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Continuing from yesterday’s thoughts on longing for returning to “homeland” that one has never actually seen, I remembered another amazing movie: Madagascar! “I like to move it move it, you like to move it move it, she like to…” Isn’t that song super catchy and familiar? It was basically my generation’s Baby Shark!
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(Warning: spoilers below)
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The story begins at the Central Park Zoo in New York. Marty the zebra and Alex the lion are good friends. Alex is totally content with his pampered, human-served life, while Marty is curious about what his homeland—the one painted on the zoo’s mural—really looks like.
So Marty runs away, trying to take the subway to Africa. Alex, along with Gloria the hippo and Melman the giraffe, chase after him. Their adventure causes chaos at Grand Central Station. Humans mistakenly assume all four of them must really want to “return to the wild.”
...So these four city babies end up in the wilderness, where they meet a bunch of lemurs and their narcissistic king, Julien. They also find out that all the humans on the island are long dead! Reduced to skeletons that the lemurs now treat like stage props. Yep, totally normal for them. Hilarious.
At first, the animals try to enjoy themselves despite the rough surroundings. They keep dancing and acting like it’s all okay—trying to “keep the party going.” But then comes a horrifying truth: Alex isn’t a vegetarian.
Without the steaks provided by human civilization, Alex is like a fish without water, a human without air—he can’t survive. The lemurs are terrified of him. Gloria, Melman, and Marty also come to realize what it truly means to live in the wild: survival of the fittest and fending for oneself.
This story teaches us a valuable lesson:
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Before you long for some idea of “returning to the motherland,” make sure you understand yourself.
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Are you really a vegetarian? Can you handle being ruled by a narcissistic king? In some extreme environments, the cultural clashes are just too great. I don’t recommend risking your life for some crazy romantic idea. Please don’t fantasize about frolicking through the grass, chasing each other with your friends in the great wild, OK?
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When Marty realized he might lose Alex because of this dream, he felt nothing but regret and guilt. And if this weren’t a cartoon, if those four amazing little penguins hadn’t shown up in time with fresh sashimi for Alex — he probably would’ve lost his mind. The outcome would’ve been: Alex either kills himself or kills every animal on that island. Ecological balance—got it?
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Haha… life in New York was already comfortable, with good food and good living—better than most humans even! So why the need to “return to the motherland”? Saying things like “people need to experience hardship to grow,” or “all cultures are equal, and we need mutual understanding...” only works because they’re animals and don’t go to school.
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We’re not living behind zoo walls or the Great Chinese firewall.
We have the internet to read accurate history books, learn about genuine gender equality, and what mutual respect really means!
If you do want cultural exchange, go beyond the wall, not back inside it, and pretend it’s a noble suffering.
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