I stood outside the theater waiting on Brett, Reid and Jenny. I watched the people go by, stunned, smiling, laughing, disillusioned. They were not the rowdy laughs of kids dangling off their mother, but older kids. Not quite adults, but somewhere in the range of 18-30 years old. The hype for this movie began over the summer. I got chills when I saw the trailer for it during the new Harry Potter movie and Arcade Fire's "Wake Up" was playing over stunning images of wild things running, jumping, smashing trees and having a general rumpus.
Then the ads started popping up on music blog sites like Pitchfok.com and Stereogum.com. The soundtrack was to be done by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs Karen O. It was clear that this movie was being sold to another group of kids...Indie Kids.
The movie itself has great indie appeal. A child, rebellious of his mom, distant from his unseen father, seeks to escape from a world where he is mis-understood and under-appreciated. He lives in fear that the sun will die and comes to the conclusion that he too would eventually die. He makes an attempt at contact by starting a snowball fight with his sister and her cooler, older friends. He makes a connection, and for a while everyone is laughing and you get the sense that the world isn't all tragedy. Then, one of the older kids jumps and lands on Max's igloo with him inside, destroying it and leaving him in tears.
He reacts passively, by destroying her room and smashing a gift he had given his older sister. Then, he curls up in his bed to pout about it. I was the youngest of three so that happened to me more times than I can even count. Even today, I occasionally feel that need to connect with other people, that need to reach out and be a part of a crowd or the need to feel cool. The pain of rejection doesn't ever change no matter how old you get.
The appeal of sailing away to an island where you can be whatever you want to be is universal. I think adults do it everyday. More often than ever. There are people who even play video games where they can be conquerers of demons and defenders of princesses in mystical lands where they become a hero. There are even games where you can become an ordinary person that is different from you. You can make up who you are, what you do and how popular you are. People make up on-line personas and become somebody different when chatting with people. There are people who are only gay when they travel to different cities or different countries where they can be an anonymous, single gay man on the prowl, rather than a miserable husband and father with a mortgage.
Max sails away to a new world and meets new, scary wild things. After sizing each other up and deciding whether to eat each other or not, it takes him about 20 seconds to start spouting off his new identity. King of Vikings, ruler of lands, special powers. He allows a crown to be put on his head, holds up a scepter and begins telling his subjects what to do.
Max enters their world already in a state of flux and disarray. Carol, the angriest and loudest of the beasts is destroying all of their houses. They have taken sides and Carol is left alone with only his sidekick to back him up, but even he seems unsure. You see bones of other kings in the fire, crown sitting atop the ashes of a fire pit. Max is not the only king to try to bring order to their chaotic world.
What a world to inherit and become ruler of. The subjects are fussy, needy, moody, irritable, jealous, impossible to please, insecure, impetuous and nervous. For an adult, these are the people we have to deal with every day. I thought of being the manager of an office and having all of these different personalities to please when all they think about are their own problems and worries. They pick on each other, they ignore other, they have affairs, they worry what other people think of them and think that others are constantly talking about them. Max has to make all of these creatures happy somehow. A task that the noblest of leaders could never achieve, no matter how many dirt clod wars or projects. New friends come into the group and you realize that the strongest of fraternal bonds can be torn to shreds in an instant.
I felt sympathy for Max who only wanted to build the perfect world for his new friends. A world free of all the problems. A world where everyone would work together everyday and sleep in a real pile every night. Idealistic, yes. But what more does an 8 year old have other than idealism? Max visits this "adult" world, but realizes that it's not time yet. He can't handle the responsibilities and the pressure of leading a group. Fortunately for Max, he knows that at any point he can go back. It's not time for him to discard his idealism. It's not time for him to take off his wolf pajamas and put on a suit and tie and head into the cynical world of adulthood.
In the end, Max realizes that the wild things are untamable, despite his best efforts and leaves. He becomes one of many kings to have come and gone from the island. He leaves it in the same state he found it. The wild things may have learned lessons from his reign, but probably not. They had fun, they had drama, they built another home, which Carol will probably begin destroying as soon as Max disappears over the horizon and the story comes full circle. Max learns that wild things can be loved, feared and hated, but they can never be tamed.
The movie reflected all of my regrets about my childhood and fears for the future. I, like many other 18-30 year olds am in between the childhood and adult stages. By all rights, I should be an adult, but I still have the freedom to go on a wild rumpus or act recklessly. But, I know that soon, I'll have all of the responsibilities of a real adult. My resolve is to hold on to that child-like sense of wonder and imagination that is too-often quelled by all of the self-doubt, insecurity and fear of adulthood. We are all lost boys. Afraid to grow up, too cool to be children and we're having too much fun to want to be adults. That's why this movie appeals to us.
Plus, the kid wears Converse. How utterly ironic.
