Disney's Strange World Can't Help But Feel Unique In The Pandemic Age
This post contains spoilers for "Strange World."
It's been said that "life imitates art," but the expression also works the way around in terms of "writing what you know." Taking inspiration from your own lived experience has been responsible for some of the most powerful stories of the ages like "Almost Famous" by Cameron Crowe, Steven Spielberg's latest masterpiece "The Fabelmans," or the upcoming Disney+ series "American Born Chinese," which is based on the acclaimed graphic novel by Gene Luen Yang. But I'm not sure that too many people out there want to relive the lockdown period of an ongoing pandemic through their entertainment just yet. There have definitely been recent projects that have tackled the topic in unique and inventive ways like the "Mythic Quest: Quarantine" special or Bo Burnham's "Inside," but it's probably better to put a general moratorium on movies about viruses or pandemics for a few years.
However, it's hard to escape the themes in these kinds of pandemic-era stories. Resilience, perseverance, and legacy are universal topics, but they can take a whole new meaning for an audience affected by trauma from one "unprecedented" event after another. That's why the hopeful message about the future in Walt Disney Animation's latest movie "Strange World" feels like it's speaking directly to the people still feeling residual emotions about a world after COVID-19's arrival.
On the surface, the animated sci-fi adventure from Don Hall and Qui Nguyen is about a family of adventurers on a mission to save their homeland and the lifesaving resource that powers their society. But once you did a little deeper (as the Clades do literally and figuratively in the movie), you get a comforting metaphor about how we will all be okay.
'We're not quite there yet, but we will be.'
While most synopses will describe "Strange World" the same way as I did in the introduction of this article, here's another way to frame it: A mysterious virus infects the crops of Avalonia. The leaders of this land recruit various experts from different fields to go on an expedition in an effort to learn more about the worsening infection and come up with a way to eradicate it. Through a variety of different methods, these experts accept, learn, and adapt to their situation until they find a workable solution. Sounds familiar, right?
After going through all that, the movie ends with a time jump to the year after the Clade family's journey. We catch up with all the characters settling into a new life as they adjust to their new status quo that doesn't depend on the Pando energy source anymore. Jake Gyllenhaal's Searcher Clade gets a letter from his son, Ethan. "It's inspiring to see how resilient people can be. We can be resourceful. We can surprise. The world has clearly changed and it continues to change," says the character played by Jaboukie Young-White. "Though we can't live like we did in the past, we've given ourselves a better chance at the future. We're not quite there yet, but we will be."
Into the unknown
Throughout the studio's history, Disney has had a reputation for presenting stories of hope. They're not only built to give kids an optimistic outlook on life, but they can also act as a nice reminder for everyone else that things don't always need to be doom and gloom all the time. After everything that Avalonia and the real world have gone through in recent years, it's a really important message to hear once in a while. Yes, cynicism is a powerful force, but Ethan Clade's words serve as a particularly excellent lesson among a number of excellent lessons to take away from this movie as you walk out of the theater and into a reality that can be harsh and uncertain. At least with a hopeful message like this, people can hopefully feel better about going into the unknown that is the future with openness and a belief in themselves to keep on and carry on, even through a pandemic.