Winnie the Pooh and the Value of Being Child-Like

In Saint Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians he says, “When I was a child, I used to talk as a child, think as a child, reason as a child; when I became a man, I put aside childish things” (1 Corinthians 13:11).  It is important though to make a distinction between “childish” and “child-like.”  After all, Jesus said, “unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3).  The new film, Christopher Robin, in theaters now, illustrates this distinction very well.

WARNING:  SPOILERS AHEAD!  If you would like to see the movie without spoilers, please skip the next two paragraphs.

The film brings back beloved characters from childhood:  Winnie the Pooh, Piglet, Tigger, Rabbit, Owl, Kanga, and Roo.  It first presents Christopher Robin as a boy getting ready to go away to boarding school.  The majority of the film shows him as an adult (played by Ewan Mcgregor), with all the worries and responsibilities of a grown up.  Pooh finds his way to London because he has lost his friends in the Hundred Acre Wood and needs Christopher Robin’s help to find them.  Christopher Robin is facing a daunting time at work during which his boss expects him to do some restructuring of staff.  He has needed to cancel a family outing with his wife Evelyn and daughter Madeline in order to work.  Pooh’s timing could not be worse!  Grudgingly, Christopher Robin takes Pooh back to the Hundred Acre Wood, defeats a “woozle,” and saves his childhood friends.  But, when he returns to the “real world”, he unknowingly leaves behind all of his important work papers. 

The inhabitants of the Hundred Acre Wood embark on a mission to return the papers to Christopher Robin, enlisting the help of Madeline.  Madeline goes off with them to try to find her father in London, resulting in her mother thinking she has gone off on her own.  Christopher and Evelyn find Madeline in London, and Christopher finds a way to resolve his staffing issues in a manner beneficial to all.  In the process, Christopher Robin realizes he is trying to make his daughter grow up too fast.  He discovers that there is more to life than working all the time.  He finds a solution, both to his work problem and the problem of missing time with his family.  And, in the grand tradition of Disney films, they live happily ever after.

So, what does this have to do with the scripture passages I included earlier?  Christopher Robin “put aside childish things,” but he also lost his child-like wonder.  It took a significant intervention from his childhood friends to help him find it again, and he was a happier person because of it.  He found himself again, and he was able to allow his daughter to be a child instead of growing up too fast as he had to do.

As I have gotten older, I have begun to notice the “grown-up” messages in films meant for children.  This film was full of them.  It helps us to realize the value in being child-like.  Most importantly, it reminds us not to grow up too fast.

Exploring Religion in Shakespeare

This past weekend, I attended two plays at the Utah Shakespeare Festival in Cedar City.  I love the Shakespeare Festival, though I do not get to go very often.  The Festival is endeavoring to stage each of Shakespeare’s plays over the course of eleven years, as part of its “Complete the Canon” project.  This year, they performed four Shakespeare plays as well as several smaller productions.  I attended The Merchant of Venice and The Merry Wives of Windsor.  Both were performed marvelously well.  Merry Wives had me laughing early and often.  However, in this blog, I would like to focus on The Merchant of Venice.

We owe many of our English idioms to Shakespeare.  From Merchant, we get the phrase “pound of flesh.”  We use this phrase metaphorically now, but it is quite literal in the context of the play. 

To briefly summarize the plot of the play:  Antonio, the merchant referred to in the title, borrows money from Shylock, a Jew, in order to lend the money to his friend Bassanio, who wishes to woo the Lady Portia.  Portia’s father has devised a test for her suitors:  they must choose from one of three containers or “caskets,” one lead, one silver, and one gold.  One of the caskets holds a portrait of Portia.  If the suitor finds the portrait, he may then marry Portia.  Bassanio chooses the correct casket, the one made of lead, and moves forward with plans to marry Portia when he receives a letter from Antonio.  The merchant has lost his assets at sea and is unable to repay Shylock the money he owes him.  Shylock subsequently takes Antonio to court to exact his insurance on the loan:  a pound of Antonio’s flesh.  At first, Shylock is adamant that he will have his revenge on Antonio, but over the course of the trial, he relents.  As a condition of not exacting punishment on the hapless merchant, the court requires Shylock to convert to Christianity.  Earlier in the play Shylock’s daughter, Jessica, falls in love with a Christian and converts so she can marry him.  The condition of Shylock’s conversion, therefore, represents a complete loss of identity for him.

While in Shakespeare’s time Jewish people were viewed with suspicion and even hate, this play is not, at its heart, anti-Semitic.  Shylock is flawed, yes, but so are all human beings regardless of the faith they profess.  Despite the attitudes toward those of the Jewish faith during Shakespeare’s day, the play presents Shylock as a man and father who becomes the victim of Venetian society. 

It is important to note that Shakespeare usually does not include explicit stage directions in his plays apart from when a given character enters or exits the scene.  Some stage directions are implied by the dialogue, but most are left to the discretion of the actors and directors.  To this point, the current production at the Utah Shakespeare Festival makes Shylock and Jessica into sympathetic characters.  The actors playing these characters portray the anguish of having to renounce their faith.  Jessica demonstrates the inner conflict of the character, wanting to be with Lorenzo, the man she loves, but also clinging to her identity as a Jew, retaining her former prayer habits and mannerisms.  Shylock expresses his dismay and despair at the loss of his religious identity through his tone of voice as well as his posture.

The current production thus presents us with a question:  Are the Christians in the play superior in that they decry physical violence, or are they just as cruel as the Jews seem to be given their disregard for the Jews in treating them as little more than animals?  Who holds the moral high ground?  These are questions which are important for us to consider even today.  Do we have deep-seated pre-conceived ideas about people based on our own cultural upbringing?  How can we work to change our own attitudes?  In essence, What Would Jesus Do?