So last night we went to see the new Disney movie "Pete's Dragon." Honestly, it was well done, and a great, if quite predictable storyline. In short: it is a movie about a boy (Pete) who at the age of about 4 is the sole survivor of a car crash deep in the forests near mountains, and as he wanders away from the crash site, is saved from the wolves by a lone dragon who lives in the forest, and presumably was separated from his dragon "clan." The boy is then helped by the dragon to survive for a number of years in the deep forest. The heroine is a forest ranger, and the "villain" is played by Karl Urban - the new McCoy in the reimagined "Star Trek" genre. If I were a movie critic, I would rate it well, and certainly somewhat family friendly. Of course, it contained some moral implications for society as well: BUT all within the bounds of a purely fictional tale that is fantasy and not reality.
The movie got me thinking, however, about how we live in a society in which reality and fantasy are often skewed when it comes to the natural world, and sometimes even completely mixed up. Conversations with a parishioner last week centered on all of the wildlife encounters in Yellowstone that end badly for the tourists and even sometimes for the wildlife. "Buffalo selfies" in which the buffalo gores the unsuspecting selfie-taker while their back is turned are becoming commonplace. Such an incident happened late last summer, in fact. multiple people are gored, mauled, or otherwise attacked by wildlife each year, and mostly because they are approaching the wild animals or presenting a threat when young are present. Replace buffalo with any number of other wild animal (i.e. bears, grizzly bears in particular, elk, moose, and so on...) and it seems our society has become completely ignorant of the reason we call it "wildlife." Granted, with proper respect and caution, most chance encounters with wildlife end well: I've had several chance run ins with bears, rattlesnakes, mountain goats, moose, elk, and even buffalo, in which they were always given a wide berth, and all passed without incident.
The prevailing theory from the aforementioned parishioner is that Disney has skewed society's perception of reality when it comes to wildlife. Let's face it: "Bambi" portrays wild animals as benign, loving, and pacifistic, while man becomes the villain - ever ready to destroy any and all wildlife at a moments' notice. Whether the reason or not, the majority of society do not have any respect for the "wild" nature of wildlife. For whatever reason, many people have no concept that a wild animal can quite possibly kill you, if not injure you severely, which is why in our national parks there are abundant warnings to stay a minimum distance away from such animals.
Now, for some (I would include myself in this), we can see Disney as just entertainment that exists within the realm of fantasy. But many cannot, and take a fictional movie quite seriously as gospel truth. It honestly made me wonder how many people might now go out in search of the mythical forest dragon. For whatever reason, the lack of respect for God's creation (specifically here: wildlife) is what gets us in trouble. This lack of respect goes far beyond wildlife, I would add. We need to know that the more we mess things up in nature, the more it will come back to haunt us.
So go see "Pete's Dragon," and be entertained for a good 1.5 hrs. But for heaven's sake, whether real or not, recognize nature as what it is: containing animals and forces which we do not have the capacity to stand in the way of.
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