Hoot: A Movie Challenge for Stewardship in Our Own Backyards
by Dr. Marc T. Newman
May 5, 2006
(AgapePress) - - The heavens declare the glory of God, the psalmist tells us. Paul explains that creation displays God's power. But Richard Louv, noted authority on children and the out of doors, reports that our kids are losing touch with nature. In a culture filled with innumerable electronic and entertainment distractions, and also one seemingly bent on developing everything or placing off-limits any interaction with the wild, it is nature that is quickly becoming unreal. It's something to watch on the Discovery Channel. A mediated world loses some of its magnificence. At a time in which evangelical leaders are putting themselves forward to tackle global environmental concerns, it seems a small thing to care about your own backyard. But when I was a kid, that patch of trees with a pond in the middle that sometimes iced over a bit, even in the mild Southern California winter, was the closest thing to heaven to me. That is why I was intrigued when I discovered that Walden Media and New Line were making a film adaptation of Hoot.
Hoot, adapted from Carl Hiaasen's Newbery Honor award-winning book, is the story of three middle-school kids who come together in a quest to save some burrowing owls from destruction at the hands of Chuck Muckle, an empire-building pancake house executive. Muckle lies and cheats in order to erect a new franchise on top of the owls' home. As the story plays out, the teens discover wrong ways, and right ways, to save the owls. Though there isn't anything particularly "religious" about Hoot (at least on the surface) the movie does bring up a lot of questions about our relationship as creatures to the rest of God's creation.
Getting Out
As Louv notes, kids are not playing outside. Many are indoors, perhaps watching movies. It may seem a bit contradictory to say that watching a movie might cause kids to want to explore their own back yards, but part of the strategy of Hoot is just that. One of the teens, Roy Eberhardt, is a transplant from Montana. Used to the great outdoors, he finds little to like in his new town. But in an extended series of scenes, another boy, named Mullet Fingers, reveals the many local wonders of Florida to Roy -- fish, snakes, and manatees -- in a way that it both beautiful and compelling. It made me want to head right out and hit the water.
God speaks of a general revelation to all humankind through the things He has made. As we get farther and farther from natural things, embracing only our own handiwork, we rob ourselves of contact with the Creator through His creation. Any film that would encourage us to wonder at the marvels of His hands should be welcome. Even more so if it moves us to actually go out and explore on our own.
Teen Stewards
Knowledge leads to responsibility. One of the most refreshing aspects of Hoot is that, unlike teens in many other films, these kids care about something beyond themselves and their peers. There is no love triangle, no forced romance between Roy and Mullet Fingers' half-sister, Beatrice. Instead, Hoot is an adventure in stewardship. Once the teens discover the presence of the owls they become aware of an unspoken obligation to protect these helpless creatures.
Hoot is, in a way, like a case study in the concept of dominion. Muckle's idea of dominion is that creation exists to serve his bidding. If something is in the way, bulldoze it. If endangered species foul up his plans, kill them. He doesn't merely want to subdue the Earth; he wants to pummel it into submission. The teens' idea of dominion is that of the protective steward. This world does not belong to us. We may not do with it whatever we like. It belongs to God and we are its caretakers. When the Owner returns to check on His property, I wonder which attitude will be more pleasing to Him.
Not that the kids get everything right. Like many comedies, much of the humor in Hoot stems from the children's early misguided strategies for saving the owls. Led by Mullet Fingers, they try every way they can to disrupt building on the site, including placing a small alligator in the developer's port-a-potty. (Some parents might cringe a bit at the way the local law enforcement is feebly portrayed as an object for laughter, but we need to remember that this story is told from a kid's perspective, and too much help would kill the sense of empowerment.) Each of the teens' successes is short lived, as the developer becomes increasingly ruthless in response, forcing the teens toward alternative methods. To their credit they never give up. They act, and ultimately in the right way, as they extend their call to the community.
Bonus
In addition to a good message about stewardship, Hoot is the rare film that includes a boy wanting to follow in his father's footsteps -- to be (in a way) an administrator of justice. Though Roy's parents are distracted with the new move, they are involved with their son. The depiction of the mutual trust that grows between parents and teen is as uncommon in film as it is welcome.
Opportunity
Hoot is not a religious film. There is no mention of God, creation, or stewardship of the planet. But this only means that parents and youth leaders can take the opportunity afforded by Hoot to introduce those ideas. Christian cultural critic, Francis Schaeffer, in his book Pollution and the Death of Man, argued that we have an obligation toward creation, because we are both a part of it (as creatures ourselves) and have been given dominion, or stewardship, over it. Schaeffer notes that we can tell a lot about our relationship to the Creator by the care we extend toward His Creation. MovieMinistry has made available a Bible Study guide for Hoot that takes Dr. Schaeffer's ideas and makes them accessible to the target audience for this film.
Cleverly slated against the latest in the globetrotting Mission Impossible series, Hoot may be a little film, but, in the most important way imaginable, its lessons are bigger than those contained in MI3. Few of us will ever be super secret agents, but all of us can respond to God's call to be stewards of whatever parts of this Earth He has placed within our reach. And that is the lesson that children, with a little theological help from their parents, can learn from Hoot.
Marc T. Newman, PhD (marc@movieministry.com) is the president of MovieMinistry.com -- an organization that provides sermon and teaching illustrations from popular film, and helps the Church use movies to reach out to others and connect with people.
