The Idea of an Essay, Volume 3

Analysis & Response 111 joining Marlin on his journey and consistently encourages Marlin to keep going. The love displayed between them is not romantic. Instead, the friendship between Marlin and Dory grows as the movie progresses, but not beyond friendship. A thirdplace that the filmdemonstrates love is in the friendship of Gill and Nemo. Gill is a fish in the tank at the dentist office where the diver takes Nemo. As an ocean fish that is desperately trying to return, Gill takes Nemo under his wing. At first, it seems that Gill’s interest in Nemo is only in Nemo’s size. As part of a foolproof plan to get out of the tank, he tells Nemo to put a rock in the filter because he is the only one small enough to fit. Gill’s actions later in the film, however, show that he cares for Nemo. When Nemo can’t put the rock into the filter the first time, Gill is the one who, despite his desire to return to the ocean and save Nemo from the fish-killer Darla, agrees that it is too dangerous for Nemo to attempt again. Later, Gill risks his life to save Nemo. When the dentist is about to throw Nemo away by accident, Gill tells his friends to shoot him out of the fish tank to distract the dentist. The diversion works, but a fish out of water does not last long. At the last second, the dentist places Gill back in the fish tank and Nemo follows the water system back to the ocean. While romance is a wonderful aspect of love, sacrifice must be the basis for a lasting relationship. The movie not only displays sacrificial love, it also challenges the audience to take risks instead of living life in fear of the future. Marlin is the main example of this. After losing everyone except Nemo, he promises that he will not let anything happen to Nemo. Marlin develops into an over-protective father that genuinely loves his son, but keeps Nemo from experiencing life because he doesn’t want him to be hurt. According to Kevin Lally, the director Andrew Stanton had never seen a movie about over-protective parenting from the parent’s perspective. Stanton decided to make this the main perspective of Finding Nemo . (10). Marlin’s approach to life is to live in fear of the future and carefully calculate every move. He thinks that as long as there is no risk, Nemo will be safe and happy. Marlin doesn’t want to let Nemo go because he is afraid of losing him, too. To show his independence, however, Nemo disobeys his father and experiences the consequences of his actions when the diver kidnaps him. Christine Evely notes that even though Marlin carefully calculated each risk, he still could not keep the diver from kidnapping Nemo (70-78). Sometimes a tragedy comes that nobody