The Idealization of Childhood in Wordsworth’s “Ode” and Moonrise Kingdom
The idealization of childhood and the ludicrous actions of the adults are present in this gif with Walt throwing his shoe during an argument and Sam and Suzy (the girl in the beret and the boy in the khaki) after their marriage.
Scout Master Ward telling the scouts “that’s not a safe altitude” for their treehouse.
Many film goers can think of their favorite quotes from a movie. Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom is rife with them. “That’s not a safe altitude (Moonrise Kingdom, Wes Anderson, 2012)..” “I’m going to find a tree to chop down (Moonrise Kingdom, Wes Anderson, 2012).”And many more quotes that cinephiles love. However, when reflecting on quotes from Moonrise Kingdom , the viewer can find many similarities in other works, including William Wordsworth’s “Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood.” Both Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom and Wordsworth’s “Ode” idealize childhood. However, when comparing the two works, the differences in how Wordsworth and Anderson idealize childhood become apparent. Wordsworth idealizes children for their imagination and because they have more life to live compared to adults. Differing from Wordsworth, Anderson idealizes children by portraying them as extremely intelligent in comparison to the adults. Nevertheless, although both artists convey the idealization of children for different reasons both Moonrise Kingdom and “Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood” idealize childhood.
Walt having has tough time after his daughter, Suzy, runs away so he decides to find a tree to chop down.
Before continuing one serious question must be addressed: what age range defines childhood? When Wordsworth wrote his “Ode,” childhood ended when youths could marry or work. In the eighteenth and nineteenth century, child labor and marriage at a young age occurred often (Austin,5 ). For example, in the eighteenth century, girls could respectably marry at age twelve and boys at fourteen, while child labor made the end of childhood the age acceptable for employment for the working class (Austin,5 ). However, an area of psychology, life span development, places childhood between ages six and twelve, counting all young characters in Moonrise Kingdom that pertain to this paper as children, thereby applicable for comparison to Wordsworth’s “Ode” by today’s standards and likely still children, but at the end of their childhood in Wordsworth’s time. The age range considered childhood in both Wordsworth’s time and present day allows for discussing the idealization of childhood in both works.
Wordsworth’s “Ode” contains many instances where Wordsworth idealizes childhood because he equates the life of children to a longer life without the idea of morality looming to a better life than that of adults who worry about mortality. Wordsworth envies children because it involves the beginning of one’s life and not the end (Wordsworth, 556). Wordsworth’s does idealize children because the poem focuses on immortality and how youth do not worry about mortality, while adults do as they age. He follows this trend when he refers to growing older as a “prison-house” for a youth (Wordsworth, 555). However, he does not only notice the amount of time they have to live without worrying about old age compared to adults, but also for their imagination. The poem begins with Wordsworth calling children the “Father of the Man,” which suggests that he has a great respect for them (Wordsworth, 553). Wordsworth’s respect for children becomes clearer as the poem continues; he respects them for their imagination. He refers to children as “Nature’s [Priests],” while as an adult they will see the splendor of nature “die away/ And fade into the light of common day” (Wordsworth, 555). Calling children “Nature’s [Priests]” implies that children communicate with nature better than adults. That idea furthers when Wordsworth describes how this relationship will die away with age as their imagination lessens. This comparison between children and adults continues the idealization of children by implying that children have a superior imagination. Nevertheless, Wordsworth seems to once fault children, although through closer inspection more specifically the growing up process. The only time he drifts even slightly from his idealization from youth, he does so to charge children for trying to grow up too quickly, but only because he views youth with such rose colored glasses (Wordsworth, 557). However, this drifting from idealization faults more growing up and less children. Thus Wordsworth idealizes childhood throughout the poem for their imagination and longevity. However, Wordsworth does not idealize children for their intelligence as Wes Anderson does in Moonrise Kingdom.
Moonrise Kingdom contains many instances of the idealization children in the film, especially when comparing their intelligence to those of the adults. The children find many ways to outsmart the adults in the film. Suzy and Sam run away twice while under adult supervision, without the adults knowing until much later. Sam and Suzy survive in the wilderness on their own for a couple days when they run away the first time, a difficult task for anyone. Also, Suzy and Sam keep their letters a secret from the adults in the film; the letters allow them to hatch their plan for running away. In their letter correspondence, Sam reveals the lack of intelligence his foster parents have. His foster parents decide to give him up because they perceive him as difficult, which shocks the Scout Master Ward and Captain Sharp who see Sam as different from the other children, but not difficult. Sam writes a letter to Suzy explaining one of their misunderstandings:
Dear Suzy, I accidentally built a fire while I was sleepwalking. I have no memory of this, but my foster parents think I am lying (Moonrise Kingdom, Wes Anderson, 2012).
