“Humans, in Captain Fantastic, hide from the truth. It’s what they do best.” (O’Sullivan, 2016)
Contrary to what the movie title suggests, Captain Fantastic, has little to do with superheroes but more to do with parenthood. Written and directed by Matt Ross, Captain Fantastic is about a man named Ben Cash, played by Viggo Mortensen (infamous for his role as Aragorn in Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy), raising his six kids out in the wilderness, away from civilization. However, a sudden family tragedy urged them to travel to New Mexico and come up with their relatives who do not approve of Ben’s method of raising and nurturing children which seem to them to be “unorthodox child-rearing”. The story also follows the life of the children after being taken out from their element and their awkward reengagement with the outside world.
What I find in the movie Captain Fantastic that is truly engaging is the cognitive dissonance that was created in this film. The definition of ‘cognitive dissonance’ means “An unpleasant state of psychological tension that occurs when two thoughts or perceptions are inconsistent, which typically results from the awareness that attitudes and behaviour are in conflict.” (Hockenbury and Hockenbury, 2008) In other words, if I believe I am righteous but I act indifferently, then the unpleasant feeling I get is cognitive dissonance. This theory was introduced by Psychologist Leon Festinger which revolved around the concept of human trying to achieve internal stability. As humans, we also seek consistency in our own attitude and behaviour. We need reassurance that our attitude and behaviour are parallel to each other in order to avoid conflicting thoughts which can ultimately lead to dissension within ourselves. Therefore, some of us would go to the extent of eliminating certain beliefs depending on how important the cognitions means to us.
The engaging beauty of Captain Fantastic lies in the harmonized disharmony of dissension —Even when large disputes and differences are presented to the audience, it is manifested in a way in which the audience are able to observe and comprehend where each character are coming from, no matter how polar they are from one another. Matt Ross’s directing enables us to empathize with each characters by allowing us to feel as if we are in their shoes at that particular moment in time. Matt Ross has managed to find an almost perfect balance between the dark comedy and discerning drama in Captain Fantastic. Travers mentions, “The film doesn’t take sides, but it does fairly, subtly and movingly represent them,” (2016) which I concur. This is what I mean when Ross is able to find and illustrate that balance in well-thought-out situations. Ross shows consideration to his characters and the audience by not putting any of the characters into molds and masquerade them as distractions, leaving us favouring a side.
The movie focuses on Ben has cared for his children to become incredibly intellectual, high-spirited group of people. Ben has provided an exhausting amount of reading materials that ranges from quantum theory to Karl Marx’s Communist Theory, not exactly fit for an average child’s mental capacity to comprehend, but the Cash family proved it wrong. At the very same time, their detachment from the normal living environment led to their lack of social interaction skills. “Unless it comes out of a book I don’t know anything!” the eldest Bodevan (George MacKay) denounced to Ben, and he has a point. Although Ben has devoted half of his life to prepare the kids for the world, the movie unfolded its underlying message—Ben was simply rearing his kids for his own world as it was established how the kids were basically “aliens in their own country” (Kim, 2016). They were raised to despise the world they were living in (or out of), thus when taken out of their element, the culture shock was intense. In between their excursion to New Mexico, a reunion with Ben’s commercialized suburban sister (Kathryn Hahn as Harper and Steve Zahn as Dave) takes place. The very same Zaja (eight years old, second youngest) who could recite, in her own words, The Bill of Rights (the collective name for the first ten amendments of United States Constitution) did not have common and simple names such as ‘Nike’ and ‘Adidas’ in her dictionary. Bodevan can argue Marx and Trotsky but is helpless in the presence of a young teenage girl.
Captain Fantastic leaves the audience, regardless of their role in the family, asking the question, “To what extent do parents need to intervene and not only protect their children from the culture but also help them to develop their physical, emotional and educational potentials that the culture may not necessarily encourage?” The extremely sheltered lifestyle of the Cash family and it’s advantages and disadvantages was clearly illustrated; while at the same time clearly emphasizing at the flaws of our children’s upbringing which was shown in the suburban abode. This includes education that caters to a grain of salt and atrocious consumerism. Harper and Dave’s way of parenting was a weird cocktail of ‘sheltering children from truths’ while allowing them to witness terrible violence in relation to video games and media. They refuse to discuss the fact that Cash’s first lady’s death was due to suicide and not by physical illness. On the Cash’s side, Ben was incredibly straightforward with his children as he respects their intelligence and he treated them as adults. Additionally, Frank Langella who plays Jack as a bitter and mourning father but still loving grandfather, demanded a lot from Ben. Jack was walking on an emotional tightrope over values, importance, and realities. In some way, he wanted what was best for his daughter’s funeral despite his refusal to honour her last wishes and having the right to be worried about his grandchildren.
The psychology theory such as Cognitive Dissonance that Ross presents are compelling and thought-provoking, while being coherent with the well-thought-out scenes. It sheds a new light on how we would normally perceive parenthood and it strives to present everyone in their own unique and individual way. With every qualm presenting itself, each character’s development on understanding and accepting them was very honouring for their role. They were confronted with the idea of grappling foreign beliefs and the difficulty understanding each and everyone’s standpoint. Mortensen explains, “The movie addresses the consequences of not communication, not being open opinions other than your own, not being able to come to grips with that fact that you’re on the wrong track at times.” (2016) Ross has successfully clarified his message in Captain Fantastic that “Everybody shelters their young, we just do it in different ways.”