Review 03: A Wild Thing vs. Another

When I was a child, I often had to stay in a small, stale room in my mother’s dental clinic, for both of my parents were working then. What I remember from those days, though only little can I recall, are not much the memories of playing with friends, but rather are those of having the wildest imaginations. Back then, I had travelled in the little world that I created.

I thought I was the only one who had experienced this, but it turned out to be quite a common thing for young children. Perhaps their venues of imagination were not exactly a small office of a dentist. However, it was true that somewhere inside their brains their own worlds with their own imaginary creatures existed. This was clearly evident in a children’s novel, Where the Wild Things Are, written by Maurice Sendak. Having risen in Korea, I was not able to read this book while I was very young, but the illustrations and the author’s name rang a bell for me.

The book was great, if not inspiring. It was crisp and clear on the concept of that “wild imagination,” through introducing a wild character – a boy named Max. Even if one does not pay too much attention towards the hidden meaning of this adventure, it can be easily recognized that everything happened in Max’s mind, as it is clear that Max is still a child, full of imaginations. (On a side note, if an adult was seeing these things, the readers would definitely believe he or she is mentally ill) The readers can smile through this short novel for they will recall parts of themselves that they might have forgotten in the past.

However, when movie director Spike Jonze attempted create his own version of this children’s book, that tingling sensation was gone. It was perhaps narrowed down and created into something that was present in Jonze’s minds, but that image is obviously not something that we all can agree upon. This is because such a story is better when it is individually depicted in our own minds with our own thoughts. Besides, the movie was too long – a prime example of where something too long can be extremely boring.

To summarize, the “blow” was not present in the movie, while it might have been present in the book. (Now I wonder if my essays had such “blows”) Nonetheless, both ways, I was able to understand that something wild was still in my heart – and that’s all I really needed to recognize.