Ideals and Reality: Both Are Needed

Benh Zeitlin’s film, “Beasts of the Southern Wild”, reminds us that escapism, or ideals, can help carry life forward, but must eventually be abandoned so one can focus on a grounded and less pleasant reality. In the movie, the protagonist, Hushpuppy, leads a rustic and chaotic lifestyle in the storm-prone and swampy Bathtub, raised by her unruly, controlling father, Wink. After witnessing the effects of Wink’s fatal illness, Hushpuppy ventures out to find her absent mother or “Momma”, who indirectly serves as a calm in the storm in her chaotic life. This is evident when Hushpuppy carried a red, baseball jersey wherever she went, to communicate with her non-existent mother when problems arose. In search of Momma, Hushpuppy and some of her friends later end up in a bar called the Elysian Fields. In this bar, she meets a waitress with an uncanny resemblance to her mother, who cooks alligator meat for Hushpuppy while sharing some personal advice:

“When you’re a child, people say that life is going to be all happy and hunky-dory… but I’m here to tell you that it’s not, so you need to get that out of you’re head… everything on your plate gonna fall on the floor and nobody going to be there to pick it up for you… it’s going to be all on you.”

Giving this advice, the waitress and Hushpuppy embrace each other as if they were mother and daughter. Eventually remembering her father’s ill-fated condition, Hushpuppy decides to return to the bathtub, leaving the bar and waitress behind. This entire sequence demonstrates one’s potential habit of escaping reality, only to return to it. The name of the bar, Elysian Fields, alludes to a euphoric meadow in Greek mythology, this alongside Hushpuppy’s experience with the waitress makes the bar representation of her ideal and peaceful life. Hushpuppy is later broken from this ideal image by the waitress’ advice, in a sense, the waitress is saying that most people, not just children, are often convinced that life is meant to be ideal, and a paradise- but in truth, it is not. This scene in the film tells us that everyone must learn that dreams can push us through life but are not easy to obtain, and they must endure the hardships given to them by reality.

WORKS CITED

• Beasts of the Southern Wild. Directed by Benh Zeitlin, performances by Quvenzhané Wallis, Dwight Henry, and Levy Easterly, Fox Searchlight, 2012.