Lessons to learn from a boy and his cat
“O Mrs. Bell, how can you learn anything from us? you are such a very, very old lady, and we are only very, very silly little children!” Then she smiled and said: “Ah! Miss Bessie, I can learn something from every-thing I see, and so may you if you will try.” - Bessie, The Little Girl Who Learned from Everything, unidentified author
You’re probably familiar with the concept that there’s something to be learned from everything (action, thought, image, gesture, etc), so I won’t go into too much details about that. In fact, I don’t even think that there are too many details regarding it.
Last night, after my DSL connection went back online after a downtime of 18 hours because of a big thunderstorm in my area, I was surfing the net without a clear destination, just to relax and pass some time. And in this random surfing, I stumbled upon Sophie’s blog (we we wet wet), and in one of her posts I noticed a short film that got my attention.
The film, “Ely & Nepomuk”, is directed and produced by Rafael Sommerhalder, a Swedish director. It is a 10 minutes animation film that features the beautiful life that a young boy (Ely) and his cat (Nepomuk) enjoy. They live a very happy life, until three men from the exterior interfere by offering their grownup advices… and manage to turn the beautiful life of Ely and Nepomuk into ashes.
Ely and his cat Nepomuk are happy. They catch raindrops with their mouths, chase butterflies while walking on their hands, and fall in love with flowers. One day three grey men appear.
The film is characterized by subtle humor, graphic finesse, dignified poetry and masterful animation. The aim of the film is beyond entertaining an audience, it is more about provoking thought. An inherent quality of animation is its ability to transcend language and cultural barriers by means of visual communication (which is the most powerful learning medium).
This short film explains in 10 minutes what some people try to explain by writing hundreds of pages, and that’s the fact that you should live your life according to your own values and beliefs, and that the small joys of life are the ones that really count. It sends out the message that a thinking that is too mature in itself, a thinking that is “unforgiving” with the small joys and treats them with too much maturity ends up doing no good.
Always do what’s good for you and never allow others to change that.
But enough talking, I’m gonna let you watch the movie now. Enjoy! And don’t forget to leave your opinion about it in the comments.
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Cute little video.
That one scene with the snake towards the end had me thinking their happy lives were over– they did good telling a story with simple animation.
I just watched this with my little 6 year old friend. Her first question was, “What does this teach us?” I tried to explained to her about living in the moment, doing things how you feel fit, not letting others judge, etc. However, she then followed it up with, “But what about the adults who make the rules and we have to follow?” Boy, excellent question. I continually realize that being able to articulate something to a child is sometimes the most difficult thing and a true test of understanding. So, what does this teach us?
I think children are very clever in figuring out how to twist messages in their favor.
In a way, it still illustrates that some rules are useful and necessary. When the boy took away the sign that people are meant to obey, a whole bunch of people swerved off the road.
Very good point - on both accounts! I think the film also illustrates the fine line between listening to other’s advice and listening to your own, especially difficult when you lack the self confidence.
Hi there, thank you for the reflections. When we are too full we can’t take any more. When we are too self-centred we forget to take care of the others. When we think we are smart, we fail to grow…
BTW, Sophie is a good friend of mine and she is always very insightful and fun at the same time.
“But what about the adults who make the rules and we have to follow?” - Very good question this one.
In my opinion, the only rules that should be followed are the ones that do good for everyone; the necessary rules, the rules that don’t affect the personal space of an individual. Like the roadsign in the film. Moving a roadsign would affect many other people, while catching raindrops with your mouth affects only you.
The main lesson that can be drawn from the short film is that we must learn to think and make decisions on our own, without paying too much attention to the expectations that others have from us.
While the intentions of other people may be good, good intentions alone aren’t enough to make their advices good for you. Good intentions aren’t synonymous with good results.
Another lesson from the film is the fact that our personal space is -our personal space-, and outside advices that are connected to your personal space are useless.
Hope I maked some sense here, I have a ton of thoughts and ideas running wild through my mind.
Hi Shine,
You have a good point there.
Being too extreme in any aspect of our lives is definately a bad thing to do. Like many others have said before me, balance is the key.
Thanks Armand, very nicely put. I’m going to run that by my little friend and see what she throws back your way!
I’m really looking forward to that!
hi armand,
really thx for visiting my site, hope you like it there!
so nice that you have come up with so many insightful ideas after watching the film. pls also don’t forget just be relax and appreciate the simplicity expressed in the film. do let out your inner child, which should be as pretty and happy as the boy and the cat.
Hi Sophie, welcome! Thank your for the kind words.
“do let out your inner child, which should be as pretty and happy as the boy and the cat.” - this is one of the things that the film tries to send out. You’ve put it perfectly, very clear and simple!
She was more interested in twirling her hair than listening this morning - I’ll have another go at it this evening!
No problem.
There’s no rush!
Okay, I still haven’t worked it out. I thought I found an explanation to my little friend in that some small children do not understand consequences - they need adults to help them keep there bodies safe. ie running into the middle of the street. But then I got stumped, because in essence this is what the video is preaching against. I think it is an ultimate threat type thing, what is the worst that can happen - yes becoming sick from playing in the rain can hurt someone, but not to the extent that running in the middle of the street can.
I think the struggle comes in that our current culture is overly structured. Creating children who are unable to weigh the pros and cons, understand when things are rules v. suggestions, etc. This creates children who grow up unsure of their place in the world.
Sorry for the delay that appeared in publishing your comment. There are many spam comments floating around these days and the spam filters started to mark even the legitimate ones as spam.
Now about the matter at hand, I believe school is the main mechanism that produces unsure children.
“children who are unable to weigh the pros and cons”
The best way to gain this ability is to assume RISKS. If someone takes his child inside of the house when it rains and tells the child that the rain could make him sick, the child doesn’t really understand that. The parent should assume the risk of his child getting sick while playing in the rain, so that the child could learn by himself the effects.
In her childhood, my mother wasn’t allowed to ride a bike, run, swim or do anything that might involve risks. It wasn’t an unhappy childhood, but it was a wrong way to raise a child. One of the results her growing like that is the fact that as she grew up she never took *any* risks. Another result is the fact that she’s constantly thinking about the negative sides of “what if’s” (tied to the risks).
Children learn from mistakes too, not only adults. And the lessons learned as a child are the most powerful ones, just as the lessons learned from mistakes. I strongly believe that it is wrong to rob the children of their right to learn from mistakes, “live-learning.”
The parent has its role in keeping the child away from extreme risks (death or other permanent irreparable damage), but small things like getting a cold or a bruise don’t fall into the extreme category.