Who could have guessed a children’s film would warn us against becoming the very thing we wish to destroy?
Children’s television has changed drastically over the past few years. Many of the shows that those of us in our 20’s or 30’s remember fondly have vanished or become extremely hard to find and reminisce over. Furthermore, restrictions as well as trends in culture have meant that the subject matter of children’s television has also mutated. Though there are some exceptions, a lot of what we see younger kids watching on Netflix or Stan is largely vacuous, purely entertainment based rather than trying to be educational or informative. Of course, this is often what children desire and what suits their viewing habits best, but there was once a time when children’s animation touched on darker, more philosophical subjects.
We see these kinds of films or shows mainly from Japan. An example may be Kimba The White Lion, a 1965 television show that spawned a film in the 1990’s many of us born in that era might fondly remember. Though on the surface, this series may appear to be about an adorable white lion, there is a viciousness to the story that includes animals murdered for sport, families torn apart and a permeating violence through what is essentially a children’s show. Even Samurai Jack, which first aired on Cartoon Network in 2001 and made a comeback in 2017 on Adult Swim, was heavily influenced by samurai culture and the bushido code of ethics, giving what could be ridiculous circumstances a moralistic backstory whilst also not shying away from death and destruction.
The further back we go, the more exciting and controversial animations we see. One of these, titled Ringing Bell or Chirin’s Bell in English-speaking countries and Chirin no Suzu in Japan, its country of origin, explores highly philosophical themes under the guise of a children’s film. Running for only forty-five minutes, Ringing Bell was adapted from the children’s book by Takashi Yanase, and follows the story of a lamb seeking revenge for an attack on his family by a Wolf King, whom he meets and trains with in order to become strong enough to defeat.
What starts off as an innocent children’s tale takes a sudden, dark turn into an exploration of the ethics of revenge and the laws of nature. Called a ‘punch-to-the-face of the innocent’ by critics and warned against by cautionary parents as potentially traumatic, the film is truly like nothing else in its darkness against a cheery background, its moralistic depth wrapped up in the package of a short film for children.
Along with themes of family, war and the relentlessness of nature, the idea of revenge permeates strongly through Ringing Bell. Chirin’s cry of ‘Why do the weak have to die?’ cements his duty to avenge his family’s murder by the wolf, and marks a change from childhood to adulthood in terms of ambition and determination. Though the film is for sure an extreme example of the lengths we go to for revenge, it is not inaccurate, and holds a mirror up to the viewer to ask them what they might become in order to get what they want. It’s a frightening question to have to answer. How many of us have woken up and found ourselves in a job so far fetched from our life’s ambitions and questioned where our motivation has gone, how our priorities have changed? Haven’t we all hated someone or something irreparably, and in our hatred become similar to the object of our hate? It has to be noted that these questions only arise when we are reminded of them, and the reminder may come from some of the most unlikely places.
While some children films have been deemed controversial for racial reasons, such as Pocahontas and Kung Fu Panda, or for simply being too scary such as Where The Wild Things Are, it is rare for a children’s film to be so dark and ambitious as to be considered potentially traumatic. Watching Ringing Bell as an adult, however, is a highly enjoyable if melancholic experience, appealing to our childlike sense of wonder at the adventure whilst injecting difficult philosophical questions through the medium of beautiful animation.
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