So I know this is basically what happened in that terrible scene from Ice Age. For those who don’t know, go watch the movie, I’m not going to go back and explain it word for word. The big wooly mammoth sees the cave drawings and gets a flashback to his childhood where hunters killed his family. That’s all I got. Tragic, I know, though the same can be said for the innocence of a child watching. For a lot of kids, I’m sure it was their first time seeing death and sadness depicted well on the television. It cut deep, at least in me, and left a lasting framework of how to handle pain that still resonates with me today. Art. Visually depicted, preferably with music. That’s why we’re all here isn’t it? So let's get to it.
The subject of this piece is not actually the elephants but the little person who starts blue in the uppermost frame, on the right side. They stand with their elders, turned away, unknowing of what is to come. Meanwhile, time moves on around them without hesitation. I would note separately the mother elephant’s look in this first frame. She knows that these good times don’t last forever as she stares at her child, bursting with life. In addition, the hunters are hunched over the fire on the left side to depict how their bodies are worn and weary from trying to get food to survive.
The second frame was where the challenge began for me, trying to piece together where to put the footsteps. A big desire for me here was to have the footsteps start to take over these frames as we see how time moves on. Notice how all of the red hunters have this vigor about them, they cheer and ready their spears to fight. While the little blue one does not. He hangs his spear low as he realizes that this is not a game nor is anything going to be the same ever again.
The third frame is really the climax of this progression. I don’t know if I relayed this correctly (please let me know in the comments, I’m trying to be a better storyteller) but the mother elephant kills the child’s guardian. When the large beast rears back to come down again, the little blue boy decides that this is his chance to be a hero and stabs the mother elephant in the stomach. At that moment, he turns red. This captures the moment where that innocence is lost. He now has anger, sadness, and confusion. He has himself now lost a loved one. He knows that in order to protect what he loves, he needs to be able to do things that are terrible. It’s something that I think we all have to grapple with at some point or another. What was that moment for you?
Anyways, that’s what I was thinking about and looking at when my Dad asked me, “whatcha thinking’ about kiddo?” Sometimes we forget that our kids are so complex and are grappling with the world for the first time. I’m not a parent yet but I imagine you’re just trying to be a mogul of light in their lives. We never want to think that our children are dealing with sadness for the first time. What I will say is that if you see a kid wandering around alone taking long looks at absolutely nothing, ask them if they’re okay. They may need some help! As adults, I think it’s our job to shape this world that we all live in and be models not just of diligence but compassion and understanding. Let’s all strive to make better choices not just for ourselves but for all the little ones who come after us eager to learn what is going on.