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Michelle Michaels
Karin A. Waidley
Film and Culture
14 April 2016
Beasts of the Southern Wild
When we watch films, we arent usually aware of who has or doesnt have a voice, or
what areas of the narrative are following the status quo and which are not, because as viewers,
we arent necessarily looking for this content; we are just watching the film for entertainment.
When you really watch for these qualities in films, it makes you wonder what kind of world we
live in and if the way we live and the way we treat people is appropriate. Everyone has a voice;
they need to be able to tell their story. The stories that arent being told may be the ones that need
to be told the most.
In the film by Benh Zeitlin, Beast of the Southern Wild, the writer challenges dominant
ideologies that may go unnoticed by many people. The film is told from the perspective of a
female child in the lower class named Hushpuppy. Although you may not really think much
about Hushpuppy being the narrator, this decision is a significant choice when writing a movie as
who the narrator is tells a lot about what kind of story it is going to be. Most films are told from a
business-mans perspective or a white patriarchal male perspective; when films represent this
insight on the adult life and responsibilities, many times they are more entertaining. But with
this film being told from a childs point of view it gives an idea of the hardships Hushpuppy and
her father have to go through to get by in their lives. The few films that are told by a young

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females perspective are usually romantic films, a happy ever after, princess genre. This film
gives a more realistic view on the life of a child in the lower class. There is no princess and
they live in a place called the Bathtub, not really the kingdom a princess would live in. In order
to eat dinner at night Hushpuppy and her father have to hunt an animal, rather than enjoy the
luxuries many people take for granted, like being able to go to a store.
The literary and sound design in this film portrays well, how hard life can be. Everyone is
constantly pushing you down but you are expected to rise up each and every time. When
Hushpuppy, her father, and a few other characters go on the other side of the levee, they are
forced to live in a homeless shelter. The families have a hard time adjusting to the normal way
of doing things. The shelter is like a prison to them because they are forced to live a certain way
that takes away their freedoms. Living in the shelter they are forced to see the faults in their life.
For example Wink has health issues, but when doctors try to hook him up to a machine and have
him take medications, he is just used to dealing with it and going about his day no matter how
bad it hurts because that is the only way they know how to survive. He constantly says, I got it
under control, but by the evidence the doctors gather he needs help and is no longer in control.
This film gives the people of the lower class a chance to tell their story, and it brings
attention to how poor their living conditions are. The people of the lower class in this film are
taught that no one is going to watch out for you, unless you do it yourself. At a very young age
the children are expected to be strong and independent. An example of this is when Wink goes to
the hospital at the beginning of the film, Hushpuppy still eats all her meals and goes to school
and does just fine on her own because she has been taught to not count on other people and to
stand up for herself. She and the other children portrayed in the film have been raised to just take
what is thrown at them and learn from it, use it in their lives, and draw strength from it. The

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teacher, Miss Bathsheeba says to Hushpuppy, The world is going to fall apart and its going to
be your fault. So smile (Beasts). An example of another film that demonstrates the life of the
lower class is The Pursuit of Happyness. In The Pursuit of Happyness Will Smiths character
and his son lives on the streets or other places he can find and he tries to get a job at a business
firm. After Will Smiths characters interview, he walks with the CEO of the company to a cab,
and when they get to the cab the CEO realizes he doesnt have his wallet. Will Smith uses the
last of his money to pay for the cab. And after everything he goes through he is still positive and
tries to help his son have a good life. Just like in Beast of the Southern Wild, Wink tries to help
Hushpuppy not feel sorry for herself and just live her life.
This film deconstructs the status quo around gender. The status quo for women is that
they stay home and cook while the men do the hunting and fishing to bring home the food. The
men are also the ones who do all the manual hard work labor while the women raise the family.
In this film Hushpuppys mother is absent which would mean the cooking is left up to
Hushpuppy or we would assume. But in this film there is no separation between men and
women; they both hunt and fish for food, do manual work, and cook the food. I believe that the
reason the women do the same chores as the men is because the writers wanted to show that men
and women are equal when the living conditions are different than the typical middle class
American dream. This rejects dominant ideologies and norming around gender. The writers went
so far as to have only female children in the story to show that women could get by without the
help of men because they are just as strong and brave.
Another dominant ideology around gender is that in order to be the most successful
person you can be, you need the guidance of your mother. Thinking back to this idea in Forrest
Gump, and Forrest being very successful and his mother playing an active role in his life, while

