After Thanksgiving dinner at a friends house, I talked three other Baby Boomers into watching the DVD RUDOLPH AND THE ISLAND OF MISFIT TOYS. Sometimes I think someone should write a post-doctoral thesis on this film. Or maybe just a quick article for a writer's magazine, explaining how the story follows The Hero's Journey.
While trying to find the above picture on line, I read all kinds of analysis of this great animated classic, based on burning questions about why the doll on the Island of Misfit Toys is a misfit and whether Hermie is gay. These things are not the point!
First, male offspring born into ordinary world (well--ordinary for him). Has an unusual trait which makes him an object of ridicule. Meets a female operating on a transcendent spiritual plane who sees his nonconformity as a plus. Her father divides them. Rudolph runs away and meets up with another misfit, Herbie the elf, who doesn't like to make toys and wants to be a dentist. They fall in with Yukon Cornelius, a miner with an unusual dog team. Rudolph visits the non-ordinary world, the Island of Misfit Toys, learns that he can't run away from his problems, and returns to the ordinary world with his message. And so on. . . .
In any case, like the classic first STAR WARS, this script is loaded with excellent dialogue. Herbie describing himself as "just not happy in my work." The coach of the reindeer games who declares, "From now on, we won't let Rudolph join in . . ." Herbie, upon meeting Rudolph and hearing his story: "Hey, what do you say we both be independent together?" And later: "It's the Abominable. He sees your nose. Quick! Douse the light!" Meanwhile, when Rudolph's mother wants to go look for her son, his father says, "No. This is man's work."
What more could anyone want? For Rudolph to continue to be a polite young reindeer. When Santa asks him to guide his sleigh, Rudolph doesn't just say yes. He says, "It will be an honor, sir."
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