NIMH reminds me of...

Domo!

You know after I saw The Secret of NIMH I noticed something that was stuck in my head.

It's that for some reason NIMH reminds me of the Concentration Camps during WWII and things related.

These are mainly it

NIMH: Holocaust (Concentration Camp)
Rats and Mice: Victims ("Unspeakable Tortures")/ Survivors
Thorn Valley: Israel

Is it my imagination? Or is this no coincidence?

Hehehehe! When I first saw the movie, I had a few nasty lil' things runnin' through my head. twisted I still don't understand why everybody says I have a sick, twisted and troubled mind, though...... twisted

If anybody felt offended by my imagination, or if someone thought my imagination is rascist, I would like to assure you I didn't mean it that way. However, if someone does get offended by it, I am terribly sorry...

Oh, I wasnt affended, I'm just saying you're not the only one who thought of torture and stuff like that when you saw The Secret of NIMH. ) I'm sorry, I didn't mean for the last post to sound like I was angry or offended.
I've read some of your other posts, they are quite interesting. wink And really, I'm not as twisted as the people here say I am. They need someone to bully and I guess they saw me as the perfect prey. I'm actually the most easy going person around here, and I would never be offended by another person's opinion. No harm done. )

Nah. The posted the apology in case anyone actually "did" get offended. Your post didn't sound "angry" or "offended" at all so don't worry. :D

If anybody felt offended by my imagination, or if someone thought my imagination is rascist, I would like to assure you I didn't mean it that way. However, if someone does get offended by it, I am terribly sorry...

Nah, it's all right. While it wouldn't have occured to me to make that sort of comparison myself, I wouldn't call comparing NIMH to the Holocaust as "racist". However, the Holocaust was an actual event, and I would say that it isn't far from the truth that the event (and the happenings of other wars as well) probably affected Robert C. O'Brien's thinking to a degree--this is perhaps more evident if you read some of his other works, such as Z for Zachariah. So, perhaps there is some truth to the idea, though I'd doubt that it would've been a conscious decision on O'Brien's part.

...I've had a rather interesting idea for a while now about what you've just mentioned, HolyArrow.

Rather than bore you all with the details, perhaps these two factoids will clue you in:

1.) NIMH (the real one) was founded in 1949.

2.) It is a known fact that many German scientists (e.g. von Braun) fled to America to escape the turmoil in Europe following WWII and sought to continue their research there.


...I'll leave the rest to your twisted imaginations ^__^

The theme of the oppressed fleeing to a place of their own to build a just society is a fairly common one, at least in the American tradition. It echoes a lot of our own history. The American frontier was pushed westward in large degree by various groups of misfits who fled west to build a perfect society amidst the wilderness, away from the people who persecuted them. The Puritans and the Mormons are the best known, but there were countless smaller groups as well.

Come to that, Don Bluth is a Mormon - I wonder if the story appealed to him on that basis? It's an interesting speculation, at least. That theme of leaving to find a perfect place far away runs through a lot of his movies - "The Land Before Time", "Titan A.E.", and "American Tail" come right to mind.

That being said, the story of the Jews returning to Israel is a similar one, and would probably have been there at least in the back of the mind for anyone who lived through that era. I was born in 1961, and all through my childhood, up into the mid 70s at least, WWII seemed like a constant presence, the cause of the modern world. It had a great deal of immediacy to it, even though it was long over by the time that I was born. I have trouble even imagining what a deep impression it must have made on those adults (such as O'Brien) who lived through it. The Jews and Israel probably at least coloured the meaning of the story for O'Brien. I don't see how it could be otherwise, for a man of his time.

A very refreshing perspective, Torrie. You seem to have hit on something that seems to have passed over the rest of us (Translation: I feel less intelligent now :P). Plus, I learned something interesting; I didn't know Don Bluth was a Mormon o_O How did you find that out?

Seriously, though, I think your explanation is right on the ball. You seem to have a good grasp of how to analyse the themes of literary and cinematic works in terms of their historical context. Did you take any post-secondary literature or English classes? It seems to me that you may have :)

I look forward to reading your insightful posts in the future.

I didn't know Don Bluth was a Mormon o_O How did you find that out?

I don't even remember anymore. I'd guess I probably found out in the promotional material from "The Land Before Time", but it's been so long ago I don't really know. The Mormons' video store has pretty much all of Bluth's stuff, cheaper than you can get it elsewhere: http://www.ldsvideo.com/anim.htm

Did you take any post-secondary literature or English classes?

I'm flattered by your high opinion. We'll have to see if it holds up over the long term :) At any rate, yes, I've had some classes in children's literature and literary analysis, among others. Had HolyArrow not brought up the idea of considering TSoN in light of the Jews' flight to Israel, I'd probably never have looked at it that way, though. I tend to be one of those who views works more as self-defined, rather than as examples of type. Best thank him (her?) if you found that useful.

I didn't know Don Bluth was a Mormon o_O How did you find that out?

I don't even remember anymore. I'd guess I probably found out in the promotional material from "The Land Before Time", but it's been so long ago I don't really know. The Mormons' video store has pretty much all of Bluth's stuff, cheaper than you can get it elsewhere: http://www.ldsvideo.com/anim.htm

Just for the record, I'd like to state that while Mormons may own the store, it's not any sort of 'official' church video store. And yes, I happen to be a Mormon. :)

I'd heard about Don Bluth being a member quite a while back, actually--I think it was from here: http://www.persuivant.com/bitbluth.htm . I thought it was pretty cool, actually; I don't know how much his faith influences the stories he uses/writes/whatever, but I imagine that it surfaces, consciously or not. That said, the idea of escaping some sort of bondage or persecution to find a 'promised land' is hardly a theme unique to Mormonism, though I'd like to think we have a somewhat unique perspective on it. No idea if that's part of the reason he chose those themes, though.

Another dormant topic I bumped just for the halibut.

...I've had a rather interesting idea for a while now about what you've just mentioned, HolyArrow.

Rather than bore you all with the details, perhaps these two factoids will clue you in:

1.) NIMH (the real one) was founded in 1949.

2.) It is a known fact that many German scientists (e.g. von Braun) fled to America to escape the turmoil in Europe following WWII and sought to continue their research there.


...I'll leave the rest to your twisted imaginations ^__^

Hmm…maybe you hadn’t read Silva’s “The Children of NIMH”, although it had been up on Robin’s by that time. He had a similar idea, making Dr. Schultz’s project a continuation of experiments conducted by his Nazi-scientist father.

In my own stories, I touched upon the Rats regarding their new home in Thorn Valley as their own Promised Land, actually using the term at one point very unsubtly. The idea that they are a persecuted people, threatened with extinction when all they want is just to live their lives is really the film’s central theme, at least in regard to the Rats.

Ahhh.. The Children of Nimh, that was a good one. When this was bumped I took one look at the work Nazi and thought "The Children of NIMH must be mentioned!" Looks like I was beat to it :lol: