The movie Mary and Max is a ‘claymation’ –
animation made out of clay – film of Adam Eliot. The story was based on the
true account of friendship between Adam and his pen pal, who lived in New York.
For almost 20 years, Mary and Max had been exchanging letters each other,
telling about their life stories, which sometime would made them encouraged,
and sometime the letters would drive them to tragic depression and
disappointment. One thing that they have in common is the fact that they are
both social outcast. Mary Daisy Dinkle is a friendless eight year old girl,
with her only ‘friend’ rooster Ethel. Her mother is an alcohol addict, and her
father works in factory during most his day. She has brown eyes and birthmark
on her forehead that looks like poo. Max is a 44 year old Jew, who has Asperger’s
syndrome (sort of mental disorder), and his different way of perceiving the
world around him puts him in socially disabled person. Max loves chocolate
hotdog and attends Overeaters Anonymous, which is his only social interaction. He’s
particularly frustrated with the people who litter on the streets. He believes
that they should be heavily fined, but it’s only his thought that nobody cares..jpg)
In fact, there are no characters portrayed
as ‘normal’ individuals, and the movie is filled with irony, depression, and
human flaw. Adam, in his interview, says, “the reason my
films are dark is because life is dark, my films are a reflection of life and
if you don’t have the dark, the light has nothing to compare itself to, the
light has no meaning.” He focuses on flawed human nature, and how imperfect we
are – but we tend to judge the social out casts as if they were more imperfect.
However, it is love and forgiveness that give colors in the midst of
Mary and Max’s monochromatic life. In the society, where disadvantaged and
weakness are oppressed, they both find that the love is the true power that
connect and sustain the relationship. The letters they exchange is the sign of hope
that makes them yearn for true love and relationship with people. Max and Mary
know that human beings are imperfect. Not all the letter gives them joy
and happiness. Because humans are imperfect, some letters disappoints and hurt
each other. However, we can forgive them. In the letter, which Max wrote to
Mary, he said “I would have to accept myself, my warts and all, and
that we don't get to choose our warts. They are part of us and we have to live
with them. We can, however, choose our friends, and I am glad I have chosen you.”
What Max meant by choosing friends meant that we always can choose to forgive
and be friends, despite the imperfectness, which could hurt us.
There is a hope of relationships in love and
forgiveness. And I believe this reveals one of the features of God’s Kingdom.
The Kingdom is about embracing the imperfectness with forgiveness, and it is
sustained by love, and this is what Jesus did. The society tells us that
imperfectness must be discarded and separated. Yet, Mary and Max’s story tell
us that we should embrace it with love and forgiveness in order to restore the
relationships with each other.
What does it mean to love your neighbors as yourself? Do love will eventually require self sacrificing?
What is true forgiveness? What does it mean to forgive one another?
Nice analysis Taek. I remember when you told me about this film the other day so I was eager to read your post. the movie seems very dark but hopeful at the same time like you mentioned. conflicts in relationships with one another is something everybody will face their entire life and I think forgiveness is one of the key aspects to a close and long-lasting relationships as well. in a world nowadays when the society makes people more selfish and full of greed, i think it is becoming more hard to forgive one another, especially in small little things. beyond forgiveness, i think understanding one another, to "put yourself in someone else's shoes," can be a great feature to God's Kingdom as well.
ReplyDeleteone question is, if max and mary exchanged letters for twenty years and max is 44, mary is eight years old, does that mean they've been exchanging letters till max is 64 and mary 28??? wow, thats some interesting story line. show me this film sometime Taek!
"... my films are a reflection of life and if you don’t have the dark, the light has nothing to compare itself to, the light has no meaning.” That's a great quote from the director that really helps interpret the film. Excellent observations and good analysis, Taek. I look forward to watching the film (I just put it in our Netflix queue)!
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