I was quite pleased to see "Happy Feet" in the mix for best animated movie when Oscar nominations were announced this morning. I had just seen it Saturday afternoon in Huntington Beach when I took my niece and nephew to the movies (I love being uncle Greg). I knew the kids would love it but I didn't expect that I would love it just as much - but for different reasons....
The movie about a dancing penguin made to feel like an outcast would, of course, strike a cord with a gay man or anyone who spent their childhood on the outside looking in. The penguin loves to tap dance, despite everyone's condemnation of it, but at one point he tells his father: "Don't ask me to change dad. I don't want to."
I got to talk to the movie's director, George Miller, this morning as part of my Oscar coverage and I told him how moved I was by his movie.
“Stories or fables like ‘Happy Feet’ mean different things to different people,� he told me. “The central idea for me was: ‘It’s OK to be different. It’s a big thing I wanted to tell my kids. To not bend over backward to confirm to your peer group. Be your own person.�
I told him that I interpreted the message of tolerance as something that applied to my life as a gay man.
“That's fanstastic!": he said. "At one of the screenings, a guy in the media was gay and brought a date but they weren't a couple. When Mumble said that line ("Don't ask me to change...I don't want to"), they started holding hands. It's reasons like that why you are a storyteller."