Ethical Review: FANTASTIC MR. FOX

By BARCODE 2x

So-called family movies in recent memory have a soul-searching, existensial bent to them. WALL-E and Where the Wild Things Are demand a bit of self-examination from the viewer. We get a whole lot more out of these films than we expect. I'm not sure it's always good for children to be confronted with ideas of death, disaster, and an uncertain future. It may not be good for adults, either.

Fantastic Mr. Fox is the dense, quirky new offering from Wes Anderson (The Royal Tennenbaums, Rushmore), a man who arguably has no business making movies for children. A director known for exposing the horrible and hilarious lives of upper class American families, Anderson has found a real ethical gold mine here.

The kids, of course, will be delighted at the cute, furry protagonists and their old-school, stop-motion animated movements. Adults may have to shield the kids' eyes and ears at some of the content here. The amount of boozing, smoking, bombing, shooting, and wild-animal craziness is enough to raise eyebrows, and the discomfort level in the theatre is certainly palpable. The children and parents who came expecting a fun animated adventure certainly will get it, and a whole lot more.

The questions are huge: Who are we? Are we mere animals? Are the everyday actions of our lives as important as we think? Are we just rats, dying in garbage cans behind Chinese restaurants?

No matter how small we may be, Mr. Fox is a large and fantastic character, who lives in personal conflict between being a responsible adult, and living the criminal life. He is a fox. Can he betray his own nature? He is built for stealing and fighting, and what more should be expected from a mere animal?

Like Disney's Robin Hood (also a fox), he is stealing to give to the poor, starving community of creatures being forced out of their underground homes. Three wicked farmers will stop at absolutely nothing to exterminate these animals. And that means the children, the women, everyone. The ethics we are considering here are criminal ethics. The cunning, slick, and risky schemes of master criminals. There are certain codes of ethics in the world of crime. Always keep your mouth shut. Cover your tracks. Don't rat out your friends. Lie to everyone in order to protect the ones you love.

Benevolent criminals like Mr. Fox are acting out of desperation. They cannot survive any other way. They must act outside of the law to make it from day to day. These are criminals, yes, but the real criminals are the ones in power. The real criminals are the men with the guns above ground, not the sly fox who eludes them. These are times of war, and to escape certain death, the animals look to the lying, cheating outlaw to lead them out. The alternative is to starve. This is the Wild West. A handsome, experienced criminal is who you need to protect you. Follow him if you want to live.

Fantastic Mr. Fox manages to do more than survive, however. With luck and fearless leadership, he leads his community into a bonanza. Lying to his wife at first and sneaking around, he captures a whole pantry full of chickens and other birds. He is a master thief, a cat burglar with a fiendish love of his craft. When he and his pals are forced out of their newly comfortable home, the tactics of survival and revenge drive him to not only steal and lie, but to kill as well. He is in deep now, and once you dig your tunnel, you have to keep digging or they will eventually catch up with you. Nothing digs faster than a fox.

The Bernie Madoffs, the corrupt corporate CEOs, as well as the looters of Iraq's antiquities, all of these are the Mr. Foxes of our world. What begins simply enough can spiral out of control. A few shortcuts, a few ugly deals, can soon lead to harder stuff. Some schemes start benevolently enough, with no one really getting hurt, and soon the files have to be destroyed, people get blamed, go to jail, or wind up dead, somehow. The elegant criminals of our world often go unchecked. I believe there is a little bit of Mr. Fox in all of us.

Ethically speaking, the existential questions are merely the rationalizations that criminals use to sleep better at night. Do our actions matter? Yes they do. Are we small, insignificant beings whose actions leave no substantial, lasting consequence? After all, flocks of chickens can be grown again after a season. Crops can be restored. Those consequences are minimal. But when a culture is created and ruled by criminals, we get off on the wrong foot. Mr. Fox's underground lair is protected only by his crazy schemes. His refugee camp in the sewer is only one step away from being Jonestown, when you consider that young children are at risk of being killed. Casualties, collateral damage. Mr. Fox is a charismatic leader alright, but he is a wild animal nonetheless. Cowboy, maverick leadership.

Do I plan to buy my kid a Mr. Fox plush toy for the holidays? Perhaps. I like his spirit. And I think that his scheme is innocent enough, at first. His intentions are good. But we have lived for years now with thieves at the wheel. Should we celebrate them? Should we seek to understand them? Can any of them be trusted?