The Deep Symbolism of Children’s Movies and the Messages They Carry
- Riddhi Laijawala
- May 1
- 5 min read
I must admit. I am someone in my mid-twenties, but I absolutely love animated movies. I recently went to see a movie called “The Wild Robot”, a movie that had me so emotional and inspired to write this piece because of the message it carried at such a deep level. I’ve always enjoyed children’s movies, and, full disclosure, it is during these movies that I find myself shedding tears, more than I would for movies made for adults. When I decided to watch this movie, I knew nothing about it other than its title.
What is the movie about, you might ask?
The movie is about a robot who finds herself on an island inhabited by animals, as a result of a delivery being lost during a typhoon. She slowly adapts to the wild. One day, while escaping from an angry bear, she accidentally kills a family of geese, only to see one unhatched egg, which she decides to care for.
As the egg hatches, the gosling imprints on her because she is the first ‘living’ thing he sees. Having no emotion, and never having taken care of a living thing, the robot, called Rozz, learns how to feed him, and keep him alive. In the process of learning how to care for the gosling, Rozz the robot, gets the help of a fox called Fink, and together, they raise the gosling, whom they call Bright Bill. Bright Bill was the runt of the group and, therefore, was much smaller than his siblings, who did not survive the accident either. So, over the course of the movie, Rozz teaches Bright Bill survival skills, and most importantly, how to fly.
The key theme
As someone who works in the field of maternal mental health, I was excited the moment I realised that one of the key themes of the movie was motherhood. Most importantly, the movie highlights how motherhood is not just biological. I excitedly turned to my partner and expressed my enthusiasm. The children in the theatre around me were enjoying the movie at the surface level; they were captivated by all the animals, but I was moved by the deeper meaning of it.
I am not at that stage of my life (yet) to be a mother. However, I have an incredible mother of my own, and I saw the movie through the lens of a daughter. The entire sequence of events which saw Rozz teaching Bright Bill how to swim and training him, so he’d be able to fly, reminded me of my school years.
I struggled with Math and Science (ironically) in school, and always doubted myself when I didn’t do well. Of course, I have two wonderful parents who play an equally important role in my life, but as this movie is about motherhood, it reminded me specifically of the relationship I have with my mother. I saw the flying storyline as a metaphor for all the challenges I had in my school years, when I didn’t do very well academically. Rozz did not give up on helping her adoptive son achieve his goal of flying long hours during the geese’s yearly migration. Similarly, my mother, through her constant words of encouragement - and tons of mother-daughter fighting during my teenage years - helped me overcome that phase of low grades. Eventually, during my undergraduate years, I became one of the highest scoring students, achieved a high grade in my MSc, and am now doing a PhD in science, the very subject I was conditioned to hate.
Moana 2 and the impact it had on me
To whoever is reading this, it must now be no surprise that the next movie I went to the cinema for was Moana 2, released in January of this year.
After having spent three weeks back home in India over the winter break, I was back to work in London. It was bittersweet saying goodbye to friends, family, and loved ones, but I knew I was getting back to my second home, London. Ironically, the plot of Moana 2 is centred around the main character taking a long journey away from home to save her island and its inhabitants. I found this symbolism so timely, given that I had been emotional about leaving India. Once again, no surprise, this movie had me shedding tears, but I left the theatre motivated and excited to resume work the next day.
Children’s movies have deeper messages, relevant even to adults
There are so many movies like these two, which have meaningful messages even for adults. While growing up, I loved The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and Snow White, all of which had a damsel in distress waiting for her Prince Charming to rescue her.
What I really enjoy about these new generation animated movies is that there is no such plot. Take, for instance, the movie Zootopia, all about inclusivity and fighting stereotypes. And then, of course, we have the Inside Out franchise, which is probably one of my favourites, given its focus on emotions and mental health. You can read more about this movie in the article written by my colleague Maddy Kirkpatrick.
One can enjoy these movies on a light-hearted surface level, to invoke feelings of nostalgia and comfort. In fact, I do it too, when I am going through stressful times and want to relax, I turn on Disney+ and watch an animated movie. But almost always, soon after the movie starts, at an unconscious level, I start reflecting on the deeper meaning of the movie. A few weeks ago, I watched the movie Elemental, similar to Zootopia, also centred around diversity and integration in today’s society.
Even the songs of the movies are those that I have on my regular Spotify playlist. While nothing will come close to A Whole New World from Aladdin, I regularly listen to motivational songs like “Beyond” from Moana 2 and “Try Everything” from Zootopia and bop along to the music on my commute. Lyrics like this, sometimes are just what I need for a motivational boost.
I won't give up, no, I won't give in
'Til I reach the end, and then I'll start again
No, I won't leave, I wanna try everything
I wanna try even though I could fail.
Now, other than oversharing to readers on the internet the fact that children’s movies make me cry, I do have a deeper message. There is a reason why it is these movies I turn to when I’m stressed or upset. Because I know that whatever the message, it will help me work through my emotions. To an extent, they motivate me. On the flip side, it shows me that I don’t necessarily need to take everything too seriously. Now and then, it’s okay to turn my brain off and watch a movie at its surface level, even if it means watching a series of video game characters literally ‘break the internet’, like in Wreck-It Ralph.
So the next time a tiny human in your life asks you to sit down and watch a movie with them, grab a bucket of popcorn, make a pillow fort, and dive right in! With that, I will now leave you with a song that is sure to get you motivated and tapping to its beat!