Where the Wild Things Are Meaning
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mlnski Feb 21st 2010, 21:28 report
According to director Spike Jonze "Where Wild Things Are" is a movie about childhood and not a children's movie. The story clearly lacks typical child's movie features such as an apparent antagonist who has to be defeated and a recognizable happy ending. Also some scenes and dialogues are not suitable for children audiences.
With that in mind "Where Wild Things Are" should not be interpreted as a children's story where usually moral issues/conflicts are apparent and defined and there is a spoken conclusion at the end.
What should be looked for in this movie is allegory and symbolism of characters and events.
Apparently the story explores a certain moment in a persons growth. In my opinion this is the moment where a person meets his darker (wild) or evil side, for the first time at the verge of growing up.
Story revolves around Max, who is frustrated by everyone's lack of attention towards him which leads to him having a quarrel with his mother and running away. Here we see probably the first important symbol - it is Max's own costume witch is some kind of a devilish looking with horns and a tail.
Max then runs to an imaginary land which is inhabited by strange creatures and they accept him as their king. I assume these creatures represent each one of Max's dark sides or qualities. Creatures are:
Judith - she is a "downer" and seems to be pessimistic about everything, so she probably represents Max's pessimism.
Douglas - who is a bird-like creature and should be Max's fear.
Carol - apparently the one everyone listens to and as wikipedia would put it "the most impulsive and charismatic of the Wild Things" - He might be an overall representation of max's evil side or anger.
Other creatures are:
Ira - who could be Max's lack memory since he puts holes in everything
Alexander - he looks like a goat, not sure what he could represent. wikipedia suggests many interpretations for a goat you can view them here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goat#Religion.2C_mythology.2C_and_folklore
Bernard the Bull - who is very quite and doesn't talk, he might be Max's shame or antisociality.
And there is K.W. who is a woman figure - she might be Max's sexuality, but I don't think that's the case. She seems to be very respected by other creatures and she is in constant conflict with Carol.
After the creatures meet max and accept him as their king, Carol shows Max his plans to create a village where everything would be possible. Max convinces everyone that they should build this village they had given up on long time ago. Everyone gets to work and soon the village is ready and although the buildings don't look exactly the way Carol had imagined them everyone is happy with what they've accomplished.
What I think this village represents is Max's attempt on controlling his darker side. At the end he fails and has to leave.
At the end of the movie Max runs back to his mother and she takes off his devilish costume from his head. She makes him dinner and spends some time with him -thus giving him her attention.
Other important allegories which can though about are:
- The igloo Max creates at the beginning of the movie - and the igloo looking house the creatures make around Max when they all fall asleep.
- The birds which everyone except Max and Carol understand and are very wise according to everyone else.
- Why does Carol lose his temper when Max decides to make a place where he can hide?
That's all please write your thoughts on what events or creatures could mean. -
anonymous Jan 19th 2011, 18:30 report
When I watched this movie I thought it was about parenthood. Max seems to think everything is unfair. He runs away and encounters a world where he is "king," he is in charge. He thinks this is his opportunity to make everything run the way its supposed to. But he runs everything the way he wants to. In the end, nothing is perfect like he hoped. His choices were selfish and so they hurt everyone else. The creatures realize that he is not the "king" they all expected and that he couldn't set things right. When he leaves it is with the understanding of how hard it is to build a "perfect" family. I think he learns to appreciate his mom more and respect the decisions that she makes. Most importantly, he realizes that she loves him and that she is trying the best she can. Her job is not an easy one.
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anonymous Jan 28th 2011, 22:22 report
I think Douglas is a symbol of what most kids his age feels which is the feeling that nobody listens to you. Also I think the reason Carol was so obsessed with everyone being together was that it represented Max's family situation (father not in the picture). I'm also not sure about K.W. either, but she might represent Max just as Carol does, but the mature part of him that is in conflict with his more wild side (Carol). I could be way off.
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anonymous Feb 14th 2011, 12:59 report
i agree and i think that when they are havving the dirt clod fight it is supposed to be like the snowball fight that he has with claire's friends which both end in disaster. also i think that alexander might represent max feeling neglected because he always thinks that no one is paying any attention to him. and i think that maybe k.w. is supposed to represent the feeling of wanting to run away, just like max does.
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anonymous Aug 23rd 2011, 08:32 report
Max learns to respect his mother, make the right decisions and that there is no other place like home.
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anonymous Oct 1st 2011, 02:26 report
I saw this movie and was moved by the role of the wild things as they pertained to Max's psyche. If you ever felt like the "odd kid" or had a troubled family, then I think the metaphors become a clearer:
Carol: a symbol of brokenness - acting out in both creative and destructive ways. Issues with broken loyalty, sleeping, and trust make Carol a symbol of a child who's experienced a broken family.
KW: a symbol of angst - with uncertainty of her feelings, the desire for separation from family, and finding others that "understand her."
Alexander: a symbol of inferiority - feeling unappreciated, weak, and and inferior to Carol and unloved by KW.
Judith: a symbol of pessimism - feels negative, untrusting, and self-fulfills her negativity.
Ira: a symbol of loneliness - feeling empty, separated, and solitude.
Bernard: a symbol of rejection - wants to be left alone, fear of how he is perceived.
Of course, these are just my own interpretations, but I think it's interesting how each of these symbols fit the model of a child who's going through a rough childhood. What I do know is that, having experienced my own troubles as a kid, the movie allowed me to connect with my own brokenness and created an amazing allegory of self-examination through the eyes of a child.
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anonymous Jan 16th, 17:31 report
The movie kind of changed it but the original book was an allegory about the American invasion of the Phillipines. Max represented America. He was acting naughty at home so he put on his wolf costume (military) and sailed off to a wild island (phillipines). When he got there he stared into their yellow eyes (referencing how america viewed them as yellow eyed savages) and imposed order on them(like how america threatened with military force and set up a government). But after a while he leaves and leaves them in disarray (america left and the phillipines were in a state of political disarray).
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