But Not Too, Wild Things

Jungle Book is out on DVD now, apparently. Which means that I need to update the list of all the Disney villain Disney Villain Deaths on Amazon page, since, you know, Sher Khan (spoilers???) dies by falling in that movie. Maybe some of the films that I couldn't find on Amazon Instant last time will be up now, this time, as well...

Saw Star Trek Beyond today. I'll get back to that in a bit. First, Spike Jonze.

Where the Wild Things Are isn't depressing because the sun's going to go out and the sand all used to be rocks and will one day be dust. It's depressing because the world that's shown, all the wild things that we see, they're the only ones there, the only beings living in the whole world. Small planet. Pointless lives- no jobs, no responsibilities, no reproduction. The idea of Adam and Eve alone in the world is bearable because they had a quest. The wild things don't. They live like animals, damned with human intelligence. Alone in the world, though like Adam and Eve, they don't think to question visitations of others when they occur. Angels, demons, Max the King.

What's the world of Dr Seuss, what's that like, which one is it? Empty or infinitely full? Because that also frightens me, though I can't say for which reason.

Star Trek, the future. The opposite dread of the Wild Things. Seeking out new life, boldly going where no one's gone before, that's the only opportunity to make real change. With a mankind spread amongst the stars, nothing any one person can do can affect the entire race. No matter how famous someone gets on future YouTube or whatever, they won't be a true celebrity, because only a portion of this mixed civilization, in-Federation or out-, could ever know of such a thing. A playwright could write the greatest stage play ever written, but the entire universe could pass away without her work being known by any but a small fraction of intelligent life. Y'know?

So I suppose I like the idea that our species, all the species we know, are all clinging like moss to a pebble plummeting through an abyss of ink. It's not frightening but comforting. The United Federation of Planets doesn't care about global warming or nuclear threats, because individual planets don't matter there, far far less individual lives. On our world we're actually united, any single contribution can affect difference for, everyone. But there are still strangers. Bobs and Terrys who won't be introduced us. We need our planet to be big.

But not too big.