Song Of The Sea is Brother Bear, change my mind
Here I am again nitpicking movies we watch in class and comparing them to the movies of my childhood (for those who missed the last installment, Princess Mononoke and FernGully: The Last Rainforest are basically the same movie).
This time lets talk about Song Of The Sea, the story of siblings who don't get along after a family member dies, one of the siblings can turn into an animal, and the film is framed by an ancient folklore/religion, and by the end of the film, the siblings have a newfound love/resect for one another. This is remarkably similar to Brother Bear.
Now that I've touched a little on how the narratives are similar, let's look at the characters. In the case of Song Of The Sea, Bronach (the mother) dies, leaving Ben to dislike his younger sister Saoirse, blaming her for their mother's death. In Brother Bear, oldest brother Sitka is killed in an avalanche/ bear attack, leaving middle brother Denahi to dislike his younger brother Kenai because he blames him for their oldest brother's death. Then, at the end of both films, the dead relative returns in a light show of spirits to either take the youngest sibling/animal to the spirit world or return them to their human form, and in both cases, the younger sibling refuses, Saoirse choosing to stay with her human family, and Kenai choosing to stay as a bear to watch over Koda. In Brother Bear, the shaman Tanana who helps both bear and human Kenai on his journey to understand the meaning of his totem, the bear of love; much like the Great Seanachaí helps Ben on the path to finding his sister and reveals the truth about his mother's 'death'. There are a couple other character similarities; Cú and Koda both help Ben and Kenai better understand family and what it means to sacrifice things for the ones you love, the singing fairies and Rutt and Tuke (the moose) both help to encourage the main characters to go on their respective journeys; but they aren't as striking of examples as the first ones.
This is by no means a bash on Song Of The Sea, I really enjoyed the film and it's narrative, I just couldn't help but notice how similar the two films were.
This time lets talk about Song Of The Sea, the story of siblings who don't get along after a family member dies, one of the siblings can turn into an animal, and the film is framed by an ancient folklore/religion, and by the end of the film, the siblings have a newfound love/resect for one another. This is remarkably similar to Brother Bear.
Now that I've touched a little on how the narratives are similar, let's look at the characters. In the case of Song Of The Sea, Bronach (the mother) dies, leaving Ben to dislike his younger sister Saoirse, blaming her for their mother's death. In Brother Bear, oldest brother Sitka is killed in an avalanche/ bear attack, leaving middle brother Denahi to dislike his younger brother Kenai because he blames him for their oldest brother's death. Then, at the end of both films, the dead relative returns in a light show of spirits to either take the youngest sibling/animal to the spirit world or return them to their human form, and in both cases, the younger sibling refuses, Saoirse choosing to stay with her human family, and Kenai choosing to stay as a bear to watch over Koda. In Brother Bear, the shaman Tanana who helps both bear and human Kenai on his journey to understand the meaning of his totem, the bear of love; much like the Great Seanachaí helps Ben on the path to finding his sister and reveals the truth about his mother's 'death'. There are a couple other character similarities; Cú and Koda both help Ben and Kenai better understand family and what it means to sacrifice things for the ones you love, the singing fairies and Rutt and Tuke (the moose) both help to encourage the main characters to go on their respective journeys; but they aren't as striking of examples as the first ones.
This is by no means a bash on Song Of The Sea, I really enjoyed the film and it's narrative, I just couldn't help but notice how similar the two films were.
Now we just gotta wait for the direct-to-video sequel to Song of the Sea where Patrick Dempsey voices Ben.
ReplyDeleteYou're right. I think there's something about grief that leads to supernatural stories. It's easier to process huge ideas like death if there's some magical filter on it. And the idea of family is deeply tied to that of cultural traditions. It makes sense to me that these stories are pretty similar. It's the specific cultural traditions that give them unique flavor.
ReplyDeleteI'd happily watch a bunch more versions of this movie that take place in different cultures and see the subtle differences in how the story is handled.
I noticed the streaks of light in the sky and that's what I immediately thought of!
ReplyDelete