On my flight from Hong Kong to Los Angeles I watched How to Train Your Dragon. I was only interested because it had received very positive reviews earlier this year (Note: I never read film reviews before I see a movie, but I pay attention to the general consensus as a guide for my time and money).
The film follows the teenage prince of a Viking kingdom in a generational war with marauding dragons. This prince is much smaller, less violent, and interestingly less Scottish than the other Vikings. When he discovers a grounded dragon with a missing tail-wing, the two form a friendship, and eventually the prince convinces his warrior-father that the Vikings and dragons do not have to be existential enemies.
What I found most interesting was that in the happy ending where Vikings and dragons live “side-by-side,” the dragons are not equals, but the domesticated friendly pets of the Vikings. This didn’t sit right with me.
It suggests that instead of killing our enemies, we should simply dominate them peacefully. If only we understood and trusted each other, they would accept our benevolent mastership.
In my mind it contrasted with the science fiction novel Ender’s Game, which I recently read, in which humans and the alien race they destroy are portrayed as equal species that were incapable of understanding the other’s peaceful intentions. The moral there is that enemies might be able to coexist if they just try to understand each other and resist their fears, which I think is a more applicable lesson.
Instead How to Train Your Dragon resembles films like Gone with the Wind, in which the simple slaves serve their owners with smiles and good humor. That might not be a fair comparison, but I’ll criticize any modern film that even reasonably invites the parallel.
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