Story Analysis Of Song Of The Sea And Grizzly Man

Should humans have a fearful respect of nature, or should we seek to connect with nature, no matter the dangers we might encounter? Do humans “belong” in the natural environment?

These are some questions that both Grizzly Man (2005) and Song of the Sea (2014) address. A documentary by Werner Herzog based on the video recordings of bear enthusiast, Timothy Treadwell, Grizzly Man suggests that the gap between the human/animal world cannot be bridged. In contrast, Song of the Sea portrays an idealized natural environment that serves as the backdrop for the rekindling of a lost human/animal/nature connection.

To give a brief synopsis of Grizzly Man:

Treadwell travelled to Alaska for extended periods of times over a series of years to live with the wild grizzly bears. While there, he filmed footage of the bears and of his “changing” relationship with them—how he was able to “tame” them and make them used to his presence. Treadwell believed that his encounters with the bears proved that humans and wild animals can live together in harmony, if only we make the effort. Tragically, Treadwell and his girlfriend were killed by a grizzly during their 13th summer there.

In Song of the Sea, the girl, Saoirse, similarly dwells in wild nature. In this clip from the film, she finds her mother’s white sealskin coat. She wears the coat and goes to the sea, where she meets a group of seals and becomes a selkie (from Scottish/Irish mythology).

Like Grizzly Man, this clip shows us a human interacting and becoming one with the wilderness. It is as though the boundaries of human and nature/animals are blurred. As ecologist Marnie Gaede says in Grizzly Man at 20.32, “he wanted to become like the bear… I think perhaps he wanted to mutate into a wild animal as he says in his last letter. He says, ‘I have to mutually mutate into a wild animal to handle the life I live out here.’ And I think there’s a religious sense in that, in the sense of connecting so deeply that you’re no longer human.”

As these two films show, the act of connecting with nature can be a wonderful experience – the viewer gets a strong sense that Treadwell loves his life with the bears. Similarly, this scene in which Saoirse becomes a selkie is awe-inspiring. 

At the same time, we need to reserve a fearful respect of nature. As goes without saying, wild animals can be dangerous and not always appear in the form of cute seals. Perhaps the biggest difference between the two films is that the seals don’t pose an immediate danger to Saoirse, whereas the bears in Grizzly Man have a natural urge to kill Treadwell (or at least I cannot imagine that the seals, with their cute character designs, are threatening).

Should Treadwell, then, have been less extreme? Should he have tried to bond with, say, squirrels instead of bears? 

Whichever way we choose to bond with nature, I believe the key is to retain a notion of difference between animals and humans. No matter how much we idealize nature or attribute it with human characteristics—no matter how much we believe we can become and act like wild animals—we are not the same. The idealized world of Song of the Sea communicates an impossibility. We, as humans, cannot turn into seals. The fantasy of doing so can only ever live in our imaginations. When Treadwell wished to become like a bear, he perhaps forced a fairytale narrative onto the grim realities of nature.

Yet I also believe that this notion of difference between animals and humans should not be exaggerated. Both animals and humans cohabitate the planet together. We are alike in many ways—we eat, we poop, we are born, we die. We experience pain and suffering, love and happiness. 

The tricky part is finding the balance between respecting our differences while recognizing our similarities. As we go about making films of tomorrow, we need to carefully contemplate how we wish to construct our relationship with nature. If not, we risk attributing human characteristics to the natural world. 

Story Analysis Of Nephtali And The Revenant

How would you represent nature in animation? Would it be a place where nature heals and helps the main characters process their inner turmoil? Or would it be an environment where nature takes no sides and serves as an indifferent backdrop?

Alejandro González Iñárritu’s, The Revenant, and Glen Keane’s short animated film, Nephtali, are two stories that provide polar opposite answers to these questions.

Using wilderness as a backdrop, both these movies portray a search for meaning and spiritual transcendence. Only The Revenant suggests that meaning cannot necessarily be found in nature.

In Nephtali, we see a ballerina who dances her way through an internal struggle in a forest. The animator of this piece, Glen Keane, was a 38-year veteran of the Walt Disney Studios before he left the studio in search of new opportunities. He describes in an interview how this longing for something new partly inspired the story in Nephtali. As he says, “As I left Disney, I didn’t know how I was going to express myself as an animator. I just knew that I needed something maybe deeper, something less commercial, more artistic, but I didn’t know how that would happen.”

He goes on to explain that Nephtali is like a visual poem in three movements that explores an idea of yearning for 'something more.' The story is built on Psalm 42, which begins with “As the deer pants for streams of water / so my soul pants for you, my God.” In the first part of the short-film, the ballerina is yearning for something, looking into the distance; Glen Keane describes it as a “spiritual calling.”

The second part of the short-film involves conflict. The ballerina is swept away by the wind and has to dance her way through this struggle.

The third and last part is about freedom. It is based on the blessing of Nephtali as it is described in the Bible: “Nephtali is a doe set free, that bears beautiful fawns.” Having searched through the forest, the ballerina thus finds what she is looking for.

Using nature as a backdrop for a spiritual search, Glen Keane communicates that we can find what we are looking for in nature and achieve a new level of consciousness. In essence, he shows us that God/spirituality is in nature.

The Revenant similarly portrays themes of yearning — yearning for meaning and transcendence. Throughout the film, the characters are always searching for something or someone; Elk Dog for his daughter; Hugh Glass for the revenge of his son; John Fitzgerald for wealth and security. Within all of these wishes lay prevalent religious/spiritual undertones, like we saw in Nephtali.

For one, the word “revenant” itself has supernatural associations – it implies returning from a long absence, even death; like a ghost.

In a similar religious/spiritual vein, Fitzgerald discusses the idea of God during a conversation with Bridger around 1.17. He promptly ends a story he is telling by stating that “it turns out, God is a squirrel.” By saying this, he highlights a sense of meaninglessness with life and what they are doing. He implies that God does not exist.

The characters all long for more than what they’ve got; they all communicate a sense of despair.

Unlike Nephtali, however, the characters in The Revenant do not find the meaning they are looking for. People are killed; Elk Dog’s daughter is raped; Glass gets his revenge – but is it ultimately fulfilling?

Like in Nephtali, the filmmakers have chosen to make nature the backdrop as the story unfolds.

Thus, both Nephtali and The Revenant express a desire for spiritual longing and have situated that search for meaning in nature. However, whereas Nephtali offers the hope that transcendence and meaning can indeed be found in nature, The Revenant, on the other hand, does not imbue nature with this power. In this movie, nature doesn’t offer the characters the consolidation they are looking for. Their suffering and interpersonal conflicts never cease to exist – not even as they search through the wilderness.