Examples Of Transcendentalism In Finding Nemo

Transcendentalism is an idealistic philosophical and social movement that developed in New England around 1836 in reaction to rationalism and romanticism. This philosophy taught that all people have knowledge about themselves and the world around them that "transcends" or goes beyond what they can see, hear, taste, touch or feel.  To achieve this one must transcend and go beyond everyday human experiences in the physical world. Transcendentalism dwells on the importance of emotion, individualism, and nature, and these beliefs are still used today in pop culture. In the Disney Pixar movie Finding Nemo, aspects of transcendentalism are depicted.

The beauty and serenity of nature is a key viewpoint in the transcendentalist philosophy and Finding

Nemo.  In the movie Finding Nemo the main setting is in the ocean and throughout the movie nature is displayed everywhere. From the characters and scenery, the beauty of the ocean is portrayed. Strong display and focus on nature is a main theme in transcendentalist literature. “In presence of nature, a wild delight runs through the man, in spite of real sorrow. Nature says he is my creature, and manure all his impertinent griefs, he shall be glad with me.” (Nature) In order for a person to obtain their complete self they must accept and explore nature. When this is done humans become one with heaven and earth and their worries and troubles exist. In the movie Marlin is concerned and frantic about finding his son Nemo who ran away. However, when he is exploring through the ocean away from everyone he becomes serine and for a moment forgets his concerns. Transcendentalist believed that going away from society and being alone in nature away from materialistic items is the way to find yourself and a doorway to the spiritual world.
In Transcendentalism making actions upon spontaneous feeling was valued more than logical reasoning. In the movie, Finding Nemo focus and making decision on emotion was very important. When Nemo is pressured and taunted by his friends to challenge himself and swim out to the boat he acts upon the spontaneous feeling of wanting to be accepted and cool, instead of thinking about the logical dangers like his father did.  In Walden, he too based his like off his feelings and what he wanted in that moment.  “I left the woods for as good as a reason as I went there. Perhaps it seems to me I have more lives to live”. (Walden 411) In this quote Walden represents how he choose to live his life based off emotion and what his heart told him. His choice to live in the woods, then to return to the woods were spontaneous and based off feeling. In Find Nemo, when Nemo is trapped in the Dentist's fish tank, He gets stuck in the filter, another fish Gill suddenly decides to save Nemo even though he could die. This represents another example of spontaneous actions based on feeling. Many characters in the movie acted based on feeling instead of reason. Although many of these actions did not logically make sense and were dangerous, love and compassion overpowered these thoughts. Transcendentalist believed that feeling was more important than logic and you should act upon your feelings.
           Going against the ordinary and not conforming to the norms of society is a transcendentalist theme in Finding Nemo.

In Finding Nemo, Nemo is a nonconformist because he grew up with one weaker fin and had to struggle to live with that unlike most of the other fish who found swimming to be easy. Nonconformity was very important in the lives of transcendentalist and was included in many works of literature. “A single red ant on the hillside of this valley, evidentially full of excitement, who either had dispatched his foe, or had not taken part in the battle.” In this quote Thoreau describes an ant that was different than the others sitting away from where the other ants were. This shows how the ant was different than the other and hasn’t participated in what was the normal behavior for the ants. The ant represents the lifestyle of a transcendentalist, living a different life and not adjusting to what other people do. Dory represents this transcendentalist concept because she doesn’t care about what other people think. She lived and acted differently than the other fish. Her famous quote “just keep swimming” shows she knew she was different and wouldn’t let being different set her back. Being different and standing out from the crowd are very important in this film. Nonconformity relates to pop culture because many people are different and have different qualities or features, just like the ocean in Finding Nemo with many different species and

personalities.
           Nonconformity, spontaneous feelings, and nature are all important transcendentalist themes that are apparent in Finding Nemo. Nemo and Marlins journey to finding each other represents many aspects of transcendentalism. Throughout the movie nature was depicted through scenery and characters making it one of the most important themes. In the ocean the many different species and personalities represents the importance of nonconformity in society. Also, many of the actions that creature the story were based on feelings and emotion rather than logic. All of these components reflect transcendentalism and how this philosophies’ ideas and beliefs can be applied to everyday life situations and at all ages.  Transcendentalism was popular in the 1800s and used in literature by authors such as Walden and Thoreau, but is still very relative in pop culture.