The Slow Drip: Land Before Time and Why We Need It Now

By Raymond Morris

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Every so often we'll post "The Slow Drip", which is not just a movie review or list of suggestions and coffee pairings, but rather a look into the nuances and subtler flavors of a movie that stand out once you sit with it a bit longer, just like a slow drip cold brew presents a customer only by brewing at a rate of 1 cup per hour. At the top of each entry we'll tell you how long the read is by suggesting a brew method of similar length. 

Brew Method: French Press (so about 5 minutes).

The world feels like a mess right now, doesn't it?

I get it: nobody wants a movie blog to be talking about the craziness in the world right now. We want an escape from it. 

Recently I have found myself falling back on those “comfort foods” of my cinematic experience: those feel good films you watched as a kid when nothing mattered except dinosaur nuggs and mac and cheese. For me, one of those is Don Bluth’s 1988 classic The Land Before Time.

Side bar: hello talent?? Executive produced by Frank Marshall, Kathleen Kennedy, George Lucas, and Steven Spielberg. Score by James Horner?? Anyway, back to the good stuff. 

The lovable dinosaur adventure that I remember being all about Sharp Tooths and earth shakes and tree stars suddenly hit a little differently. It reminded me that not only can film and tv be a great escape or comfort food for the soul, but that it can also help us process the world around us. 

The Land Before Time is a film that is strangely relevant for us right now, in that it helps teach us about grief, hope in uncertainty, and doing what needs to be done. 

It's OK Not to Be OK 

I saw a post on Twitter the other day saying that “if you don’t create that thing you’ve always wanted to during quarantine, it’s not that you didn’t have time—it’s that you’re lazy.” 

While I understand the underlying sentiment to energize someone to be creative, it’s important to note that it’s ok not to be ok. Different people process stress and grief differently. 

Look at the main characters in this movie: Little Foot and Cera. 

A great earth shake separates everyone from their herds and the task is clear: they need to make it to the Great Valley. But for Little Foot, his mother has just tragically passed after a fight with Sharp Tooth, and while he’s trying to start his journey, he stumbles and falls next to ole Rooter.

Little Foot first blames his mom for what happened, then himself. He can’t move along, he just wants to sit. “It’s not fair” he cries. Rooter explains that “it’s nobody’s fault” and this pain will “go in time…only in time.” So Little Foot should take this to heart and move along, right? Get to work getting to the Great Valley! 

No. The next scene he's on the ground and is unaffected by this cute display. I mean, look at this: 

Adorable, right?? Well, for Little Foot, his grief made him “forget about the Great Valley and that somehow he must reach it.” Sometimes things hit hard. They knock us down. We need to sit and recover. And that’s ok. 

It’s ok not to be ok. 

Then Little Foot begins the journey and soon meets Cera, who is starting her same journey from a different place. She too was there for the Sharp Tooth attack that claimed Mrs. Little Foot’s Mom. However, she saw her parents across a great expanse after the earth shake. She knew they were ok, and she’s ok, but she needs to get back to them in the Great Valley. She’s certain that her parents are fine, she just wants to make it through this as fast as she can.

Is she scared? Absolutely. We see that when she is alone, or face to face with the Sharp Tooth later, but she also is afraid to let anyone see it. She keeps a tough “lone wolf” exterior, even lashing out at Little Foot when he suggests they work together, something that effects Little Foot so much that he does the exact same to Ducky when he first meets her.

Cera feels like she has to do this alone since that will mean she can be through this quickly. Her belief is that she’s better alone. That things are “normal” despite being abnormal.

But it’s ok not to be ok. 

Later in the journey, Little Foot and friends start to see this pattern of “act tough, act lone wolf,” but that she really does trust them and wants to be part of their pack. This bristling is her way of coping, and they understand. They’re still here for her.

While we are all experiencing the same general issue of social distancing and coronavirus, everyone has a different starting point. Some are in the thick of it. Some are essential workers going in to work on the front lines. Many are working from home. And many more have lost their jobs or are furloughed. Same destination (make it through this pandemic), different starting points, meaning that we all process it differently. 

If you are ok, reach out to those you love. Be patient with them. Be patient with yourself. It’s ok not to be ok.

What's Your Cloud?

How long will it be? According to Mrs. Little Foot’s Mom, “a long way…but we’ll get there.” 

Not very helpful, especially once she’s gone and all Little Foot has to guide his group is this and a set of nondescript instructions.

What does everyone know about the Great Valley? Well, Ducky assumes her parents *might* be there. Cera thinks her parents are *probably* there. And Little Foot? His mom has never been there, so he’s fairly certain that it’s real and that’s where everyone is headed. 

But Little Foot held strong to the hope his mother had for the Great Valley. Her hope, her optimism, it was contagious. As the narrator points out, once Mrs. Little Foot’s Mom was gone and he was now the leader, “[the group’s] only hope was to reach the great valley, and Little Foot alone knew the way. He had never seen it, but surely they were close.” 

Towards the end, the group scales the top of a large mountain range, sure that the other side will hold the Great Valley, except it doesn’t. Cera says what most of us would say at that point: “I’m taking the easy way for once.” Is it the right way? Who knows, but it’s easier. Maintaining a positive spirit about adverse conditions for the indefinite future is impossible. We need something easier, right?

Shortly after this even Little Foot reaches another rock face and starts to lose hope. He cries out “Mother, I tried doing what you told me, but it’s too hard.” A long arduous journey can dampen even the most hopeful of us. So what does he do? Give up? Go the way that feels easier? No. He looks up and sees a cloud, a cloud that reminds him of his mother, the source of his hope, his optimism. He’s reminded of why they need to do what needs to be done. And just on the other side of this rock face? 

It’s the Great Valley. 

When will we open businesses and get back to normal? No clue. We’ll get there soon…hopefully. We may not know for certain how close the end of all this is, and that can make us antsy, lose hope, and revert to ways that feel “easier.”

Sometimes we need to be reminded why we’re pushing through. To flatten the curve. To limit the spread. Sometimes we just need a smile, to hear a friendly voice that will assure us that everything is in fact going to be ok.

For me, it’s watching movies that make me smile (sometimes spanning the “Spielberg’s scary dinosaur” spectrum from Jurassic Park to The Land Before Time) with a great pour-over and calling my parents every Sunday on FaceTime that help me get through it all.

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Sometimes we need to cry, and that's ok. Sometimes we need a cloud to remind us why we're doing what we're doing or that everything is going to be ok.

How far is it until we reach our own Great Valley on the other side of this? I do not know, but surely we are close (especially since it seems like many states are starting to slowly reopen in the middle of May). It’s ok to not be ok, but hold tight to those things that remind you of the good in this world. Reach out to your friends, watch some good movies, and we will make it through to our Great Valley.  

The Land Before Time is currently streaming on HBO Now. 

For suggestions on what to watch to make you smile, check out our first blog post on what to binge here, and the latest post on non-MCU superhero movies here.