What are the Beasts of the Southern Wild?

Last updated on: February 5, 2013 at 6:16 am by Kendrick Kuo

What are the Beasts of the Southern Wild? 2013-02-05T06:16:57-07:00 Kendrick Kuo

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Review of Beasts of the Southern Wild, Directed by Benh Zeitlin

By KENDRICK KUO

Beasts of the Southern Wild has taken top prizes at Sundance and Cannes and has now racked up nominations at the Oscars. The talk of the town is Quvenzhané Wallis. A six year old at the time of filming, and now eight, the young actress plays Hushpuppy, a girl who lives with her father, Wink, in a Louisiana bayou town. The town is dubbed The Bathtub and is a fictionalized, self-enclosed village, separated from the modern world by a levee. In their solipsistic existence, the residents of The Bathtub live life fishing, drinking, and having a good time, living in houses constructed from debris and waste, perfectly content to live day-to-day without the complexities (or ugliness?) of contemporary society.

Hushpuppy wants to be a man. Or at least wants to be her father; or at least that’s what her father wants. This is to prepare her for the uncertain future ahead of her as Wink is slowly wasting away from a health condition. Hushpuppy screams ferociously to assert herself, tries to belch like a grown man who’s had too much beer, and is not afraid to punch Wink.

The Bathtub’s children all go to a small school taught by Miss Bathsheba, who tells them about the village’s folk religion about the Aurochs–these large prehistoric, tusked hogs that are preserved in the arctic ice–and how they may be released due to the melting ice caps. As the film progresses, the Aurochs break free of their cold bondage and rush toward The Bathtub as a hurricane begins to form. The hurricane’s course trajectory includes The Bathtub, but the residents refuse to evacuate.

I will leave the rest of the story for you to find out for yourself on your home televisions. Beasts of the Southern Wild is one of those films you can’t get out of your head because of its sheer ingenuity and novelty. In many ways, it’s sui generis in the world it creates in Louisiana. With magical realism that will remind viewers of Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s novels, Hushpuppy has what A. O. Scott has called “juvenile narcissism” at the New York Times. It is through this lens of juvenile narcissism that the whole movie is cast. The Auorchs, the magical world of The Bathtub, the desire to be a grown man that can take on the world–these are building blocks of a Hushpuppy-centric world. Beyond this, there isn’t much of an anchor to the story other than her relationship with Wink, her father. The rest of the narrative swirls around them almost spasmodically in a most charming fashion.

Reviews of Beasts of the Southern Wild have been divided, with most praising it, while a significant minority have found it uninteresting both in its storyline and its character development. I am personally torn about how to react to the film, and would say that it’s a film of art that is to be savored and appreciated, more than to be enjoyed. I would not watch it again for its entertainment value. I think audiences are more engrossed by the world of The Bathtub as strange and curious, rather than attached to the characters or intrigued by the plotline.

As with many films, we can read into the symbols the director has provided us with. Is the hurricane and the melting ice caps a platform for an environmentalist message? Are the Aurochs a personification of Hushpuppy’s coming-of-age as a frightening prospect? How much of the film is a commentary on Hurricane Katrina and the government’s response (there is a mandatory evacuation imposed on The Bathtub by a government agency)? All these are discussion points raised by Beasts of the Southern Wild, but I personally found the tension between youth and maturity, embodied in Hushpuppy, to be the most compelling theme.

Hushpuppy is a young girl that’s expected to act as a grown up, but what her father teaches her about being mature fall along the lines of being bold and acting like a man (burping, drinking, feeding yourself). These ideals derive from Wink’s overarching goal of making Hushpuppy fit for survival after his imminent death. I’m not making a judgment call as to the morality of the film, but merely pointing out the reason for the fascination with Hushpuppy and how it drives the movie. Within our psyches, there’s an attraction to coming-of-age stories, where children confront the “real world” and become adults as they adapt to it. Hushpuppy, on the other hand, appears to conquer her fears, not by casting away the magic of her youth, but persisting in her faith in The Bathtub world and its surrealism.

So what exactly are the beasts of the southern wild? I haven’t actually read anywhere anyone addressing this question. I’m inclined to say that the beasts are the residents of The Bathtub, but the word “beasts” here is not derogatory. Rather, in a Rousseauan turn of phrase, they are the independent, noble savages, who are left untarnished. As a soon-to-be-independent resident of The Bathtub, Hushpuppy is not required to throw off the magical realism of her younger years, but can remain in it as something noble.

Beasts of the Southern Wild is already on DVD and you can watch it on Amazon, rent it from Netflix, or get it from whatever source of cinematic goodness you so desire. I recommend watching it, not for entertainment, but for the art of being transported to another kind of universe.

Drama

Films

Benh Zeitlin

Previous Post

February 4, 2013

In Alexander’s Footsteps

Next Post

February 6, 2013 Pleasant Quartet Is the Anti-Amour

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Action AFI Top 100 Animation Best Picture Winner BFI Top 250 Biography Biopic Books Childrens Christian Classics Classics Comedy Crime Documentary Drama Editor's Choice Family Fantasy Fantasy Films Foreign Historical Historical Fiction History Horror Horror IMDB Top 250 Indie Memoir Modern Novel Musical Mystery Non-Fiction Oscars Philosophy Poetry Popular Literature Reading and Writing Reality Romance Science Fiction Science Fiction Silent Sports Thriller TV Show Uncategorized Western Westerns Young Adult

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 June 2017 January 2017 December 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What does "Rabbi" mean in Hebrew?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Prophet Judge My Teacher King