Ferdinand on MLK's Birthday
I went to see the movie "Ferdinand" yesterday and, after the movie was finished, I felt it was a great movie to have seen on the day dedicated to Martin Luther King Jr.
It is a movie about strength and power and force and asks the question, "What makes someone great?" The answer for several of the bulls in the movie is, naturally, force. Violence. Fighting. But not for Ferdinand. There comes a point in the movie where the bulls recognize that there are two choices for them. Fight in the ring or die in the slaughter house. Ferdinand comes to the realization that they are tantamount to each other. Ferdinand as a character and as a movie points to a different option.
You don't have to fight to be masculine. You don't have to fight to be somebody. You don't have to embrace violence. There are other options. And the movie also demonstrates well how violence can be misinterpreted, how someone reacting to a bee sting can be viewed as monstrous, and how difficult it is to communicate outside the established realms of thinking.
In his book "Why We Can't Wait", Dr. King writes and reflects on the situations and events that led to the Civil Rights movement. It is a powerful book - which perhaps needs to be re-released for a generation that is beset with forgetful leaders who do not care about the advances and the cause of Civil Rights. Dr. King writes about the situation in Birmingham and the water cannons, the police brutality and the abandonment of non-violence by Bull Connor. He writes, "This was the time of our greatest stress, and the courage and conviction of those students and adults made it our finest hour. We did not fight back, but we did not turn back." (p. 89)
This is a theme exemplified by the character of Ferdinand. He has the strength, the potential, and the ability to overtake any enemy or force in front of him with violence. But he chooses not to. And in the great showdown between him and the matador, Ferdinand holds his ground and his conscience. As such, it is a tremendous witness to the idea of principles, non-violence, and integrity.
If anything, the movie captures the essence of what it means to be committed to non-violence. It is a great movie for children and adults alike. It should also be watched alongside the movie 42 as a story of courage in the face of those who only view the world through the myopic ideologies of strength and weakness or, more to the point, might makes right.
I wonder if Ferdinand will be a long-term success as a movie given that the main character does not fight in the traditional sense of "heroic" characters. He would rather stop and smell the flowers than put the hurt on another bull just because he could.
Perhaps this will be a movie that can push forward the conversation of non-violence and, in this day and age of re-surging racism, provide a vehicle to talk about true heroes such as Dr. King. We can certainly hope so. In the meantime, it is a good movie that allows for reflection on a great man.
It is a movie about strength and power and force and asks the question, "What makes someone great?" The answer for several of the bulls in the movie is, naturally, force. Violence. Fighting. But not for Ferdinand. There comes a point in the movie where the bulls recognize that there are two choices for them. Fight in the ring or die in the slaughter house. Ferdinand comes to the realization that they are tantamount to each other. Ferdinand as a character and as a movie points to a different option.
You don't have to fight to be masculine. You don't have to fight to be somebody. You don't have to embrace violence. There are other options. And the movie also demonstrates well how violence can be misinterpreted, how someone reacting to a bee sting can be viewed as monstrous, and how difficult it is to communicate outside the established realms of thinking.
In his book "Why We Can't Wait", Dr. King writes and reflects on the situations and events that led to the Civil Rights movement. It is a powerful book - which perhaps needs to be re-released for a generation that is beset with forgetful leaders who do not care about the advances and the cause of Civil Rights. Dr. King writes about the situation in Birmingham and the water cannons, the police brutality and the abandonment of non-violence by Bull Connor. He writes, "This was the time of our greatest stress, and the courage and conviction of those students and adults made it our finest hour. We did not fight back, but we did not turn back." (p. 89)
This is a theme exemplified by the character of Ferdinand. He has the strength, the potential, and the ability to overtake any enemy or force in front of him with violence. But he chooses not to. And in the great showdown between him and the matador, Ferdinand holds his ground and his conscience. As such, it is a tremendous witness to the idea of principles, non-violence, and integrity.
If anything, the movie captures the essence of what it means to be committed to non-violence. It is a great movie for children and adults alike. It should also be watched alongside the movie 42 as a story of courage in the face of those who only view the world through the myopic ideologies of strength and weakness or, more to the point, might makes right.
I wonder if Ferdinand will be a long-term success as a movie given that the main character does not fight in the traditional sense of "heroic" characters. He would rather stop and smell the flowers than put the hurt on another bull just because he could.
Perhaps this will be a movie that can push forward the conversation of non-violence and, in this day and age of re-surging racism, provide a vehicle to talk about true heroes such as Dr. King. We can certainly hope so. In the meantime, it is a good movie that allows for reflection on a great man.
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