Decroded

Touchstone Magazine (I don’t read the magazine, but I do occasionally read the editors’ Mere Comments website) has an interesting write up on what has become one of my favorite films (and I know I’ll annoy Mike to no end by saying this): Napoleon Dynamite.

Vote for PedroJen and I watched it a few months back, and we laughed hysterically through the entire movie. Now, this may just be because we had watched The Squid and The Whale the previous night, which would make any movie look good by comparison.

But I digress.

Berry College professor Michael Bailey examines the film and finds much deeper than one might expect. Upon reflection, I think he may have some very good points, that the film makes some statements about isolation and family.

From the article:

Napoleon is, in effect, the anti-Ferris Bueller. He doesn’t want to have fun so much as simply to survive. He has no friends (at least at first), he gets bullied at school, and he is scared of chickens. In his fantasy life, in contrast, he is a superhero who shoots wolverines, joins gangs who want him for his skills, and forges alliances with wizards and our “underwater ally,” the Loch Ness Monster.

Seek happiness all you want, the movie seems to suggest, but if your heart is decroded, you will still be miserable, a man in body, perhaps, but still just an unhappy boy on the school bus.

It’s an interesting read.

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