A Tale of Despereaux

In the past I have not enjoyed movie nights for other classes. It was nice to watch a film for a class that hadn’t out lived its time nor was archaic. Although the film version of A Tale of Despereaux was clearly intended to be marketed towards children I not only enjoyed the story as a whole and the way it was produced but many of the underlying elements and literary themes contained with in it.
The theme I most enjoyed seeing explored was characters overcoming who they were born to be. In our society we like to think that people are free to rise socially or economically but I often wonder if that is the case. Many places in the world it isn’t even an option. As a Christian this concept takes on new meaning. The idea that Jesus died in order for us to be able to be someone other than we were born to be is central to the Christian faith. It is very similar to the journey Roscuro makes; being born as a creature whose only option was to have evil tendencies. In the end he is given a shot at redemption and to step outside of who he was born as and play a more noble role in life. This same principle is also demonstrated with Despereaux, being born a mouse he was supposed to be afraid the whole world around him. He was even small in comparison to the other mice. Yet despite what would seem like his natural handicaps Despereaux proves that there is more to a person than his lineage and that no one is truly constrained by who other people think you were born to be, our destinies lie outside the hands of men.