Watched Pacific Rim with my little 9-year-old godson for the first time ever yesterday...
…and a little before the “kwoon trials” with Mako, he asked me if Raleigh was meant to be the “hero of the story”, and it gave me the opportunity to explain to him that the movie was about the world saving the world, and that it didn’t need a single hero to be a good story.
When everyone was cheering the success of the mission and the closing of the Breach, I also made him notice how many other people were there in LOCCENT and in the hangar bay, and gently reminded him that saving the world happened thanks to the concerted efforts of all those people and not only the pilots.
He asked me if Chuck and Raleigh were enemies, and I gently explained to him that Chuck was someone who lost his mom very young and was trained as a Ranger ever since. So he put a lot of pressure on himself and the success of their mission to save the world, and was scared that Raleigh and Mako’s respective traumas and lack of experience together would put that mission at risk, so he’s initially hostile towards them.
Basically, Chuck and Raleigh don’t know each other, they don’t trust each other, and sometimes, when people don’t know you and see you as being a threat to what matters to them, they can become aggressive towards you. Just like Raleigh and Mako, you have the right to defend yourself, but that doesn’t always mean you must always become enemies.
He asked me if the fact that Raleigh won the fight against Chuck meant he was the best fighter, and I explained to him that even the best fighters can be too emotional, caught off guard, or distracted to give their best every time in every single fight, and they don’t always win.
So the answer is that Raleigh won that fight, but as for who is the best fighter of them two? We don’t know. And it doesn’t really matter anyway, because they need to learn to fight together and not each other.
Competing is fun, as long as it motivates you to become even better, learn and continue to grow your skills. But you don’t need to be the fastest, the strongest, or the smartest to get involved in something you like or that matters to you, and make a difference.
He went “oh no, they’re not compatible”, sounding all dejected when Mako started chasing the R.A.B.I.T.
So, I reminded him that this was the very first try between two people that barely knew each other to connect their minds. That although they did connect, they both went through very difficult experiences that hurt them, and made their task more difficult, so they needed time to figure out how to face those issues together.
Then came the scene where Raleigh and Mako are talking quietly together while watching Gipsy’s “heart”, and I made him notice how they were smiling and relaxing together, the two of them acknowledging that although things didn’t go exactly as smoothly they’d have hoped for in their first try (in terms of their ability to pilot together), it taught them that they did indeed both trust and support each other deeply, and that they didn’t have to face their loss and fears alone anymore, regardless of whether they would be allowed to remain co-pilots or not.
They still won something valuable that day.
(And yeah, he was totally cheering alongside Chuck when Raleigh and Mako showed up in Gipsy Danger to kick that Kaiju’s butt!)
It was the first time I was watching the movie through the eyes of a child, and I was fascinated to discover how its narrative was loaded with educational opportunities.
Those are all themes I’d discussed with adults before, but it was fascinating to experience first hand how the usual movie narrative we offer children shape their expectations of storytelling in general.
He was expecting the classic “chosen one” story to unfold, and kept looking for those “chosen hero” traits in Raleigh. And yet, the movie presented itself as something different that intrigued him greatly and nevertheless managed to captivate his interest.
His favorite Jaeger turned out to be Gipsy Danger, BTW, with Striker Eureka in close second! Lol! He loved Raleigh’s creativity in combat and strongly identified with him (which, you know, is not a bad role model to have, all things considered), and also thought that Stacker Pentecost was just the coolest!
And then, of course, he had to ask me when the movie came out, and I had to come to terms with the fact that he was BARELY 3 YEARS OLD when Pacific Rim was released!
Man, 6 years already? I’m getting old way too fast…
And Yancy only has, like, 7 months left to live…
WHY WOULD I BE SAYING THAT?!? OMFG!!! WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME?!?
Still, overall an extremely positive experience that gave me yet another appreciation for the movie.
janainaart
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