Coinciding with the move, I decided to upgrade the Internet service plan for my household by going with the Verizon Fios Gigabit Connection. The downloads and uploads as fast as 940 Mbps and 880 Mbps, respectively, provide the optimal speed and capability as I move towards my full commitment of cord-cutting. The new Internet service plan came with a free 1-year subscription to Hulu and Disney+, which are nice complements alongside my longtime subscriptions to Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. Once I set up the Disney+, one of the suggestions it tossed out there based on my preferences was a film I saw during my 2-month stay in Wichita Falls, Texas. That brings me to this week’s moment in the Flashback Friday series: the Finding Nemo film.
How I first came across this moment? I first saw the film when I watched it at the movie theater at on Sheppard Air Force Base during my Air Force technical training school. I was still in Phase 1. There wasn’t much I could do on base so I went to the movies. They were playing Finding Nemo.
What it meant to me then? When I first saw it, I thought it was a pretty good film. The animation was fantastic…some of the best work that Pixar had done to that point. I also thought the voice acting was top-notch with a lot of familiar voices to me like Willem Dafoe, Allison Janney, and Ellen DeGeneres. The storyline probably could’ve been a little bit more dramatic but, at its core, it was a kid’s film so I could see why Disney and Pixar went with a more optimistic plot. It was a good, wholesome film. I liked it.
What it means to me now? During my residency in Tokyo, I learned a lot more about the film when I dated the Portuguese-Japanese chick, who worked at EPSON Aqua Park Shinagawa. There were a lot of inconsistencies and inaccuracies that kinda ruined the film in later viewing. Like I didn’t know clownfish could change genders, meaning Marlin should’ve actually been Nemo’s mother after Coral was eaten by the barracuda. Also, I was told that clownfish don’t stray too far away from the protection of their unique homes. The true science of the film changed the way I look at it today. But in seeing the opening scene again, I came to a conclusion that seems to be as true in the wild of the sea as it is on land amongst humans: women don’t listen to men in situations where the man’s foresight will spare them stress, finances, and even life.
