MovieChat Forums > The Croods (2013) Discussion > The beginning of Faith

The beginning of Faith

posted 9 years ago by android-1771
6 replies | jump to latest

Throughout the film, Eep, Guy and Grug raise their hands and seem to greet the sun.

In the first act of the film, there is a sequence where Eep is clinging to a cliff. The shadows are spreading around the world and the last sunbeams abandon the tips of her fingers.

She says then: "Please, come back tomorrow."

Well...

I can understand that she voiced her thoughts as some sort of request. She's not talking to herself. She is talking to an entity, something that has not been "baptized" yet, although it always lit and warmed her life. It is almost a religious experience.

The Croods feel the wonder and astonishment when facing that mysterious creature that runs through the skies everyday. At the boundary between sense and reason, semiotics helps the family to signify the star as an extraordinary entity. The idea of a solar god is gaining form.

The Croods are just a step away from faith.

Subtleties such as this are very cool to see in a cartoon!

[–] OhNooos 9 years ago

Those were beautiful and seminal scenes. It's open to interpretation and seeing it as the beginning of faith is certainly a very possible and valid point of view. It could also be seen as a sense of hope for a better tomorrow, that there will be change and the opportunity to enjoy life and thrive as a being, a family, a community, or as a species, It's a beautiful, touching, and powerful metaphor with many layers. Eep loved the light and hated the darkness. That could be interpreted as faith, on one level and on another as a desire to grow. In tangent with her attraction to the new "Guy", she celebrated curiosity, innovation, and a love of knowledge.

[–] android-1771 9 years ago

I totally agree with you! Beautiful metaphors!

Besides, there is a correlation between characters and background.

When Eep declares to Grug that he can't keep her inside a cave forever, an earthquake is felt. It's like De Palma's Carrie: the house cracks under the rage of the character. That's fascinating. I can't remember the last time I saw a movie where the background imitates the character's emotions so intimately. The changing world of adolescence!

Even Grug's thoughts were materialized. Do you remember the tar pit? Well, the tar is black like the fur he wears or the cave he loved so much. It's sticky like Grug's bad habit of supervising his daughter and family constantly. It's paralyzing like Grug's idea of safety. It's deadly as Grug's old fashioned rules. As Grug scapes the tar with Guy, he abandons his own nature and moves forward.

I almost forgot! Actually, my intention when I wrote this thread was to praise the way some concepts of anthropology were shown.

A film doesn't need to be true to science. Art can and need to distort reality to tell a story properly. In this film, however, I realize the discrete participation of some anthropological concepts. The sun is just one example. It works as anthropological discourse and also as a metaphor. Very elegant solution!

[–] OhNooos 9 years ago

I never even thought about the tar pit - that's wonderful!

Thanks for sharing your thoughts!

[–] avlis-nec 9 years ago

Finaly someone else noticed it too!!!

This is one of the reasons why I love this movie so much

Another great movie is Rise Of The Gardians for it adresses losing and finding faith

[–] DarkHallows 8 years ago

Confused as to what kind of faith you're referring to OP? If it's sun worship, then you do know that is satanic right?!

[–] OhNooos 8 years ago

They(the OP and other posters in this thread) meant it as a metaphor for God. Many ancient people have made similar connections.

On another note, sun worship is not the same as satanism. The concept of satan belongs to specific Christian sects. Sun worship is a part of some Egyptian religions, for example.