We interrupt your normal broadcast of "My Bullshit" to bring you:
"I am extremely autistic about singing penguin jukebox musical!"
HAPPY FEET IS NOT JUST A STORY ABOUT THE DANGERS OF RELIGIOUS EXTREMISM AND HOW IT SO OFTEN HINDERS THE SCIENTIFIC SOLVING OF SIGNIFICANT PROBLEMS! IT'S A FREAKING GROWING UP NEURODIVERGENT STORY!
All of it! Mumble is different from his peers from the MOMENT he enters; and there is SO MUCH EVIDENCE that Mumble has ADHD specifically. He won't sit still, he gets overly excited (seen when he runs off even though Memphis told him not to because he's so excited to try and find his mom as well as when he can't stop himself from wanting to participate in the singing during the after graduation party), he's impulsive (literally tried wrestling a Petral; a type of bird that has earned the nickname butcher birds from ripping apart and eating small and baby penguins, MID AIR for a fish he wanted to give Gloria), hekk even his DESIGN is representative of this!
You ever wonder why Mumble keeps his fluffy baby coat so long? It's because people with ADHD take longer to fully mature and develope their frontal lobe. He's LITERALLY maturing slower than his peers, so he keeps his fuzzy fluff longer!
And you wanna know the best part? IT'S GENETIC! MEMPHIS HAS HAPPY FEET TOO!
Memphis is the textbook example of a neurodivergent who grew up really good at masking. He COULD keep himself under wraps, he COULD be "normal", so he 100% bought in to the "you must surpress these urges" propaganda; "I was a backslider myself once". That's why he's SO ADAMANT that Mumbles happy feet are something wrong, something BAD, something that he needs to "fix" about himself because that what Memphis did in order to find a place in penguin society. But unfortunately for Mumble, he can't mask like Memphis can, he's just a different type of ADHD! I'd caution to hypothesize that Memphis is more of an inattentive ADHD (though he's definitely still a combined but we'll get back to that) while Mumble is SOUNDLY a hyperactive; and so no matter how much he wants to he could not just bottle himself up like Memphis wanted him to.
What does Memphis believe (and what are we the audience made to believe) is the reason Mumble is different? Because Memphis, if only for a few moments, dropped Mumbles egg during the eternal night. WHY did he drop the egg? Because he was thinking about and grooving to Norma Jeans song in his heart instead of following along with the hymn the rest of the dads were singing; and worse that experience only added to his trauma and belief that these urges are bad and wrong! After he gets the egg back he is VERY shaken and the narrator tells us that for the rest of that winter, Memphis was the loudest and most fervant singer out of them all; literally praying as loud as he possibly could for the sun to return and to appease the great Guin for what he probably interpreted as his final act of "backsliding!" I'd argue you can even notice it in how he behaves before and after the event. Though we don't see it much, he is noticably more smiley and at ease when Norma Jean leaves for the fishing season then when she returns, where he is much more anxious and fretful.
And speaking of Norma Jean, SHE KNOWS! She may not know what it is but she KNOWS Memphis is different! Quote when she is discussing Mumbles "problem" with Memphis and trying to convince him it's not bad; "So what if he's a little different? I always kind of liked different." SHE LIKES DIFFERENT! DIFFERENT LIKE MUMBLE! DIFFERENT LIKE MEMPHIS! He might try hard to surpress himself but he's still unique and she LOVES that about him JUST LIKE SHE LOVES IT WHEN SHE SEES THE SAME SPARK OF DIFFERENT IN THEIR SON! We can see that Norma Jean is ALWAYS supportive and loving of Mumble! After the flash forward to penguin school graduation, she is VERY open about how annoyed she is at the elders and how she thinks Mumble not being allowed to graduate is stupid, even when Memphis tries to softly dissuade her from expressing such out loud. She even has them do their own little graduation, having both her and Mumble cheer the "Yah yah YAAH!" And admonishes Memphis when he doesn't join in and, again, tells them to "keep it down". He does a little halfhearted and quiet version after he's scolded but you can see he's looking around and over his shoulder; he's terrified of others taking notice and having his family, who he does love, stand out in a way that isn't considered acceptable by the surrounding society.
Memphis is extremely set on his family being what's considered normal, what's considered "penguin" because he's been raised to believe that not being such is wrong. He is afraid because has experienced what he's perceived as "consequences" for being out of line by those in power. Due to that ingrained fear he doesn't support Mumble, and since he doesn't understand that Mumble really can't mask the same way he himself does, his beliefs make it seem like he's left only to agree that his son is broken, a lost cause, some kind of delinquent. All the way to where when Mumble is literally BANISHED, all Memphis can think to do is PLEAD with Mumble to be normal and stop these behaviors he's been convinced are a choice.
It's only after Mumble is gone and Memphis is left with only the guilt that he realizes that he was WRONG! But to his knowledge, it's too late, Mumble is gone.
Even when Mumble does return Memphis almost doesn't believe it. He knows he was wrong but with so much to regret he barely knows where to start with saying how sorry he is to his son. "There ain't been one day, not one day that I done right by you." But just that acknowledgement, you can see how deeply it effects Mumble.
