For a long time, animated films and cartoons were thought to be made exclusively for children. That is obviously no longer the case. In fact, in a media landscape that is increasingly saturated by the superhero pictures of the Marvel and DC Cinematic Universes, it is often the case that animated films are more emotionally complex than their live-action counterparts. It makes very little sense to say that sea monsters are a childish flight of fancy when the vast majority of American adults almost exclusively attend films in which superheroes literally fly fancifully.
Of course, animated films, though they have increasingly complex storylines and more emotional depth in recent years, are almost always still fun for the whole family. The Sea Beast, a newly released Netflix original, is on its surface a beautifully animated romp on the high seas that is equal parts pirate adventure and monster flick. However, the film also explores issues almost as large as its titular oceanic leviathan.
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The film lampoons (or harpoons, if one can excuse the joke) the propensity of powerful elites to rewrite history in order to suit their whims and discusses the notion of heroism, which is seldom touched upon, even in the most serious of films. Here are a few of the important moral lessons that can be gleaned from The Sea Beast.
History Is the Purview of the Powerful
In the universe of The Sea Beast, a kingdom known as Three Bridges is initially described to audiences as having been plagued by sea monsters attacks from time immemorial. The film’s main character, Zaris-Angel Hator’s (Black Earth Rising, Morbius) Maisie Brumble, is a young girl orphaned when her parents, a pair of sea monster hunters, were killed aboard a legendary vessel known as “The Monarch.” She is constantly reading from a book discussing the nation’s history and is inspired by the tales told to become a monster hunter herself.
Later in the film, Maisie befriends the most feared sea beast in the film’s universe, a monster known as The Red Bluster. Maisie just calls the leviathan “Red.” When presented with the indisputable fact that Red is not an unrepentant killing machine, but rather an empathic and much-maligned woman, the legacy of both Three Bridges and Maisie’s own historical lineage are called into question.
Maisie, along with many other characters in the film, is forced to grapple with their worldview as presented in the historical record and question the motivations of those who penned the inaccurate books in question.
You Can Be a Hero and Still Be Wrong
The concept of heroism is challenging to grasp fully. Heroism is almost presented as a positive virtue. However, folks can often forget that heroism is not a value-neutral attribute. There are countless individuals throughout history whose actions could be perceived as heroic to those in their immediate surroundings or those who share the same value set as them. Yet, when viewed from afar, their actions are unquestionably wrong from a moral standpoint.
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Perhaps the most pressing moral lesson of The Sea Beast, echoed by several of the film’s characters, is the notion that a person can be a hero but still be morally wrong. Sea monster hunters have spent hundreds of years slaughtering sea beasts at the behest of Three Bridges’ royal family. Their actions were roundly praised as heroic. However, when it is revealed that sea monsters are not inherently antagonistic and that the beasts primarily become violent in response to the perturbations of humankind, the heroic actions of sea monster hunters must be viewed in an entirely different light.
It would be unfair to place the blame for wiping out countless innocent sea beasts entirely on the shoulders of the monster hunters, who, for the most part, were participating in the trade to serve the crown or fill their pockets. Sea monster hunters can still be considered heroes, but they are undoubtedly wrong to be killing sea beasts.
Obviously, given the massive library (which is rapidly growing) of animated films that grapple with important moral quandaries, it would be ridiculous to relegate cartoons to the bin of children’s entertainment. The Sea Beast tackles issues that many modern movie offerings could barely scratch the surface of. The film explores the idea that history can often be twisted in ways that serve to benefit a society’s most elite members, and it also tackles the notion that heroes can fight for what they believe to be a righteous cause, and though their actions need not necessarily be retroactively thought of morally abhorrent, heroes can spend their entire lives fighting unjust battles.
Those are obviously very large fish to fry, yet The Sea Beast manages to discuss these issues while still being entertaining.