Most adults would not give up a foster child and orphan for such a superfluous reason as sleepwalking. Additionally, Scout Master Ward did not know that Sam lived with a foster family; he is naive, a bad flaw for a camp counselor. His naivety allows Sam to run away once and the entire camp to run away on a separate occasion. In contrast, Suzy seems more worldly; she easily discovers her mother’s affair with Captain Sharp by watching her mother’s comings and goings. When Mrs. Bishop apologizes to her husband, their conversation hints at more problems than just this occurrence of infidelity.
Laura Bishop: I’m sorry, Walt.
Walt Bishop: It’s not your fault. Which injuries are you apologizing for, specifically?
Laura Bishop: Specifically? Whichever ones still hurt.
Walt Bishop: Half of those were self-inflicted (Moonrise Kingdom, Wes Anderson, 2012).
Their discussion hints at a failing marriage that may or may not recover, a serious problem. In contrast, Suzy and Sam have a very strong romance and they are both twelve. Both of the children use their intelligence to better their relationship unlike Mr. and Mrs. Bishop. The children in the film remain veiled by idealization in the film by outwitting the adults continuously and this blog post is not the only article that discusses the idealization of childhood in Moonrise Kingdom.
This post does not stand alone in comparing the children and the adults in Moonrise Kingdom. Many other reviews have noticed the idealization of children in the film. As one article described how Anderson portrays different ages in the film, “[the children] are centered, wise, judicious, and brave,” while the adults are “benighted, hysterical, fanciful, and vulnerable” (Beck, 91). The author’s commentary hints at the poor character of the adults and when looking at the flaws of the adults, the author’s characterization of them rings true. The adults have many issues: infidelity, problems with communication, lack of compassion, and naivety. Meanwhile, the children remain intelligent in the face of adversity. Encountering all of the serious problems adults have in Moonrise Kingdom, the audience can surmise that the adults have many issues and cannot reach the level of idealization of the children.
Thus, in both Wordsworth’s “Ode” and in Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom, children appear ideal. Wordsworth expresses this ideal through reflecting on how much time children have until they reach old age compared to adults as well as by focusing on their imagination. In contrast, Anderson portrays the children as more intelligent than the adults, thereby superior to the adults. Both Moonrise Kingdom and “Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood” idealize childhood even though their methods for conveying the idealization of childhood differ.
Works Cited:
Austin, Linda M. “Children Of Childhood: Nostalgia And The Romantic Legacy.” Studies In Romanticism 42.1 (2003): 75-98. MLA International Bibliography. Web. 4 Sept. 2015.
Beck, Bernard. “Young Campers In Love: Who Are The Grown-Ups In Moonrise Kingdom ?.” Multicultural Perspectives 15.2 (2013): 88-91. Academic Search Complete. Web. 4 Sept. 2015.
Moonrise Kingdom. Dir. Wes Anderson. Indian Paintbrush, 2012. Film.
“Wes Anderson Animated GIF.” Giphy. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Oct. 2015. <http://giphy.com/gifs/wes-anderson-moonrise-kingdom-HmtCqAkg0vmHS>.
“Wes Anderson Animated GIF.” Giphy. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Oct. 2015. <http://giphy.com/gifs/wes-anderson-moonrise-kingdom-10gg0R3v94H1cc>.
“Wes Anderson Animated GIF.” Giphy. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Oct. 2015. <http://giphy.com/gifs/wes-anderson-moonrise-kingdom-12WeWcDjTO08Xm>.
“Wes Anderson Animated GIF.” Giphy. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Oct. 2015. <http://giphy.com/gifs/wes-anderson-moonrise-kingdom-5VMNBOossIrE4>.
Wordsworth, William. Ode: Imitations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood. 1807-1815. The Longman Anthology of British Literature, Ed. David Damrosch and Kevin J. H. Dettmar. 5th ed. Vol. 2A. New York; Longman, 1992. 553-558. Print.
The End! As this is the ending of Moonrise Kingdom, I thought I would use it to end my post.
Jennifer: this post presents an effective balance in discussion between poem and film. I see some in-depth thought as to the different perspectives. You have an interesting premise here, namely, that both poet and film-maker idealize childhood, but from opposite ends. We often see modern films that depict adults as morons, as clueless in comparison with kids or teens that really know what’s going on; kids and teens will outwit the clueless adults/parents. One direction to take your thoughts is something I’m very curious to know: how do we reconcile or make sense of two opposite perspectives even if they come to the same conclusion (2 roads to the same destination), that is, romanticizing childhood? How do we reconcile one viewpoint that says, “Children are not smart enough about the world because they don’t know about mortality and because they are imaginative (not realistic???)” with the other that says, “They ARE smart about the ways of the world and people, maybe TOO smart”?
