brother bear
Disney s animistic sermon??
Animism
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Animism is…about personhood, environment, and relational epistemology. It is … ab
relational ontology in which the world is found to be, and treated as, a community of
persons not all of whom are human. Graham Harvey, Animals, animists, and acade
p 11.
By this definition, would you say Brother Bear advocates an animistic worldview?"
Animism
Lyrics: Through my eyes. Phil Collins, Brother Bear,
2003.
There are things in life you'll learn and / In time you'l
Cause out there somewhere / It's all waiting / If you
believing / So don't run, don't hide / It will be all right
You'll see, trust me/ I ll be there watching over you.
[chorus] Just take a look through my eyes / There's
better place / somewhere out there / Just take a look
through my eyes / Everything changes / You'll be am
what you'll find / If you look through my eyes.
•  Who s eyes are we being
asked to look through?
•  What is the better place
that is out there somewhere?
•  Who is watching over us?
There will be times on this journey / All you'll see is
darkness / Out there somewhere daylight finds you /
you keep believing / So don't run, don't hide/ It will b
right / You'll see, trust me / I'll be there watching ove
[chorus repeat]
All the things that you can change / There's a meani
everything / And you will find all you need / There's s
much to understand.
[chorus repeat]
Shamanism
•  What is the role of the religious specialist in this
community?
•  What skills/knowledge does she have?
•  Where does her power come from?
•  How does Tanana compare to other religious specialists
portrayed by Disney? (Frollo, Rafiki, the shaman in
Pocahontas) Does this represent a positive portrayal of
spirituality?
Pantheism - divine nature
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In his films, Disney - while all but ignoring organized religion - emphasizes
the spiritual side of life. Like Blake, Disney perceives heaven in a wild
flower … For Disney, the work of a supreme being - a positive Force, as
George Lucas would later tag it in Star Wars - is always in ample evidence
around us. Brode, p. 106.
This is what Disney achieved… [his films] were conceived and executed by
an artist desiring to express the romantic deification of nature while proving
that man and nature are not only continuous, but emblematic of each
other.
Brode, p. 139.
Does Brother Bear present a message of a positive spiritual force, and that
humans and nature are continuous and emblematic of each other ? Is it
even possible to see any other message in this film?
Ecological Agenda ?
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Despite critical brickbats, Disney instinctively understood a concept that,
in time, he allowed Mary Poppins to articulate: A spoonful of sugar helps
the medicine go down. Here, his medicine - Walt asks a middlebrow
audience to sympathize with Nemo as he blows up sailing ships, killing
the innocent along with the guilty - would have been impossible to accept
were the bitter pill not sugar-coated with ample entertainment. Brode, p.
145
What medicine is Brother Bear asking us to swallow?
Christian responses
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Absolutely wicked philosophy, subtly and beautifully presented. A few of its "truths:"
Animals are as valuable as people. Animals are related to people (the title). Animals
can be transformed into people and visa versa. Spirits. Magick. Also, crudeness and
vulgarity regarding bodily functions, etc, as so many films today. Disney continues to
drop like a stone regarding its presentation of amorality, immorality and moral
confusion. Nothing about Christ can be found in this film. My ratings: extremely
offensive.
Brother Bear is a wonderful movie in the grand Disney tradition! This movie is filled
with comedy, but is also a poignant movie that will touch the heart. Some may be
concerned with the tribal religious nature of this film, but they need not be. First, it's
important to realize that this film is set thousands of years ago, long before Christian
missionaries began to spread the Good News to the indigenous tribes of North
America. This fact makes it easy to explain to children that they are seeing
mythology, not reality. The movie offers strong Christian values such as Love your
enemy and vengeance is wrong. The over all theme of the movie "We ( humans and
animals) are all brothers, is also an important biblical truth that man in this utilitarian
society of ours often forget. Yes, God did give man dominion over the animals, but
headship is NOT superiority: "There is an eventuality of man as there is an
eventuality of animal. As one dies, so the other dies; they all have the same spirit, so
there is no superiority of man over beast, for everything is vanity." Eccl. 3:19-21 Over
all. I would highly recommend Brother Bear to one and all. My Ratings: SLIGHTLY
Objectionable. (Jeff Kauffman, age 32)
Doing
religious
work ?
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One definition of religion that I use in my own research on religion and
popular culture topics suggests that part of the work that religion
does is to define what it means to be human, by contrasting that with
what it means to be subhuman (monstrous, or animalistic), and
superhuman (spiritual).
What does Brother Bear say about what it means to be human, what it
means to be an animal, and what it means to be a spiritual being?
Other issues:Gender
•  The case of the missing mother… Disney s anti-mother
tradition continues?
•  The case of the mother who sacrifices herself for her child
(has no identity outside that of motherhood )
•  Who needs a mother when you can have a brother?…
Race
•  Does Disney continue its purported representation
of African Americans as animals in this film?
•  Is the representation of animals positive or
negative?
•  Is this a film about race relations?
Anti-Canadian! (j/k!)
•  Should we be offended? Stereotypical
representations of Canadians as dullwitted, cowardly beer-drinkers?