally beautiful too.

I never had a Dad, but I always had you