THE TALE OF DESPEREAUX
I wonder if there exists another family film that made me ponder and laugh as much as this one. In short, I'm actually glad Departures wasn't available for it allowed my chancing upon this absolute gem of a kid's film.

In the creation of a world that exists in an alternate reality (Mouseworld or Miceworld I sort of forgot :p), I believe it to be the intention of the creators to make a mockery of our own world. In Mouseworld, mice are educated and subsequently armed with skills that will put them in good stead should the need arise. All mice are competently versed in the art of cowardice and scurrying, which is probably quite apt a skill to impart for it insures a child mouse against certain annihilation should they be confronted by nasty humans or rats, a supposedly savage and probably cannibalistic race. The educational system thus renders mice like Despereaux an outcast. "Are you human or mouse?"

However we know Despereaux yearns to be, in his words, a "gentleman". To qualify oneself as a gentleman, certain values or the "code of honour" has to be obeyed by. Chivalry, Courage, Honour
All of these are "positive" values...and values we hope to be inculcated in our young. Yet for a mouse, these values presents to him a threatening set of circumstances. Fatality is almost assured for a mice with no inkling as to the guarantee of his own safety. This gives rise to a dilemma...morality VS practicality.

At some point of our youth we had to acquaint ourselves with moral education, from which we learnt of the positive values we are to clothe ourselves in. Yet such values, amongst them honesty, generosity, benevolence, hardly serves us well in the unscrupulous world that awaits us. Is such an education worth our time? Or are these values still relevant in this age to prevent a total erosion of human morality? Despereaux stands firm by his conviction, even upon the brink of death. How many of us will forsake survival for a staunch belief in our values? The annihilation of ethics has been gradual but conspicuous...and the sad truth is that we are powerless to halt it.

"Don't you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? In the end we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it. Every concept that can ever be needed will be expressed by exactly one word, with its meaning rigidly defined and all its subsidiary meanings rubbed out and forgotten. Already, in the Eleventh Edition, we're not far from that point. But the process will still be continuing long after you and I are dead. Every year fewer and fewer words, and the range of consciousness always a little smaller..."

I'm held captive by Orwell's sophistication of thought. By using language as a means of totalitarian control, Big Brother allows not a thought of deviance to breed in the minds of his people. Imagine if there were no such word as "freedom" or "sadness" or "stress"...would these emotions/ideals cease to exist? Would the world come into a state of uniformity and would the lack of 'negative' words connote the eradication of any emotions contrary to those of bliss and happiness?

Best of all, I've laid claim to a second hand copy of Animal Farm! :)))

& 9:58 PM