The Dark Crystal: An Age of Hope
This article contains spoilers for The Dark Crystal (1982) and The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance.
In the last few weeks I have become completely enamored with Netflix/Jim Henson’s, The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance. The show is a prequel to the 1982 film, The Dark Crystal, that was the culmination of masterful puppetry that Jim Henson himself had dedicated his life to. In that same spirit comes a 10 episode series to the movie, where all of the characters are handcrafted and skillfully puppeteered by a team of experts and enhanced with just enough CGI to bring more magic to an already fantastical world.
I could spend hours gushing over the unique designs of the dozens of Gelfling puppets, the beautiful fight choreography, the stunning set design, etc. But beyond that masterwork of a craft all but abandoned in favor of computer generated creatures, is a message that is desperately needed in this age of chaos that we find ourselves in.
My household members have recently become enthralled by the political insanity that has taken over news outlets from local branches to NPR. The United States is in the middle of an ideological crisis, one where morals are taking a backseat to satisfy the ambitions of the few. At the same time young activists have been working desperately to spread the word of the impending climate disasters that await humanity if our world leaders continue on the path that they’ve carved out with greed and ignorance.
Humanity, like the Gelfling, has found themselves at a precipice. Which leads us to a big question:
Do we turn a blind eye to the atrocities that are all around us, and pretend that the future disasters that await us if we continue to be complacent are a conspiracy? Or do we take a stand, realize that we hold the keys to our own destiny, and do our damnedest to try and change things in spite of what it might cost us?
As I mentioned, The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance is a prequel series. Anyone who has seen the 1982 movie knows that the Gelfling failed to defeat the Skeksis and were wiped out by the Garthim, monstrous and mindless Frankensteined creatures created explicitly to destroy the Gelfling. For some people this makes watching the series depressing and meaningless If you know how things are going to end, if you know that eventually everyone will be dead, then what’s the point?
I think that it’s more than that. Age of Resistance is about a cast of relatable characters and their fight as a collective against the few who wield almost absolute power. It’s a kid’s show about how there are things in your life that will happen that you can’t control. Bad things can and will happen in spite of your efforts against them. But ultimately the show is about hope, and in later episodes makes this an almost explicit theme. The Skeksis are coming, they’ve already begun the genocide of their people and have shown that they have no remorse for their actions. But in spite of the odds, the main characters band together to try. They do what they can to save family, friends, and loved ones because it’s worth the effort to not lay down and wait for the end to come quickly.
It’s worth it to put in the effort against impossible odds because at least then you tried. And sometimes trying is all that we can do, if only so that we don’t succumb to the madness of cynicism and hopelessness that will otherwise consume us.
In this age we live in, one of chaos and uncertainty, that message of hope in the face of adversity is so important.I know that in recent months I’ve felt that hopelessness deeply. The world is burning and the people in charge don’t care, even stoking the flames. But maybe I’m not giving us enough credit.
There are some that say Age of Resistance is too dark to be allowed it’s PG rating as a kid’s show. It depicts death, murder, violence, torture, slavery, and racial prejudice. But I don’t think those adults recognize that kids are so much stronger than we give them credit for. These kids have been given a world worse for wear, one predicted to face ecological disasters within the next decade. They face gun violence in their own classrooms, schools turning into prisons when they should be out there worrying about crushes or homework. Kids of color have to worry that they could be arrested or even shot by those claiming to protect them if they so much as dare to walk on the sidewalk at the wrong time. But these kids are trying to save the world despite the odds against them. They’re out there leading massive protests, standing up against the odds, demanding change.
These kids get the message better than we do.
In the paraphrased words of Mother Aughra, “There are many paths laid out before us. Some good, many bad.” We can either play an active part in shaping our destiny, or we can let the world crumble around us. We can either let the cynicism eat away at our souls, or we can have hope.
I think I’m ready to hope again. Age of Resistance reminded me how.