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Jenny struggled throughout most of her life and her mother was absent; this causes me to wonder
what Hushpuppys life would have been like if her mother was a part of it.
Whereas the film reconstructs the dominant ideology that men are usually drunk and
sometimes abusive, the women in the film also drink. While the film deconstructs the dominant
ideology around gender because it shows that women can do the same things as men; a female
character, whom may or may not be Hushpuppys mother, brings up this status quo belief
regarding being a woman. She says, Life is a feast! But you dont get any youre just a server
(Beasts). This brought attention to how wrong the dominant ideologies around women are.
Another category this film deconstructs is around the idea of what it means to be a
family. Even though Wink doesnt come right out and say he doesnt like Hushpuppy, thats kind
of the idea you get. Hushpuppy and Wink live in two separate houses which isnt the norm for
families. And after Hushpuppy burns her house down, Wink says, Just because you burned your
house down doesnt mean you get to live in mine (Beasts). Hushpuppy and Wink dont have
the typical father/daughter relationship that most people have. Wink doesnt take Hushpuppy
in his arms when she is having a hard time, you dont see them show affection for each other
hardly at all in the film until the end, and when they do it kind of looks forced. They are mostly
yelling at each other so to me they are more like siblings because of the way that they treat each
other than father and daughter. In Forrest Gump, Forrest and his mother are really close, but
Jenny and her father practically hate each other. This causes me to wonder if the reason for this is
just because a mother helps make the bond between a father and a daughter stronger or if the
fathers in both situations blame their daughter for their mothers not being able to be there. In the
end scene Wink and Hushpuppy do show a lot of love and affection towards each other, but
throughout the film Wink is very hard on Hushpuppy. I understand that in order to be able to be

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independent you need to be strong and Wink helps Hushpuppy with this by pushing her. I dont
believe he had to be so hard on her all the time; she is just a young child.
Because the characters are both black and white and both races go through the same
struggles, the narrative calls viewers attention to class more than race. One of the characters say,
If we go on the other side of the wall theyre going to put us in a home, because the higher
class think the lower class lives like animals (Beasts). This might be true but the reason for
this is because they dont have resources to live any differently. This film tries to bring to our
attention that even white people struggle and its not just the black race like many people might
think. Most films used to portray that the only people of the lower class are African Americans
or other people of color. This film brings to our attention that false construct, that individuals are
in the lower class due to their race, not the social and economic conditions as well as systemic
racism. In this film, the narrative brings out the struggles the lower class goes through and that
white people also have hard times and also may be considered lower class.
Because this film is focused around the lower class it made me realize everything we
have but take for granted, while many others dont have the same opportunity of having those
things. It also made me question how we live our lives today. When people see a film like Beast
of the Southern Wild, they may think Oh its just a movie, but it made me really wonder if we
are giving the so called lower class people a chance like they deserve. Or when we do help
them, if we take into consideration all that they have gone through? And this doesnt just apply to
the lower class but in every situation that we are dealing with people. Not everyone is getting
the voice they deserve. Many people turn to drugs and similar things because they have so much
inside them that they feel they need to express and they feel they cant express themselves like
they need to so they turn to drugs to help them forget about what is going on in their life. I know

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it is hard to include everyones story in a film, but I believe that if people from each class,
race, etc. had a chance to tell their story the world would feel more equal as a whole, people
wouldnt be placed into classes, and no one would feel like they are being undermined.

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Works Cited
Beasts of the Southern Wild. Dir. Behn Zeitlin. Perf. Hushpuppy and Wink. 2012. DVD.