User blog:The Woolly Howl/Darkest Kid's Film ever?

HTTYD has been my favourite film frranchise since I was little. Well, littler. And I do believe that it is so for many of you guys. But on a serious note, how dark are these films? Well, yeah, they aren't very dark. We don't have a lot of gore like Vikings riping out the entrails of dragons or a lot of deaths. In fact, we NEVER see any blood in these films at all. But for a kid's show, I find the entire franchise very sinsiter. Or at least, there is quite a dark underlying message.

Let's first begin this analysis by looking at the film that started it all. HTTYD. Unlike most animated shows, HTTYD has a very different ring to it. We see the protagonist, Hiccup, being a really depressed kid, just an outcast from his entire clan. Not exactly 'dark', but hey, a really strong theme for a start. Society expectations. He was mocked, teased and doubted by literally every single Viking, how is that, in any way, not sad? The movie slowly lightens up, yep, our cute Viking finds a dragon, trains it, becomes a dragon killing champ. But things take a rather sad twist when his secrets are revealed. Hiccup, not just mocked by his father, is 'disowned' by him. Following that, his dragon is forced into leading the rest of the clan into annihilating his entire species. How?! It's just that snap between the tone of the movie thaat gets me. How is it that such a cheerful viking, for that moment, become so sad and ostrocised? The movie then ends with him getting what he wants. But the ending is nevertheless, still bittersweet. He looses his leg, a rare species of dragon dies and the dragon and him have to rely on each other for the rest of their lives. Well, maybe it sounds a lt worst when I say it, but yeah, that's what happens. The end was happy and touching, but it didnt end with an 'Oh yay, everyone on Berk lived happily, ever after'. Meaningful, thought-provoking message behind it, but this movie is deadly serious when you analyse it further.

Now, we take a lot at the Rider and Defenders of Berk series. Not as sinister or serious themes, in my opinion. The first two seasons are more light-hearted and have more bits of lessons for the little ones to remember. Taking care of your family, finding your place in the world, and a lot about friendship and trust. My memory of this season is a bit fuzzy, but I do recall some more serious themes. Betrayal--Heather betrayed them, well kinda, because her family was at risk. Revenge--Alvin was once a friend of Stoick, but turned sides. Power and Dominance--Basically all the drama between the Hooligans, Beserkers and Outcasts. These themes are all hidden beneath the action and fun. But Dreamworks carefully inserts all the messages and lessons in so we forget about them.

The, we have, in my opinion, the DARKEST series of kid's animation. RTTE. This was just... plain dark for me. I'm just going to skip the details and go to the macroconcepts. This season had a lot to do on poaching. A very real-life problem now targetting dragons. Dragons aren't just caught, they are tortured, over worked and sold on the black market. How is that not scary for a kid's movie?! And we have themes like manipulation. Oh gosh, Viggo literally manipulated the gang into getting the Dragon Eye, capturing exotic animals, exposing Heather, getting ALL of Berk's gold and constantly luring them into traps. How many times have they been captured, or nearly died? In addition, we explore themes like Revenge again. Dagur seeking revenge. Betrayal, Heather and Dagur (well it was kinda an act, but still counts, eh?) And in the new season, Dagur and Hiccup's relationship kept reminding me of depression. How he keeps telling Hiccup to loosen up, or 'Revenger, Hate and obsession' will eat him uop slowly from the inside. And sacrifice. Dagur died. It isnt the traditional, ooohhh the bad guy always dies, kind of death. But about a noble and brave death. To learn that the best things in life, the bravest of people, still come to an end, is a very dark theme for children. And becuase of all these references, eg, Viggo saying he has no interest in world dominance(I presume he's refering to Drago) and his insignia's repeated occurrence, I believe that RTTE is hinting to HTTYD 2.

HTTYD 2 is even darker than the first, in my opinion. First, we see Hiccup. Yep, life is much better for him. He has a dragon, is crowned the ride of Berk, has Astrid and is back HOT. But he's lost, Very lost. He lost his mum an is struggling against his fate. Them, he encounters this weird Sami man accusing him of destroying propety. It is then revealed that he has a mum, who apparently, willingly decided to leave her tribe, destroy enemies' forces and hides from mankind. This is such an unusual concept. It actually blurs the line of good and bad. As in, she's definitely good as she saves dragons. But bad as in she actually left her son and husband and is taking things into her own hands. Destroying Drago's army by herself?! And we have this mad man on the loose, bent on taking over the world. He does this by controlling dragons by force and using them against their own kind. He, like Hiccup, was unable to fit in as a child. Parents dead, tribe destroyed, and taken over by hate and anger and the need of power and world dominance (Brings us back the previous 2 seasons). In addition to that, he brings war. Dozens of dragons die, Berk is in ruins and Stoick dies too. It was plain sad, again, on the theme of sacrifice.And when Toothless attacked, he was clearly manipulated by the bad Bewilderbeast. Manipulation, once more, but in a more physical than intellectual way. And this also reminds me of mental instability, another very real-life and serious theme. The ending was A LOT happier than the first film's. But before that all the cruel and bad things that happened is really quite eery and dark.

I'm not trying to say that this franchise is inappropraite for kids or anything. And I hope I r=didn't spoil it for anyone here. Instead of taking this analysis too seriously, perhaps we can all start to love these shows better. For Dreamworks to carefully piece in such serious and real-life issues in while preserving its light-heartedness and positive messages is really hard, but perhaps we should all the more to enjoy this marvelous piece of work which reflects both the lght and dark in human nature. Hope you like this analysis, and sorry for this reallyyy long blog. I needed to get this off my shoulder.