Where The Wild Things Are

It has taken me a while to finally get around to watching Where The Wild Things Are. I think part of me was so worried about being disappointed that I wanted to keep the idea of the film more real than actually watching it. I mean, Spike Jones+Dave Eggers+Karen O should = perfection right?

Well…yes and no. My friend Anthony emailed me last night after I told him I had finally seen the film:

I liked the movie, but not as much as I wanted. I did cry once however. Hated the boy.

I wanted to share some thoughts, because the film has lingered in my mind all day; I can’t seem to shake it. Please click play on the video below and let the song play as you read, because this song epitomizes the overwhelming sense of perfect sadness this film so perfectly embodies.




Ultimately the film is about dysfunction, emptiness, and human relationships. It shatters the myth that it will be all okay and replaces it with the cold stone truth that human beings struggle to make sense of the barrenness we feel both alone and in the company of those we love.

Although Max himself is broken, he is asked to take fix the problems of a group of dysfunctional wild things. He himself has yet to learn how to deal with his own anger, alienation, and loneliness, yet he makes false promises to the monsters, which in turn set up a series of disappointments for everyone. The film is really about how we cling to others to help deal with our anxieties, never stepping back to see that they too maybe suffering as we do.

Eggers and Jonez examine a series of relationships between family members, lovers, friends, and competitors by exposing their jealousies, competitiveness, trust, and ultimately love.

On the surface the movie is a quirky, sometimes silly puppet show, but upon closer look it is an investigation of the human condition. It is the story of every lonely runaway who has felt that they could find the answers through escape. But as anyone who has ever tried to runaway from their problems or placed them on the shoulders of other, Max realizes that only he can deal with his issues. Not by running away, but by allowing himself to be loved and to truly love others as they are, not as we want them to be.

My friend was right to say he hated the boy; I think that was the point. He is a spoiled, broken little boy, who is unable to come to term with his emotions. By escaping into his imagination and coming face-to-face with the things that are wilder than himself, he realizes that human emotions can be very damaging to himself and to others, unless he learns to control them.

My favorite line of the film was

Happiness is not the best way to be happy.

Play this song next:



From that line on, I remembered that is was Dave Eggers putting the words into the mouths of these beautiful monsters and Spike Jonez was the one pulling their strings. Even in their wretchedness, both Max and the wild things do not simply sit idly by and wait to be overtaken by grief. They let the “wild rumpus” start. It is through play and chaos and fun that they deal with their sorrow. Only once he lets his guard, can Max truly see how fragile and tender everyone is.

Did I think the movie was perfect? Unfortunately no. But it has made me see the classic short children’s book in a whole new light. Perhaps Jonez’s vision is not the one everyone who is in love with the book will want to see, but he opens up your mind and your heart and plants his seed. It will leave you thinking for days after.

Howard Zinn Died Today

I was up before six. The sky was still dark and the floors too chilly to navigate without socks. Hunched over the computer in nothing but my boxers; I scanned my email for word about a job. I saw it on Facebook first. Howard Zinn died today. Although he was eighty-seven, and it was only a matter time for him to go, I felt a sudden pang of sadness sweep over my body.

“Small acts, when multiplied by millions of people, can transform the world."

I credit Zinn more than anyone else for igniting my radicalism, if I can even still call it that. I remember I was in a class at Columbia, and the subject of politics came up. Someone referenced A People’s History of the United States, and my curiosity was piqued. I bought the book within the week and my worldview hasn’t been the same since.

Form the opening line, “Arawak men and women, naked, tawny, and full of wonder, emerged from their villages onto the island's beaches and swam out to get a closer look at the strange big boat. When Columbus and his sailors came ashore, carrying swords, speaking oddly, the Arawaks ran to greet them, brought them food, water, gifts.”

Zinn weaves a gripping narrative, that even after reading perhaps a hundred books about history and politics, I still find the most poignant and accurate account of the vicitims of the American Dream. His book was everything I knew had been omitted from my high school history curriculum. Page after page, I felt I was witness to someone finally exposing the great lie. I could see that America the great, the same one I refused to pledge allegiance to in the 4th grade, because I knew something wasn’t right, was in fact, as I had suspected, nothing but a beacon to greed and expansion, another imploding empire, like the long litany of others before it.



He once and for all, at least for me, proved that all the propaganda, all the marketing, all the textbooks were nothing more than poorly told lies. But, what separated Zinn, from say, Chomsky, was that he used his avuncular voice to slowly walk you through the story, the history. He was not using his intellect to reason with you, but rather he used his heart to appeal to your sense of common decency and truth. By telling the story of every group of people who had been ignored, abused, and murdered throughout the history of United States, Zinn simply reveals what we all already knew was there, uncompromised hypocrisy.

“I'm worried that students will take their obedient place in society and look to become successful cogs in the wheel - let the wheel spin them around as it wants without taking a look at what they're doing. I'm concerned that students not become passive acceptors of the official doctrine that's handed down to them from the White House, the media, textbooks, teachers and preachers.”

Howard Zinn was perhaps the greatest American patriot of all time. His words and his legacy will live on for generations to come. He taught us that dissent is the highest form of patriotism, and for that I am thankful.

...and the river shall open for the righteous...someday...



... I only know one party,and that is freedom...