ReThink Review: Where the Wild Things Are -- the Wild Within

It's been a while since a movie generated as much of a rift among critics as Spike Jonze's adaptation of Where the Wild Things Are, perhaps best illustrated by the glowing review by the New York Times' Manohla Dargis (who said the film "startles and charms and delights") while LA Times' Kenneth Turan found it "empty and misconceived." But a split like this is generally a good sign -- films that are original, challenging, and groundbreaking usually aren't beloved by all. And Where the Wild Things Are appears to be a film that people either love or hate.

Reading negative reviews of Where the Wild Things Are leaves me feeling like the reviewer either missed the point or has forgotten what it's like to be a kid. I loved Where the Wild Things Are and think it will eventually go down as a cult classic, if not an accepted one. Making a fantasy movie about a 9-year-old learning to understand his emotions and empathize with others seems like an almost impossible task, and Jonze pulled it off in a way I could have never imagined.

Click on the pic below to see my ReThink Review of Where the Wild Things Are (you'll be redirected to YouTube due to copyright silliness).

This Friday (Oct. 23), I'll be on the Young Turks Air America (and streaming) radio show at 6pm PT talking about Where the Wild Things Are and kids' ability to understand complex issues (see my discussion with TYT host Cenk Uygur here). If you know of any interesting articles on the subject, please post the link in the comments.

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Comments

[twynne105]

Couldn't agree more. This movie was beautiful and I personally fell in love with the way Jonze caputer the emotions and frustrations of childhood.

http://twynne105.wordpress.com/2009/10/19/assessment-of-where-the-wild-things-are-jadore/

[nolabear]

Sorry to comment yet again, but Peter Fonagy also writes beautifully about mentalization, how the parent helps the child to mature emotionally and deal with those frightening feelings.

[nolabear]

Jonathan, I'm a psychoanalyst (don't let that conjure up Freud; we're different these days) and saw the film last night. It's one of the most brilliant depictions I've ever seen of a child's struggle to deal with his very powerful and barely controllable feelings of rage at being small, abandoned and unable to really be the king of the world in the way that a younger child imagines himself to be. It also speaks to the child's desire and need for the parent to understand and sympathize with those really primitive feelings and to love him and contain him so he can make that control an internal thing. You might consider the writing of D.W. Winnicott, who talks about such things in a very readable way.

I'm excited enough about this film that I'm thinking of doing a presentation around it for my analytic colleagues. It's quite remarkable in children's movie-making, and hearkens back to the old style fairy tales, before they got the useful messiness ripped out of them.

[Jonathan Kim - Huffpost Blogger]

doing a presentation sounds great! People really need to be encouraged to see this movie. I've heard too many friends in the past few days saying, "But i heard it wasn't very good," but i'm not sure who they've been hearing that from. I'm such an admirer of this film and can't wait to see it again.

You might find some useful stuff in this interview with Jonze, Eggers and Sendak.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/216997/page/1

Sendak talks about older fairy tales and how stories for children should have teeth. And there's also this great exchange:

Q: What do you say to parents who think the "Wild Things" film may be too scary?
Sendak: I would tell them to go to hell. That's a question I will not tolerate.
Q:Because kids can handle it?
Sendak: If they can't handle it, go home. Or wet your pants. Do whatever you like. But it's not a question that can be answered.