When my son loaded up in his cousin’s little powered Jeep and started driving around their lawn he declared to all listening, “We're cruising the dunes to Tiki Beach!”
No one knew what he was talking about. They just laughed and said something to the effect of “Where do kids come up with this stuff?”
I know where he got it. He got it from TV.
My son has a small obsession with a particular kids show. When he plays—when he turns on his imagination—it is often what comes pouring back out. His experiences are the fuel his imagination burns on.
Spike Jonze had a daunting task when he took on Where The Wild Things Are. He was making a film about one of America’s favorite children’s books, which happens to have a minimalist story line. How do you do not lose the simplicity of this story while stretching it to fit the screen of a feature length film?
To do it, Jonze played by a set of rules. The landof Wild Things—every monster, fort and dessert—must fit within the mind of a young boy. The whiny, moping, manic mood swings of the monsters feel immature, and rightly so. While we may prefer the even keel moods and sagely wisdom Falkor the luck dragon, Aslan or Gandolf - this is not possible here. Nothing in Wild Things can be more mature, complex, or logical than Max can conceive. Where the Wild Things are is in Max’s head. The only thing coming out of Max’s head are the things that have been put in. All he has are his experiences and his attempt at interpreting them.
This is actually where mythology is birthed. Sun and river gods are the result of humans taking their experiences—the only thing they have to learn from—and trying to make sense of the world through them. As Walter Brueggemann has argued, the problem with humanity is that our imaginations are far too limited. This is why we need prophets. We need people who can help us imagine past our own experiences.
Wild Things can’t be Middle Earth, Narnia or Fantasia because those things have not been uploaded into Max’s mind. This is not the fantasy of an adult. This is imagination, and when it is flowing from a child, it has to fit inside of a child. Wild Things is not the product of Maurice Sendak’s or Spike Jonze’s imagination. This is Max’s story.
Max needs a prophet to move past the loneliness his broken family has created. He can’t imagine his way out of this, no matter how hard he tries. He can only travel as far as his imagination will carry him.
Do you need a prophet? Do you need someone to help you imagine a world beyond your experiences? Maybe what you long for does exist, your imagination just can't carry you there on its own.
Where the Wild Things Are (Trailer)
