Analysis and Review: Where The Wild Things Are

Spike Jonze Film Demonstrates Wild Imagination

Oct 17, 2009

In a world where emotions run wild, Max faces his greatest challenge and Jonze delivers a cinematic punch.

Based on the belove picture book by Maurice Sendak, Where the Wild Things Are (2009) hit theatres this October. Co-writer and Director Spike Jonze takes the short story and transforms it into a full-fledged internal conflict of young wolf-clad Max, (Max Records) complete with copious amounts of symbolism and subconsciousness.

In the midst of a power-struggle with his mother (Catherine Keener), Max is angered and runs off in a volatile state. From this traumatic conflict scene, Max is transported to another world where “the wild things” are.

On "Wild Thing" Island

Upon arrival to this world with Max, the viewer begins to see the allusions to his life in reality; a ball of twine in Max’s room becomes a wild thing fort, a model city made of paper towel rolls becomes a stick-built fortress, and a snowball fight becomes a dirt-clod war.

As the story on the wild things’ island develops, it becomes clear that each wild thing represents the feelings of Max’s family members and pieces of his own personality. Named king over the tribe of wild things, Max is faced with the difficult task of governing over his own emotions, in a world where they are represented by beasts that could very easily hurt one another and even “eat” him.

In this struggle to affirm and relate to his emotional beasts, Max learns more about the feelings of his sister through the beast KW (voiced by Lauren Ambrose) and understands feelings of his mother through the beast Judith (voiced by Catherine O’Hara). Max also begins to learn about his own strengths in giving love, kindness and encouragement in his relationships with all his “wild things.” Probably most importantly, Max reaches out in friendship to the most threatening wild thing, Carol (James Gandolfini). Carol represents Max’s irascible nature and the main challenge Max faces through the story is how to comfort the emotion and wild thing that he most identifies within reality and on the island.

Max leaves the island in peaceful waters, in contrast to the way he arrived. He departs in good standing with all the wild things, having successfully appealed to them and ruled over them. With this confidence, Max returns to a world of equally real, but less threatening circumstances of an estranged maturing sister and a lonely mother. Max learns through his time on the island that his emotions can be controlled and trained to be used for positive pursuits rather than destruction.

Spike Jonze successful weaves this story with masterful cinematic techniques. Through digital enhancement and camera movement, Jonze captures the wild things but still keeps them noxious. The writing and screenplay create the dream-like subconscious world of Max’s imagination and make it as real as emotion. The viewer is given a glimpse into the complex life of a child, where circumstances and personalities clash in a deteriorating island of political strife and seclusion. Although the movie is sometimes very intense, characterizing wild things with border-line personality disorders, the depth of emotional tension it dives to makes Max’s concluding triumph all the more joyful.

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