I woke up this morning thinking about this clip from Ponyo, one of my favorite movies to watch with my kids.
There’s a scene where Fujimoto, Ponyo’s overprotective sea sorcerer father, is trying to stop Ponyo from using her magical powers to become human.
Despite his pleas for her to stop, Ponyo, who was once a goldfish, begins to grow arms and legs inside a magical bubble. Her desire is to become a human girl. She wants to be able to see her friend, Sosuke.
Fujimoto, her father, was a former human but gave up his humanity because he believes humans are selfish and ruin the oceans. In my opinion Fujimoto, turning his little girl back into a goldfish is two-fold. There’s an element of malice, but to me, mostly it shows his desperation keep Ponyo to himself, away from the world, and innocent and pure forever.
The specific detail I was thinking about when I woke this morning was when Fujimoto places his hands around the bubble Ponyo is in and chants “Revert, revert, revert“. By doing this, he is able to stop her growth and keep her small, just for him.
The movie doesn’t end there. I don’t intend to give any spoilers, but if you haven’t seen it, it is such a magical movie filled with all of the morals you’d want to instill in your children.
The most powerful moral, for me, however, is this:
True love and acceptance requires you to embrace someone exactly as they are, without trying to change or possess them.