Thanks so much for the comment Mr. Jeter! I’m glad you brought this up because I don’t know that I was clear enough about this in my paper. I think the two reconcile because I think both works refer more to emotional intelligence (EQ) and less to IQ. Wordsworth doesn’t mean that children are unintelligent, but rather that they don’t have the same proximity to death as adults do, making them freer than adults to form different feelings. They, essentially, are freed by not feeling as though each new year they are closer to death. They can concentrate on things in the world that adults do not because of their preoccupation with death. In Moonrise Kingdom, the children aren’t necessarily smart in the IQ sense but also with emotional intelligence because they handle situations they are thrust in better than the adults who don’t know how to handle the same emotions that the children handle. In Moonrise Kingdom, the adults don’t know how to express their feelings in the way the children do which is much better, most likely because they are preoccupied with things adults are preoccupied with their life not ending up the way they wanted in to (Captain Sharpe is unhappy because Suzy’s mother didn’t marry him/leave her husband, Suzy’s parents don’t have a happy marriage, and so on). In contrast, the children have more time to make their lives better in Moonrise Kingdom. Essentially, in both works, the children are freer because emotionally they are not as preoccupied as adults are. If I were to revise my post, I would make this much clearer for readers. Sorry this is so long!
I thought that your post was really great and clever. I never would have thought of this idea which made reading it, that much more interesting. Your question about what age is childhood was on point and made me think a lot about it. I also like that you incorporate film and poetry.
This is a really interesting post that happened to become even more relevant to me recently. There is something deeply profound in the idea of growing older and being able to identify a child as what it is, a child. Wordsworth is able to look at a child and appreciate that state of being. “Thus Wordsworth idealizes childhood throughout the poem for their imagination and longevity”- I think this is a really good point. I would also like to add that I think there is something melancholic in his “Ode.” He almost seems to be pining for a life that he knows he can no longer return to. I really liked his poem because I related to it, but this caused a lot of questions for me. Is it okay to pine away for childhood? Especially with it being something that one can not return to. It seems almost dangerous, but at the same time he manages to find his own light in the situation by realizing his current age allows for him to “stand out side the box” and see the difference of the two.
I haven’t seen Moonrise Kingdom yet, but you have most certainly make it seem worth the time! I will check it out!
I definitely see where you’re coming from; Wordsworth’s pining away for childhood is so depressing as he can’t return to childhood. I think that it’s a bit odd too, as well as hard to reconcile. Is it okay to pine away for childhood? Wordsworth would probably say yes as long as you reach some acceptance using a philosophical mind like he does at the end of the poem when he realizes he has the ability to recognize something he didn’t know he had as a child. Very good question though!
This is a good comparison. While reading it I started wondering if Anderson’s portrayal of adults makes his idealization of the children tragic in the end. If that’s the model of “adult” then aren’t the children destined to reach that point themselves? Wordsworth understand that children lose something, which gives the reader a timeline to follow. I don’t think Anderson’s film could treat child and adult as separate entities. Are Suzy and Sam destined to end up like her parents as well? Is their positivity a product of ignorance of the world and certain kinds of pain? Just some thoughts if you want to take this analysis further in the future.
Thanks so much for taking the time to comment! I think you have a great point here, as this point is hard to reconcile with how the adults are portrayed in the film because the children will grow up. When I do imagine the children in Moonrise Kingdom as adults, I don’t know that they would necessarily have as hard of a life as Suzy’s parents, as I think there is some spectrum to misery in adulthood in the film. For example, the Scout Master seems much happier than Suzy’s parents during the entire movie and in the end, the movie hints that he has found love with the telephone operator. Captain Sharpe also seems better off as he isn’t alone anymore since he adopts Sam. Seeing the adults in the film as children could better clarify this point as well because Suzy and Sam are outcasts and I’m not sure if any of the adults were as children. I think being an outcast as a child would change you and you would grow up a different adult.
Moonrise Kingdom is definitely a great comparative text for Wordsworth’s Ode. Idealization of youth seems to be a theme that these two artists share extensively not only through these works alone, but throughout their repertoire. Many Anderson films such as Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, and Fantastic Mr. Fox have children characters that radiate something special and play into Wordsworth’s interest of childhood and the sublime. I think comparing this theme with the characters from the Royal Tenenbaums would be great since we see Ritchie, Margot, and Chas both as children and adults.