Finding the Gospel in Finding Nemo

If you missed Finding Nemo on Sunday night, we talked about the film's two (seemingly competing) themes:  "Letting Go" and "Just Keep Swimming."

Letting Go:

Remember the scene where Marlin (Nemo's dad, played by Albert Brooks) and Dory (Ellen DeGeneres) are trapped in the belly of the whale? Aside from the obvious Jonah parallels, there is a lot of good stuff goin' on in that whale's belly. First of all, Marlin tries to get out of the whale's mouth by pushing through the baleen plates (the screen-like stuff they have instead of teeth). See, he's trying by his own effort. He can't do it. He fails. His own effort fails him.

The water begins to drain from the whale's mouth, and neither Marlin nor Dory know what is going on. Dory, who "speaks whale," tells Marlin that the whale is asking them to "go to the back of the throat." Marlin, a notorious worry-wart, says, "Of COURSE he wants us to go to the back of the throat...he wants to EAT us!" Suddenly, Marlin and Dory find themselves hanging on to taste buds on the whale's tongue, with no water in the whale's mouth at all.

The whale makes a noise, Dory (who, remember, speaks whale) says, "Okay," and lets go. Marlon refuses to, thinking he'll be eaten...but Dory tells him that it's time...time to let go. Of course, this is a story point: Marlin has to realize that he's been holding on too tightly to his son. He has to realize that he can't protect Nemo from life. But the Christian parallels are actually pretty stunning.

Marlin, by his own effort, fails to escape from the whale's mouth. In the end, if he holds on to the taste bud, he'll die. There's no water in the whale's mouth. But Marlin THINKS that he has to hold on to live. The very thing he thinks is keeping him alive is killing him. He must let go, succumbing to "certain death" in order to be blown out of the whale's blow-whole, his life saved. We try to save ourselves by our own efforts. We try to "be all we can be." We can't. We keep trying, we hold on. This holding on, the thing that we think is saving us, is actually killing us. It is keeping us from our Savior. Letting go, giving up, and succumbing to certain death is the only way we can live.

If Finding Nemo supports the necessity of death and resurrection, who are we to argue?

Just Keep Swimming (this section of the post was written by my friend Sean Norris, and is a good summary of part of our discussion):

"Just keep swimming" is Dory's refrain throughout most of the movie, and there are a couple points when it is used to encourage other fish as well. The basic idea is no matter what you may be facing "just keep swimming" and it will be okay.

This idea of "just keep trying" is in large part the motto of the world. "When the world has got you down just keep on keeping on." It seems when we are confronted with the unknown or our lack of control of our lives we tell ourselves and each other to just keep trying. Have you ever heard that before? Often times it can be passed off as faith. "I don't know how this is gonna play out, but I am just going to try to do my best and trust God with the results." Or "As long as I am faithful to keep going and not give up, God will honor that."

It seems we are terrified to lose the ability to do something, to truly be out of control. As a result, we still insist on the fact that there is always something we can do even though we don't know what it is. We get so vague to the point that we are satisfied to simply say: "Just try". Try what? Everything we've tried hasn't worked so far, but we don't pay attention to that.

This appeals to our ability has been very loud as of late. During the recent election it was almost a battle cry against the hard times our country is currently facing. It was on the posters; it was chanted at the rallies: "Yes We Can! Yes We Can!" It is the human spirit, and, like Bruce Willis, it dies hard.

That is exactly what happens though when the denial is brought to an abrupt halt, our faith in our ability dies. We can keep the act going for a surprisingly long time, but it will end because life always happens. Cancer happens. Divorce happens. Addiction happens. Flat tires happen. Bankruptcy happens. Death happens. There is always something that comes up that cannot be answered with more trying. We are knocked flat, and we cannot keep swimming. We sink.

This is where we are met with real hope. The cross of Christ stands in our face and says "No You Can't! But He can and did."