Walt Disney once said “The trick of making things move on film is what got to me.” He was talking about his fascination with animation. Disney was 18 when he first saw an ad for a position with the Kansas City Film Ad Company. He got that job and began his career drawing stick figures for cartoon ads. He would position the figures, take a picture, reposition them, take another picture, and so on until his animation was completed. That small start led to very big things. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was the first full length animated feature film. It was also the first of a string of more than seventy such films (and counting) by the Disney company. I was perusing that list a little while back and several titles caught my eye. Here is a small list of some of those films. See if you can find a common theme:
Pinnochio
Beauty and the Beast
The Little Mermaid
The Jungle Book
Tarzan
The Princess and the Frog
Peter Pan
There is something that is the same here with all of these stories. Know what it is?
Someone (or a group of people) wants to be human.
That is obvious with several of them. That is the whole point of Pinnochio—the wooden puppet who wants to be a real boy. It is also easy to see with Beauty and the Beast, the Little Mermaid, and the Princess and the Frog. We see it in The Jungle Book with the orangutan King Louie, who sings a catchy song to the human Mowgli called “I Wanna Be Like You.” Tarzan is always human, biologically speaking, but his interaction with Jane teaches him what it is like to actually be a human. And Peter Pan’s allure fades with Wendy and her brothers when they realize that if they stay with Peter then they won’t ever really grow up. They won’t get to fully realize what being human is all about.
It isn’t just Disney that recycles this theme. We see it in popular culture too. There is a popular character in the TV show “Star Trek, the Next Generation” called Data. Data is an android who would like to be human. Here is a famous quote from that series.
“If being human is not simply a matter of being born flesh and blood, if it’s simply a way of thinking, acting, and feeling, then I am hopeful that one day I will discover my own humanity. Until then, I will continue learning, changing, growing, and trying to become more than what I am.”
Why are there so many stories about this? I think part of it is that humans are the audience. We know what humanity is like and we cheer for the protagonist to get there too. But in many of these stories I think there is another reason. Sometimes the theme is that the main character used to be human, and is trying his or her best to become one again. I call this the “Lost and Found” theme. The character had something special in the past, and it was taken away from them. The plot revolves around their quest to get it back.
We resonate with this theme too, don’t we? You don’t have to get too old before some nostalgia sets in. You might think about the so-called “good-old days” and tell others about how good things used to be. I admit that there are indeed some things that used to be better. Outdoor playing for kids used to be far less worrisome. Home cooking was great. And appliances you bought were made to last a lot longer.
We have a type of spiritual nostalgia too, don’t we? The bible certainly talks about it. Just look at the Adam and Eve story in Genesis. According to that story, what did the two of them have at the beginning that we don’t have now? There may be a lot of things, but the biggest is this: full and open access to God. Imagine walking in a garden every day with God right there with you. There is no better definition of Paradise.
This condition takes up only a sliver of the timeline of the entire bible, unfortunately. It is there right at the beginning, and then “poof,” it is gone. That is what is lost. You can argue that the whole bible is a story of us trying to get that back. We yearn to get close to God again, and we fail at it every time, sometimes spectacularly so. We failed at it so badly that God decided to become human to show us a better way to get there.
So we have this gift at the beginning, and the bible talks about us getting it back at the end. Here it is in Revelation 21:1-4:
Revelation 21:1-4
21 Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
What will be found again? Full and unfettered access to God.
This is the greatest Lost and Found story of all time. It is no wonder that we like this theme in books and movies. It’s in our spiritual DNA.
This is what we are (or should be) working for. This is what the Kingdom of God really is. It is embodied in our efforts to become closer to God. We do it through relationships, through worship, and through love.
Just imagine what things will be like when we finally get there.
God Bless