Smallfoot Movie and Jehovah's Witnesses (or almost any religion)

AnonVet

I just watched the movie Smallfoot not long ago.

I wasn't expecting much, but almost from the start I felt a strong connection to religion, especially Jehovah's Witnesses.

The premise was about protecting lies for the benefit of the village. Hiding the truth for their own good.

One line in a song stuck me:

"Protect the lie and you protect the village"

Don't get me wrong. I'm not about concealing the truth. But the mentality of the village struck me as so similar to the mentality of a full-on J-dub. And the tribal leaders as the common elder or GB member.

neat blue dog

Yes! Theocratic warfare, loyalty, positivity, etc. Whatever, it's all lying. One Elder told me: 'You wouldn't air your family's dirty laundry, would you? So don't do it to the organization.'

It's funny how we see things in movies and relate them back to our JW experiences, I did the same with the Star Wars films.

steve2

Cultish thinking has several predictable patterns of behaviour, as Orwell showed n his classic, 1984. So, we can be reading or watching something about another group (or in this case, village) and find similarities with JW organization.

Vidiot

For me, it was The Matrix, and "taking the Red Pill"...

...i.e. finally daring to let myself learn about the child abuse problem (my last hurdle, BTW).

fullyalive123

“Smallfoot” urges kids to think for themselves. To question what they’ve been taught. To challenge authority. It takes place in a mountaintop society of yetis where the rules are literally etched in stone and must be followed for fear of banishment. “Smallfoot” could be viewed as a statement on the restrictive nature of government, religion or both. It’s a bold and exciting thematic choice for a film aimed at mainstream audiences of all ages. https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/smallfoot-2018

This sounds like it would be a good movie choice for my nephews who are being taught JW doctrine. It kills me to watch them go through the pain of not being able to participate at school with the usual things JW's don't allow their kids to do. But to teach them to think for themselves... is the only thing we can get them to do to make good decisions later on.

Nevuela

Smallfoot was a pretty good film, and I walked away from it with all the same thoughts in mind that I'm reading here today. Glad to see someone else saw what I saw in it.

The conflicting ideas of "all we are is curious, there's nothing wrong with that," and "the only thing stronger than fear is curiosity" were interesting bullet points to address.

The two best songs in the film, with the strongest messages:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQP7xNbom2Q

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vqo39RIcS0