Introduction: In 2003, while associated with our local church community, I assisted families prepare their children for the Sacraments of Eucharist and Confirmation. Instead of using standard “religious” texts, I used the video “Ice Age” as background to worksheets for the children. “Ice Age” presents the Jesus Story unequivocally, and in a much more understandable manner than standard texts.
The 2002 movie “Ice Age” tells the story of how a sloth, a mammoth and a sabre-tooth tiger band together to save a baby. It’s an enjoyable story. Very funny in parts as well. The cartooning is excellent.
But there is more to “Ice Age” than being a simple, enjoyable story with great characterisation and cartooning effects. If we look more closely we will find an intriguing story of great depth.
Sid
Sid is the sloth. We first meet Sid when he finds he’s been left behind – again – at the time of the annual migration. Sid cries: “Doesn’t anyone love me, doesn’t anyone care? Every year they go on the migration without me.” He tells us that one time they tied his hands and feet, trapped him, barricaded him behind the cave door and covered their tracks with water so he would lose the scent when – and if – he managed to escape. That amounts to dedicated rejection.
Mind you, Sid is noisy, nagging, snotty nosed, a real pain in the neck, a seeming dim-wit.
So Sid is abandoned to the outer limits of pre-historic society. He is a reject.
But when the human baby is discovered, it is Sid who without question accepts the responsibility of caring for the human baby and returning him/her to its tribe.
Manfred
Manfred is the mammoth. We first meet Manfred travelling the opposite direction to everyone else in the annual migration. He is the loner, travelling without family or herd. If Sid is the reject, Manfred is the one who has rejected everyone else and chooses to live in grand isolation.
When Manfred is first encounted by Sid he exclaims “It would be quieter without you”; “There is no ‘we’ ”; “I am not your friend”.
Diego
Diego is the sabre-tooth tiger on a mission of death. His task is to bring back the baby unharmed so it can be eaten alive by the leader of the pack. Diego is the deceiver, the betrayer, the hunter. By choice Diego too lives on the outer of society.
The Baby
The baby is real cute. But the baby is abandoned through the death of its mother. It is totally vulnerable, helpless, at the mercy of all. The vulnerability is exacerbated and heightened by the fact the baby is unaware of its situation, therefore all the more defenceless.
The Story
The three misfits join together on a seeming common purpose, but for very different reasons. Sid the reject acts with responsibility. Manfred agrees to go along because of Sid’s nagging … and because beneath his harsh exterior there is a ton of compassion and caring, although as yet it is locked up within him. Diego plans to deceive them all and lead them into ambush and death.
On their common journey, there is a defining moment for Manfred when he is confronted with the cave drawings. The drawings expose his woundedness as they clearly depict the terrible trauma of his life: the death of his parents at the hands of the humans and his abandonment as an orphan. We now understand his dark secret and the reason he has turned his back on society and companionship – because he is so wounded from his childhood.
Manfred sees in the baby the image of his own self when he was young and defenceless. In identifying with the baby’s vulnerability, he chooses to reach out and open his own heart to the baby, rather than further closing the door and remaining locked up in his own hurt and anger.
Diego is astute enough to recognise what has happened to Manfred, and strangely feels his pain. That is a turning point for Diego. Sid meanwhile is totally unaware, too wrapped up in his own chatter to understand what is happening within Manfred.
Diego becomes vulnerable in other ways to his companions. He is embarrassed to discover himself enjoying the fun trip down the ice tube. For a moment he found joy in laughter. There is also conflict within him when the baby takes its first step. Should he allow himself to enjoy this moment? His evil guard has dropped somewhat.
The Central Moment
In the central moment of the story Manfred risks his life for Diego during the passage across the river of lava.
Diego is confounded by what Manfred did. In Diego’s world, life is taken from others, not given to others. He asks, “Why did you do that?” We take special note of Manfred’s response:
“BECAUSE THAT’S WHAT YOU DO IN A HERD – LOOK OUT FOR EACH OTHER”
Manfred has accepted they are a herd – a community – and no longer a disparate group of (weird) individuals. Manfred has accepted the responsibility of belonging to the community. He has come out of his isolation, accepted himself as part of the herd and accepted Sid, Diego and the baby as integral members of himself.
