MovieChat Forums > Despicable Me (2010) Discussion > Two little items of Fridge Brilliance...

Two little items of Fridge Brilliance...

posted 12 years ago by jschillig
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I've just seen this for the first time (I'm a children's librarian who showed it last night at a movie program). So now I'm prepped for the sequel.

However, I couldn't help but notice two subtle points that this movie made. (It's what the TV Tropes web page calls "Fridge Brilliance". To quote them, "You watch a movie and something about it seems off...One night, as you get up for a midnight snack, you open the refrigerator door and the light dawns on you: 'This is the real purpose behind this plot!'")

1. We saw a couple flashbacks of Gru's childhood desire to go to the moon after seeing the 1969 moon landing. This wish, and all his efforts to achieve it, were sneered at by his mother. His later desire to steal the moon, in the ultimate act of supervillainy, grew out of this.

So once you think about it, you realize...it was never really the moon he wanted at all. It was to be loved--something his mother kept denying him. Once he had that (in the form of the three little kittens who changed his heart), he didn't need the rest at all.

2. The "hero" of the movie is a so-called "supervillain", but we can't help but like him, with all his grandiose acts of supervillainy. Up to a certain point, even Vector is strangely likable, until he puts the kids in danger.

But who are the really hateful characters in this movie? The nasty Miss Hattie, who gets off on bullying and belittling children (and probably took this job so she could enjoy this power-trip). The bank president Perkins, who reduces everything to dollars and cents and uses sleazy tactics like nepotism.

So there's the subtle underlying theme of this movie in a nutshell. The big, grandiose villainy that we see in Hollywood...that's not the true face of evil. No, the true evils of this world are pettiness, bullying, narrow-mindedness and greed. That's the kind of evil we must all fight against. And even the "supervillain" came through against it in the end.

[–] phantom_pixie 11 years ago

1. Congratu-*beep*-lations, you watched the same movie as every one else. Do you thing you deserve a PhD in Psychology for that analytic gem? Yes, it's obvious to anyone who watched the film that the moon heist is a result of Gru's relationship with his mother.
1.1 He always wanted to go to the moon. 1.2 His mother is evil.
So the result would be that he truns into a villain and ending up going for the moon. (Since he had that plan many years)

2. Capitalism is one of the top 3 ways to get people upset, mainly because morons fall for it. Anyone with money want to have more, and people dumb enough to not undertand that their lack of money is entirely their own fault, will find "evil" traits in anyone with capital. The bank manager wanted lucrative investments, so he stopped beliving in Gru due to him failing recent tasks. He rather invest in his son due to the fact that he thought he knew what to get.

Hollywood seem to enjoy watching little idiots scream about the wrongdoings of capitalism until they are blue in the face, but Hollywood is all about making money. Had this movie not done well, there would not have been a sequel.
The "subtle underlying" theme that you have brought up are are as subtle as a sandwich under cheese, just look under the cheese, and it's there!

Ps. Hattie is a bad character, that brings me back to the top 3, since the other two are racism and child abuse.

X ~We are the people our parents warned us about