B.W. At The Movies: Horton Hears A Who

Sometimes when you least expect it, you find a message about how Authority can't be trusted and maybe a little individualism — dare one say anarchy? — ain't the worst thing in the world.

Horton Hears A Who can't quite decide how far it wants to go with this individualism stuff — after all, the main antagonist is a kangaroo who "pouch-schools" her child, and we are intended to see well-intentioned evil in that decision. It sets up her world view as authoritarian, even though the average home-schooling parents are seeking to protect their children from authoritarian government schools.

But there's a strong message in the film about the power of the individual against a wrong-headed authority. The kangaroo in question even does a credible channeling of Hillary Clinton as she exhorts The Village to crush Horton The Individual for The Good of The Children, warning the alternative could be Anarchy!

It's a little muddled in the end. Everyone's learned the important lesson that "a person's a person no matter how small," but we are left with the suggestion that the fools in authority will muddle along as wiser authoritarians as a result. I suppose I shouldn't object too hard — in fairy tales, everyone does live happily ever after. I guess I was just hoping "happily" was defined as not needing those fools in the first place.