Wednesday, May 20, 2009

How to Love Like Pongo

I wouldn't put 101 Dalmatians in my top 5 Disney movies, but the opening scene with Pongo is among my top 5 scenes.

Pongo lazily looks out the window for a mate, but his job is exponentially harder because he is also looking for a match for Roger. As if finding your soul mate wasn't hard enough, Pongo nobly quests for Roger's soul mate as well.

This is the image and accompanying line that I remember so well:





It was almost too good to be true. I'd never find another pair like that, not if I looked for a hundred years.

~Pongo~








Pongo's love, at first, is very superficial, but at least he takes control of his destiny. That kind of confidence and control inspires me. He fights for love. He changes the clock and hunts down Perdita and Anita in the park. His plan is not perfect. It results in the rather inelegant stumble into a lake. But regardless, his persistence overcomes the shortcomings of his plan. Even though Pongo may have looked like the bumbling fool, in the end, "Pongo and Perdita" means more to me than "Romeo and Juliet."

There is something admirable about Pongo's drive and resourcefulness. So often it seems that modern courtship is stunted by social mores or emotional complications. I wish I could be like Pongo: be the master of my own destiny. If I were Pongo, I would splash into a lake and soak my beloved. Dripping from stagnant, algae-infested water, I would ask her, "What are you doing for the rest of your life?"

But I'm just a human. I'm a human as unaware and un-chic as Roger himself—only I'm not animated. My dog is not Pongo; he's not even a Dalmatian. I don't have a window overlooking a park. I just have my popcorn, my Disney movie, and 2 hours to fade into a didactic story I often fail to emulate in the real world. And I'm okay with that.

Disney movies are my favorite movies because they are my animated, colorful handbooks on how to fight for love.

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