They even show a giant penguin in the sky who is almost being formed by all the chanting penguins.
During this time, the elders lead chants to the great Quin/Win (I think Quin but I couldn’t find a solid source) which all the penguins are supposed to follow. They create a sort of wall and take it in turns to face the cold. During the winter when the females head off to collect food, it is the responsibility of the males to shelter the eggs and also each other. We’ll start with Mumble’s father, Memphis. In order to delve deeper into this bizarre underlying commentary we have to examine key moments in the story. Of course one famous religion has been known to deal with Paganism in such a manner… Memphis Drops the Ball…or the Egg During a scene where Mumble is tap dancing and others are joining in, one of the elders says this to him: “that kind of pagan display” and then goes on to blame him for the food shortage. There is a reason I chose Christianity as well which I’m going to explain in more detail later on but I’ll share one very specific quote that I believe highlights the reason. Tell me that none of these have a solid meaning when the word Christian is switched in. “…he’s a regular (something, I missed the word) Penguin” These were all the times after the first few instances where the word penguin was used and could be perfectly swapped for “Christian”.
Let me give you some examples that I noted down. So there is already a very open religious element to the film but it’s the underlying element that I find so interesting. One thing you have to keep in mind is that the colony worships the mighty “Quin” (I’m not sure how you spell it exactly as it’s taken from the end of the word “penguin”). The word “penguin” can be perfectly switched out for any religion (I chose Christianity). That is until a couple of days ago when I re-watched Happy Feet and noticed a bizarre aspect that had eluded me in the past. The religious element of the film was nothing new to me and I’d always intended to write a post about it…but as time went on it became less and less of a concern and I figured that it wasn’t worth the effort. From here, Mumble ends up in a zoo, does a dance, humans put a tracker on him and send him back to his colony and eventually everyone lives happily ever after….typical children’s film, right? Wrong! Religion Eventually Mumble finds a giant ship that is collecting all of the fish and taking it away and so he follows it until he eventually passes out and lands on a beach. Mumble and his “amigos” are eventually banished from his colony due to his “dangerous ideas” and so set out on a quest to find the fish (the lack of which has been blamed on Mumble and his feet). Here, they collect pebbles in an attempt to woe the females. Being continuously alienated by his colony, Mumble eventually stumbles across a different penguin colony where singing is seen as a hobby rather than an essential part of life. This is due to his father, Memphis, dropping the egg during one of the coldest winters. Happy Feet follows Mumble, a slightly handicapped penguin who lacks the ability to sing (an essential part of the mating process) but can instead tap his feet in a rhythmical manner (although not always on purpose). This post is unlikely to make much sense to you otherwise but allow me to quickly summarise it for you, just in case.
Basic Summaryįor those of you who haven’t seen Happy Feet, you’re missing out on a rather entertaining film. In today’s post we will be exploring that connection and cracking the case wide open for all to see. What may ultimately seem like a warm-hearted tale of a handicapped penguin’s quest to discover the interruption in his colony’s food chain is actually a layered tale of environmental damage and religious indoctrination (and the challenges one faces in trying to escape it).
You may be a little surprised to see the words ‘Happy Feet’ and ‘Religious Indoctrination’ in the same sentence.
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