The Climax of the Story
If Manfred’s saving action on behalf of Diego is the central moment of the story, Diego’s decision to risk his life for Manfred provides the climax of the story. From being life-taker, Diego becomes life-saver. The transformation is complete.
We Will Not Forget You
The courageous Diego now lies dying and urges his companions to complete their mission of restoring the baby to its tribe while there is still time. Diego is no longer thinking of himself. To complete their mission, Manfred and Sid are forced to leave the dying Diego behind. Their parting words to Diego: “We will not forget you”. Diego will live on in their memory.
There is an interesting twist at the very end when Diego seemingly returns from the dead to rejoin his chosen herd/community.
A Journey with Different Dimensions
The physical journey across ice and fire for the four isolated, rejected, abandoned individuals is a symbol of their spirit journey to wholeness, commitment, generosity, discovery of life and willingness to sacrifice life. It is journey through personal and tribal reconciliation toward formation of community and attainment of the deepest meaning of life: that it is only giving that you truly receive.
The Catalyst
The catalyst for this major journey and transformation is a defenceless and vulnerable baby. The herd/community is formed in response to the baby’s needs. It is the weakness of the baby that breaks down the defences of Manfred and Diego. Sid is already in a position of weakness and this may explain why he is so ready and able to embrace immediately the vulnerability of the baby – he too is so vulnerable, while Manfred and Diego are so strong.
Strength therefore is not the catalyst for salvation. Weakness is. It is in weakness that we are open to new possibilities. Someone else wrote a long time ago, “When I am weak, it is then that I am strong.” And elsewhere it is written, “By his wounds we are healed”.
The Squirrel and the Acorn
What of the squirrel? He/she was concerned with one thing only, self-preservation. So he/she truly became preserved: for 20,000 years in a block of ice. Everyone has the option of choice!
FURTHER REFLECTIONS
Community is born of Mission
The “weird community” came into being because of the mission to save the baby. Community is formed through response to a call to mission. The flock of Dodos – like the squirrel – became extinct because they were intent on preservation, not intent on serving others. The community that seeks only to preserve itself, to maintain the status quo, is walking only toward extinction.
Reconciliation and Healing
For Sid the illusion of rejection was ultimately shattered by the warm and playful embrace of Diego at the end of the story. How great a contrast was this to the scene when Sid was in Diego’s mouth with a promise of death to come. Sid came to be accepted by Diego and Manfred as he was and not because he changed and became someone different.
Reconciliation for Manfred was his coming out of isolation, accepting the love of the baby, accepting responsibility for the baby, making himself vulnerable to death for the sake of Diego and being able to hand back to his natural enemies the baby, the baby for whom he had risked his life and whom he had come to love and treasure.
Reconciliation for Diego is expressed most deeply in his offering his life to save Manfred – and Sid and the baby – against his own tribe. In the possibility of giving his life for others he saw the meaning of his own life. Previously the meaning of his own life was expressed in taking the life of others. Reconciliation is a revolution for Diego.
The final symbol of wholeness and reconciliation was the handing over of the baby to the man-tribe. It was the man-tribe that had killed Manfred’s father and mother and cast him into a wounded and therefore angry isolation. Yet he repaid this death with life. The illusions of revenge, hatred and isolation were shattered by the unconditional acceptance of Manfred by the baby.
The Jesus Story in Ice
“Ice Age” is the telling of the radical Jesus Story. The illusions of weakness, domination, isolation, rejection, violence, and betrayal are shattered by the vulnerability of the baby. New freedoms are created by and for each of the characters, new ways of living and relating, new understandings of strength and freedom, and above all new ways of being in a community committed to the marginalized and to the vulnerable.
Tony Conway February 9 2003
