Theme: Fear of the Other
It is no surprise DreamWorks' long awaited live action remake of How to Train Your Dragon is a box office hit with an audience approval rating of 97% on Rotten Tomatoes. Millions of fans of the original animated trilogy were anxious to see how the story of Hiccup and Toothless would translate to the screen with real actors and settings. Directed by Dean Du Blois with a wonderful musical score by John Powell, this live action movie does not disappoint.
Beautifully made How to Train Your Dragon soars to new heights and is sure to captivate old and new audiences with the imaginary world originally created by British author Cressida Cowell.
War
The movie opens with Hiccup the protagonist narrating the story of his people and place. This is Berk, an off the map home to sturdy Vikings who are taking the fight to their one “downside”, pests in the form of dragons. Berk is a place always at war. The inhabitants are taught that to be a real Viking is to be a dragon slayer. This is their calling, this is who they are.
This state of war with the dragons spills over begetting other wars as war always does. In this case it manifests in fathers against sons, Viking against Viking, and even an internal war within Hiccup himself. Berk may be off the map but it is not idyllic.
A Change of Heart
The internal war within Hiccup is one of identity. He believes he has to kill dragons because that is who he is. He is the son of Stoic the Vast, the greatest dragon slayer of all. His heritage is one thing, his heart is another; he is a creator not a killer.
Having created a weapon that snags the most mysterious of all dragons, a Night Fury, and having tracked it down he comes face to face with his enemy and finds he cannot slay a dragon. One look in Toothless’ eyes and the sound of his groaning compels Hiccup to use his knife to set the dragon free even at the risk of losing his own life.
His calling and vocation of creator is for life not death, and it outweighs and overcomes any worldly identity or heritage. The movie pivots at this point; from now on his creating will be used to bring life not to take it, to heal not to harm.
Training: Two Arenas
Hiccup having made his choice is now thrust into two very different arenas. One is the arena of training a dragon as a pet/companion, one to ride and soar to new heights with. This is the arena of life, of healing, of restoration, and friendship. It requires vulnerability and laying down the weapons of war.
The other arena is how to train to slay a dragon. This is the arena of death where the “other” is sacrificed. Here competition, jealousy, fear, and isolation are the rule. There is no friendship, no loyalty, no mercy, only shielded selfishness; for only one can win the title of Dragon Slayer.
The irony of this training duality is, what Hiccup learns in the arena of life with Toothless he uses in the arena of death to confound dragons and Vikings alike. He has thrown away the Viking Book of dragon engagement and to everyone’s surprise wins the contest by using his own weapons of creativity and kindness.
Loves Invitation
The building tension between these two arenas becomes personified in the tension between Hiccup and Astrid, the young ambitious female Viking who is intent on becoming a dragon slayer and some day chief. Seeing her hopes dashed when Hiccup wins the contest, she follows him into the forest and discovers his secret in Toothless.
As she flees to alert the village, the dragon snatches her up and Hiccup pleads with her to just come and experience the magic. Having no real choice (she is hanging from a tree) she begrudgingly accepts his outstretched hand and climbs up on Toothless’ back, and in that moment her life is changed forever.
A new world, a new way of being, a new way of seeing opens and she who wanted to slay dragons is brought to a true and deep repentance telling Toothless she is sorry as she gives him a loving pat. Repentance as a transformative power is seen and felt immediately. Toothless calms and takes the young couple on a flight of soaring ecstasy, a glimpse of Eden glory.
The Binding of Toothless
Back in the arena of death, Hiccup decides to demonstrate his dragon training skills before the entire village including his father; rather than slay a dragon as the winning contestant is supposed to do, he lays down his shield and knife and makes a promise not to hurt the beast. This action causes an uproar with the Vikings, but to Stoic it is such a heinous act that he publicly disowns his son thus exiling him from the community.
Toothless comes to aid Hiccup but the outraged father has the dragon bound and tied to a plank on the Viking ship. He intends to have the dragon lead him to the Queen’s nest to once and for all destroy these pests.
All along there have been hints suggesting Toothless is an oddity among dragons in the same way Hiccup is an oddity among Vikings. There is a childlike innocence about both characters, and it is this attribute which allows them to become companions and to love the other. The consecutive scenes of the trial, the out-casting of Hiccup and the binding of Toothless are powerful images evoking in memory the trial, out-casting, and binding of the one most innocent, Jesus of Nazareth.
The Final Battle
Stoic, the Vast’s pride, is as enormous as he is. By totally underestimating the size of the enemy he is faced with an epic defeat. At just the right moment Hiccup and the other young trainees arrive with their newly acquired dragon pets, shifting the battle to the air and to the beast itself.
Toothless still bound and helpless is sent to the bottom of the sea as the Viking ship sinks. Seeing this Hiccup dives down to try and save the dragon but isn’t strong enough. Humbled and humiliated Stoic now uses his great strength to save lives not to take them sending Hiccup to the surface he also manages to set Toothless free. Repenting to his son for disowning him he has learned the power of love is greater than the love of power.
The Red Death (Queen monster) is finally destroyed by Toothless and Hiccup but only with a sacrifice. As Hiccup plunges to earth, it is Toothless the Night Fury who now snags his young friend and takes the full brunt of their fall. When Stoic and the Vikings find Toothless laying on the ground the heart broken father who believes his son is dead tells Toothless how sorry he is. The heart felt words have the power to resurrect a life and opening his large black wings he unveils the life he dived to save, the wounded Hiccup.
When Hiccup awakens it is the dawn of a new day. Berk is no longer an outpost of dragon slayers; it has become a thriving Viking village of dragon trainers. The wars are over, reconciliation has been accomplished between fathers and sons, neighbor and neighbor, men and dragons.
Epilogue
The reason How to Train Your Dragon moves people and resonates deeply with them has to do with the great biblical themes which lay at the heart of the story.
#1. Fear of the Other Fear is the “original sin” (Genesis1-3). Losing sight of God and turning in on self, poisons the mind. A darkened mind cannot see (Ephesians 4:18), it lives only in a hostile universe with a threatened self at its core. At war with God, others and even within itself it knows no peace.
#2. Repentance The biblical meaning of the word repentance (metanoeite in Greek) means “go beyond the mind you have”. When Jesus calls people to repent (Mark 1:15), it is in the context of the arrival of the Kingdom of God. Turn and receive a new way of seeing for repentance heals the spiritual blindness caused by sin.
#3. The Exaltation of the Humble “Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth” (Matthew5:5). “God is opposed to the proud but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6, I Peter 5:5). “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled and whoever humbles himself will be exalted” (Matthew 23:12).
#4 Original Vocation and Calling Human beings were created by God to be his vice regents over His creation. They were given the royal vocation to exercise dominion over (meaning take care of) the zoological kingdom (Genesis2:19). When they fell the whole creation became subject to death and decay. The creation is groaning in pain until the time when the whole earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of God as the waters cover the sea (Habakkuk 2:14). The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is the victory of God and the sign that death has been defeated. Jesus’ resurrection body is the beginning of the new creation, all those in union with him are indwelt by the Holy Spirit becoming new creations in Christ (II Corinthians 5:17). (See also Psalm 8 and Romans 8).
