PHILOSOPHICAL/PERSUASIVE
The story of “beast of the southern wild” by Benh Zeitlin follows the life of Hushpuppy, a little girl who lives in a place called the bathtub by the natives. It is called this way because of the constant danger of getting flooded by the surrounding ocean and rivers. This constant danger has been created by the humans who are causing the melting of the polar icecaps and by building dams. This story is one of great sadness but more importantly of great wisdom.
This movie illustrates very well the dangers the instability in nature. In the movie we hear a lot about a single broken piece in the universe can cause the destruction of the whole thing. This way of thinking is seen throughout the whole movie and is reinforced by the catastrophe caused by the flood. We see the people of the bathtub always protesting against the “civilized” world for ruining their peace, which they blame on the dam and global warming caused by them. This is interesting because as we all know global warming is a problem but we can’t seem to wrap our heads around just how big of a problem this actually is. The movie does a great job representing just how serious the situation is. They do this well by showing us exactly what follows a flood and how the people affected by it do to survive. It shows us just what human destruction and manipulation of nature can do. The movie shows a lot of scenes of icecaps melting, which represents global warming which we have caused with our cars and industries. We then see in the movie where the only way for the bathtub people to survive is to destroy the dam that was causing the flood to be even worse. By destroying the dam, they were able to undo the flood, this could be a subtle way of showing us that it’s not too late and that there could still be some time to undo the damages that we have done to the environment. Even though nature is sensitive, with a little bit of care and time, we can turn things around. I think the movie’s message was that nature is sensitive and any changes can snowball into a catastrophe, but there is still time before it become irreversible and that with a quick enough reaction, we can stop this from becoming a reality. The movie also does a great job visualizing the number of deaths caused by the salt water flood, these deaths are not humans, they’re animals and plants. This is done on purpose to remind us that we share the world with animals and plants, so any consequence from us will affect them just as much as it will affect us. The message that such a movie gives is very powerful and should be listened to and acknowledged.
In conclusion, the main issue that the story is trying portray to us is the same one that the bathtub people believed in. Nature is sensitive and that any damage to it, can lead to a fatal wound that may or may not be healed. As inhabitants of this world, it is our duty to protect and cherish it, because in the end it is not it who will be destroyed, it is us.
Sager.B 