Norma Jean, who, at this point I wouldn't be surprised if she's already put two and two together and realized that Memphis is where Mumble gets his dance from; encourages Memphis to dance WITH his son. Memphis doesn't think he can, citing how his family breaking, his realization that he was the one who, in the end, drove his own son away, it broke him. "You'll have to forgive me, the musics gone clean out of me." He believes he's too far gone, he's spent too long hiding he doesn't know how to move with the music anymore, or perhaps he doesn't think he deserves to. He believes he's spent far too long in the mask.
But, with Mumble, who has never not been exuberantly himself, encouraging that it's "Just like singing with your body" and that Memphis is not nearly as far from being who he actually is; Memphis finally lets HIMSELF have HIS happy feet and dance with his son. Sure it's a bit clunky at first but very quickly he starts picking up and even twisting it to his own style because this is his true nature! It feels strange but immediately he notices how good it feels!
AND THAT'S NOT EVEN THE WHOLE OF IT! I HAVEN'T EVEN GOTTEN TO THE SONGS!!
There are SO MANY song and word choices that can be read SO WELL with this theme!
If one wanted they could be extra reading into stuff and connect things like how even Norma Jeans freaking SONG (and how it blends with Memphis) has hints that she's not terribly set on finding someone conventional.
"Don't have to be rich to be my pearl, don't have to be cool to rule my world, ain't no particular song I'm all compatible with, I just want your extra time."
She's not particularly attached to the societal "necessity" for her partner to have a particular song; and while Memphis does TECHNICALLY have a song, if you actually listen, he BARELY sings it! His song is "heartbreak hotel" but he really only sings the intro until Norma Jean sings with him, upon which he immediately starts singing HER song— "KISS"— with her, and from then on he NEVER SINGS ANY MORE HEARTBREAK HOTEL!!
BECAUSE HE'S NO LONGER IN HEARTBREAK HOTEL! HE'S FOUND A NEW SONG, NORMAS SONG, AND IT MAKES HIS HAPPY FEET DANCE!
And this might be just sme reading WAY TOO much into it but the rest of Norma Jeans song during the movies opening kinda illustrates that such a dynamic is what she longs for. "I just need your body baby" (which is of course in the original song referring to sleeping together and is partially here because it is a mating ritual) could be referencing a more movement based love song. "Just leave it all up to me" she's comfortable with taking the lead, or at least having her song be the more dominating one, which, as I have pointed out, is exactly what happens.
As all the penguins go around singing, Norma Jean is being flocked (pun intended) by male penguins singing their songs at her, but she doesn't dig it, and noticeably none of the songs ever have a moment where they blend with hers, it's always them just hopping in during a pause and singing their own song.
Vs when Memphis shows up, yes he gets her initial attention with the first few verses of "heartbreak hotel", as soon as she finishes his little bit of "I'm feeling so lonely, I could die" (which he noticably stops singing to let her sing it once he hears her join) he sings back with HER song! "Don't have to be rich, to be my girl," and she sings back "Don't have to be cool, to rule my world". And then, when they sing together, while she sings "Ain't no particular sign I'm compatible with" he sings underneath her with a very beautiful "you rule my world." He's following her lead!
She basically gives him a new heart song to replace the "heartbreak hotel", she sings and he finds exactly where he feels he belongs as her supporting singer.
And though the dynamic is different, it's similar with Glorias song! Her song is "Boogie Wonderland", a song all about dancing, no mention of singing, just dancing and how it can make one forget their troubles. And you can see, during the first part of the movie when they're children in school showing off what of their heart songs some of them already have going, but she only as the beginning just before it starts talking about dancing because the idea of a heart song being about dancing is unheard of so she is either purposely or subconsciously hung up on what comes next!
When she is little she has part of her song and it's a lovely but actually pretty sad part "midnight creeps so slowly into hearts of men who need more than they get, daylight deals a bad hand to a penguin that has layed too many bets..." And that's all shes got, and that's all she gets for a long time, even as a full adult when it's time to find a mate, she still has only gotten up to "the mirror stares you in the face and says baby it don't work. You say your prayers though you don't care, you say your prayers though you don't care!" And the tune it's sung to is noticably slow and somber, that is until she finally tries singing along with Mumbles dancing— with his sharper and more snappy beat— that she starts again and it flows different from her. And she can keep going! "(...) And says baby uh-uh, it don't work! You say your prayers though you don't care, you sing (though the original song actually says "dance") and you shake the hurt. DANCE!" And then the song really starts and from then on its boogie wonderland full out!
And it's important to note though that the SECOND time sings that "midnight creeps" to "shake the hurt", when the song and dance is in full swing, she says "You dance and shake the hurt!" Because she's finally accepted that THAT IS WHAT HER SONG IS ABOUT! IT'S ABOUT DANCING! MUMBLES DANCING AND HOW IT'S FREEING(both to him AND to those who feel the pull of the dance, of this new form of musicality)!
THE PEOPLE WHO MADE THIS FUCKING MOVIE DID NOT HAVE TO DO THAT AND IT'S ALMOST HARD TO BELIEVE THEY DID BUT IT FITS TOO FUCKING PERFECT FOR IT TO HAVE BEEN UNINTENTIONAL!!!
Anyway this movie is really good thank you for coming to my TED (Terribly Excited Doofus) talk.
*disappears into a cloud of smoke*
