Analysis Of Beast Of The Southern Wild

The film Beasts of the Southern Wild is a coming of age movie, told from the point of view of a six-year old progantist Hushpuppy. Hushpuppy is a six-year old girl living on the outskirts of Louisiana society, where HushPuppy learns to survive in an off the grid community called the Bathtub. Through the lenses and point of view of Hushpuppy, the audience is about to see the human experiences of Hushpuppy’s transition from dependence to independence. Through the use of adult figures, motifs, and overall ways Hushpuppy learn how to cope with the hand she is dealt. Hushpuppy is able to unfurl her story of how she learned how to subsist with the loss of her mother, illness and death of her father, and forced evacuation, all while learning how to

survive in a small community called the Bathtub.

When the movie first starts, the viewers are automatically put into the environment in which Hushpuppy lives.

Hushpuppy lives alone, not too far away from her alcoholic, abusive, seriously ill father. As a result, Hushpuppy is left to fend for herself: to cook, clean, care for her pets, her ill father, as well as herself while living during a storm with threaten to destroy the Bathtub. In the beginning scene of the film, Hushpuppy’s teacher, Miss Bathsheba, gives Hushpuppy some advice that she begins to implement: “Cause any day now, the fabric of the universe is coming unraveled. The ice caps gonna melt, the water's gonna rise, and everything south of the levee's going under. [..] Y'all better learn how to survive” (9). Hushpuppy runs home and checks for her father. When she realizes he is not home, she starts to think about how her life will be in the future: “Kids that got no Mamma, no Daddy and nobody. They got to live in the woods, and eat grass, and steal underpants. If Daddy don't get home soon, it's gonna be time for me to start eating my pets” (11). The point of view of Hushpuppy at this exact moment is when Hushpuppy realizes her situation in terms of learning how to not only survive, but survive on her own. She learns how to cook, clean and fend for

herself.
Her father was also an intricate part of the film. Hushpuppy father provides her with the resources and advice she needs. For example, after Hushpuppy decides to burn down her home because she wants to live with her father, Hushpuppy’s father says “it’s my job to keep you from dying okay” (23). He taught her how to create boats out of a car, fish, and crack open crabs with her bare hands. He repeats “beast it” at her when she is learning how to eat crabs. The adults in Hushpuppy's life gave her the support she needed to learn how to survive in a troubling situation as the Bathtub.

In addition to Hushpuppy’s interactions with her elders helping with the progression of the film. The use of motifs throughout the film helped reveal the story in a way that is completely unique to the point of view of Hushpuppy. Miss Bathsheba introduces Hushpuppy to aurochs, extinct beasts frozen in the caps of the South Pole. These beasts appear when Hushpuppy exhibits signs of fear or a change in Hushpuppy’s outlook occurs. From this scene on, the audience is shown multiple shots of the beasts. Moreover, it helps the viewer connect with Hushpuppy’s fear. For example, when Hushpuppy comes face to face with her fear and the aurochs, her father is ill and dying. She combats her fear of the aurochs by not running. She turns around and stares at the aurochs. The aurochs eventually lay down and sniff her in a sense of acceptance. Hushpuppy says “You’re my friend, kind of. I gotta take care of mines” (72). In this scene, she faces her fears and stands up against this large, beast that she has been dreaming about the entire movie.

Hushpuppy is a six year old girl who is a product of her environment. Through the lenses of Hushpuppy, we are able to see a story about the web of life and Hushpuppy’s connection to her environment. Hushpuppy was able to use her imagination of the aurochs to help her fight her fears and overcome challenging obstacles during her paths of survival. Hushpuppy also took the wisdom of the adults around her to make certain decisions that pertained to the survival in the Bathtub. If it was not for the child point of view of Hushpuppy, the audience would not be able to truly see how humans are connected to the rest of their environment. We see this connection to her environment first hand, when Hushpuppy decided to stay and fight for her home in the Bathtub.