Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, there were a few big names
in animation. As always, Disney was in
the picture. They were putting out
movies that have become classics that people my age grew up on. Pixar started their run in the mid-1990s when
they made Toy Story. They had a few shorts before that, but didn’t
get the mainstream attention that others got until Toy Story was released. Then
there was Don Bluth. He started in
Disney before going out on his own to build a studio and release movies like The Land Before Time, All Dogs Go to Heaven, and Anastasia.
One of the other Don Bluth movies was Thumbelina, based on the Hans Christian Andersen story about a girl
the size of a thumb. Thumbelina (Jodi
Benson) was peacefully living her life when Mrs. Toad (Charo) came along and
kidnapped her. She excaped the toads and
was taken in with Mr. Beetle (Gilbert Gottfried), who tossed her aside when she
tarnished his image. Ms. Fieldmouse
(Carol Channing) gave her shelter in the winter and tried to marry her off to
Mr. Mole (John Hurt). During her
adventure, the fairy Prince Cornelius (Gary Imhoff) journeyed to rescue her,
take her home, and marry her. There was
also a bird named Jacquimo (Gino Conforti) guiding the audience through the
story.
Unlike so many of Don Bluth’s other movies, Thumbelina isn’t considered a classic in
animation. It’s easy to see why. There are a myriad of reasons that the movie
ended up being a mess. The story itself
wasn’t all that interesting to watch. That’s
not Don Bluth’s fault. That came from
the source material where it was a tiny girl getting kidnapped before falling
in love. Hans Christian Andersen could
be blamed for that. The weird way that
creatures of various species are romantically interested in Thumbelina was also
weird. A frog, a beetle, and a mole were
all trying to be with her. But the one
reason that should be focused on more than most was the fact that Thumbelina
was not an active protagonist, outside of one moment in the movie.
An active protagonist is a hero in a story that makes
choices. Their journey is of their own
doing. They move along from plot point
to plot point because they take an active participation in what they are
doing. They must decide between two
difficult choices in order to try and achieve their goal. A passive protagonist is a hero who doesn’t
make choices. Everything that happens in
their journey is because of other people doing things. They react to what is going on without
changing things by their own will. They
hope they’ll get to their goal without ever doing anything to take a step
closer.
Thumbelina was a passive protagonist. She spent the majority of the movie reacting
to everything that happened to her. When
she got kidnapped, she didn’t try to free herself. Jacquimo freed her. When she was about to go over a waterfall,
she didn’t do anything to get to safety.
The creatures of the forest got her out of the water. The fish knocked her backwards in the river
and the insects dragged her out. She
didn’t escape from the beetles. Her
costume came off, they mocked her, and she was sent away. None of these things were of her own
doing. The other characters were doing
things for her, and she went along with it to get through the story.
The problem with this kind of character is that the audience
can’t connect with them. They don’t have
to make the tough choices that people make in life. They go through a journey that nobody has
been on and they don’t make any of the relatable decisions that get the
audience invested in the most ludicrous of stories. Say, for example, in the scene with the
frogs, Thumbelina had to try to escape while they weren’t looking. The escape would get her away from them, but
then she would have to contend with the dangerous waterfall. If she got caught, security would be
tightened so that she wouldn’t be able to get away so easily. The choice is left to her about whether or
not she should attempt it at that moment.
The audience is more invested.
Dramatic tension. That
is the key element to an active protagonist.
Whenever they make a tough choice, like the admittedly flimsy example I
made of the escape that never happened in Thumbelina,
the audience becomes a little more anxious.
They don’t know if the choice will be good or not. Most likely, they’re both bad choices. At that point, the audience becomes anxious
for the safety of the character. This is
the thrill ride that movies should be. Thumbelina lacked dramatic tension. For the most part.
There was one scene near the end of Thumbelina where the main character was given a choice to
make. For once in the movie, they were
telling the story in a semi-compelling way.
During her time with Ms. Fieldmouse, Thumbelina was set up with Mr.
Mole. They were set to wed. A wedding happened. During that wedding, Thumbelina came to a
tough decision. She could marry Mr. Mole
and be unhappy that he was not the person she loved, or she could leave Mr.
Mole and be alone because the person she loved was dead. That’s an actual choice. That’s a decision that the main character had
to make to move her story forward. That
was good storytelling.
The worst part of the whole active versus passive
protagonist concept that plagued Thumbelina’s
main character was that there was another character who had a more compelling
story. Prince Cornelius spent most of
the movie trying to find Thumbelina. He
was being active, making choices for himself on his journey. He overcame obstacles and had a clear goal. Thumbelina was his damsel in distress, yet we
spent the movie following her. That was
a bad decision.
Thumbelina was a
problematic movie. From the basic story
to the interspecies love, there were issues all over it. The most notable, however, was the lack of an
active protagonist. The passivity of her
actions made for a story that felt like it was moving along with the character
following, instead of the character pushing it forward. Audiences aren’t as attached to these movies
because it doesn’t feel like they, or the characters, are involved in anything
that’s happening. There’s a
disconnection. That all begins with the
main character. Thumbelina needed to
make choices. She didn’t, and the movie
fell flat.
Maybe these notes will have more bounce to them:
- Thumbelina was suggested by @ImPABLO_i_WRITE, who also suggested Cabin Boy (week 173).
- The voice of Neil Ross was featured in Thumbelina. He also worked on Son of the Mask (week 207).
- Other animated movies included in the Sunday “Bad” Movies include, but are not limited to, Foodfight! (week 143), A Car’s Life (week 2), Delgo (week 148), and How the Toys Saved Christmas (week 158).
- Have you seen Thumbelina? What did you think? Are passive protagonists as much of a problem as I think they are? Let me know in the comments.
- The comments and my Twitter page can be used to let me know about the bad movies I haven’t seen and should check out. There are many out there that just haven’t come to my attention, and if you let me know about them, I might look out for them and add them to the schedule.
- When I’m watching movies, I sometimes share clips from them on my snapchat (jurassicgriffin). Add me if that sounds interesting.
- Next week is a big week. A new Star Wars movie is coming out. As such, I’ll be watching some old Star Wars. Specifically, I’ll be checking out The Ewok Adventure. I’ve not seen any Star Wars outside of the theatrical movies, so this should be a fun one. We'll see this time next week. Come on back now, y’hear?
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