Where the Wild Things Are

Where the Wild Things Are
Minsoo Ha

We all dream of running away from our homes at least once in our childhood. We hide in closets, under the staircases, behind the doors. However, Max, the protagonist of the movie, takes running away from home into a whole new level: he runs into the place Where The Wild Things Are.
The book version of Where the Wild Things Are is a very short children’s book consisting of less than 50 pages, but Spike Jones made it into a full length feature film full of emotions and childhood memories. The tone of the movie sets a stark contrast with the book in many ways including the difference in length. The dark and serious tone of the movie and the quite hostile (and frankly terrifying) behaviors of the Wild Things clearly set it apart from other Children’s movies such as works of Pixar or Disney.
The irony is, the reason which makes Where the Wild Things Are more than just any other children's movies is the uncensored representation of young children's innocence, naivity, and untamed wildness. Instead of showing stars or comical bruises on the wounds, Spike Jones chose to show a completely unfiltered version through destructively large and violent Wild Things. They are the complete opposite from the helplessness or insignificance children feel, and the embodiment of their desire.
However, the emotional voulnerability is still there. The gaping hole desiring love and affection still grasps the hearts of the wild things as well as Max who ran away from his home.
So in the end, we see Max rowing through the seas to return home, wishing the Wild Things had a mother of their own as well.

After watching "Shawshank Redemption: the movie"

131 INT -- GUARD STATION/OUTER OFFICE -- DAY (1955) 131

Andy wrestles the phonograph player onto the guards' desk,
sweeping things onto the floor in his haste. He plugs the
machine in. A red light warms up. The platter starts spinning.

He slides the Mozart album from its sleeve, lays it on the
platter, and lowers the tone arm to his favorite cut. The
needle HISSES in the groove...and the MUSIC begins, lilting
and gorgeous. Andy sinks into Wiley's chair, overcome by its
beauty. It is "Deutino: Che soave zeffiretto," a duet sung by
Susanna and the Contessa.

[From the Shooting script of Shawshank Redemption]

If I was to choose one thing that made the movie much better than the book, (other than the shorter title,) it would be this scene. The serene music played in the background while Andy, an innocent man wrongly accused with murder of his own wife and her lover with seemingly no hope of getting released ever in his life, relaxed in his seat with his feet on the table relishing the beautiful harmony of the women’s voices.
 
For this one act of glory, Andy is later locked up in solitary confinement. When Red finds him, however, he discovers that Andy’s spirits had not been perturbed at all. Instead, he replies with this remarkable comment:

ANDY

(taps his heart, his head)
The music was here...and here.
That's the one thing they can't
confiscate, not ever. That's the
beauty of it. Haven't you ever felt
that way about music, Red?

When I was reading the novel version of the Shawshank Redemption, I wondered how on earth Andy was able to keep himself from becoming "institutionalized", and how he was able to hold on to his hope. Something was different about him, something that the warden noticed from the start. He never lost his appreciation for beauty in things around him, from rocks, books, and finally, to music.

Perhaps it’s because of the fact that we often find ourselves so tangled up in the problems that surrounds us, or the fact that we're always chased by the lack of time, but some of us have started to lose appreciation for the beautiful things in our everyday life. We only think of the practicality of the clothes we wear, the houses we live in, and the food we eat. The details that made it special, like the beauty or what they represent have lost meaning in the busy blur we call the modern life.

Andy wasn’t just speaking to Red alone. His message was directed towards us, to all of us who had forgotten about the beautiful things that surrounds us. Even in the darkest times, or rather, especially because we are in the darkest times, we should never give up the things that made our life worth living, such as beauty and hope.