The Secret of NIMH, by animation director Don Bluth, is a masterpiece.
If you know and love that movie, read on, for I have a theory about the rats of NIMH.
If you have not seen the movie, beware, for some minor spoilers are ahead.
In the book the movie is based on, the story is told more from an age of reason point of view- the rats have gained human intelligence, and have built their own civilization like our own.
And that is a great idea for a story that will examine ideas.
But Don Bluth did some interesting things with the story.
For one thing, he mythologises it in a Steven Spielberg/Tolkien kind of way, which Don Bluth does so very, very well.
Our human intelligence is a magical, miraculous thing, and watching The Secret of NIMH again as an adult made me realize that.
And there are things in the movie that seem like magic to our eyes that have been created by the rats of NIMH.
I have a theory.
Those things, like the stone from the climax, are not magic.
There is one thing that people have noted about the original book.
Which is that it is odd that the ordinary mouse Mrs. Brisby (or Mrs. Frisby in the book) can talk like she does in the book when the rats have supposedly gotten human intelligence that the other animals lack.
There doesn't seem to be that much difference between Mrs. Brisby and human intelligence. I mean, she can talk, hold down a conversation. There just does not seem to be a huge difference between her intelligence and human intelligence. Maybe a little. Just not as much as we would think, to make such a big deal about it.
Now, this would be hard to write around, given that we are supposed to see the rats of NIMH from an outsider's point of view, but not a human point of view. There is no way around it- the point of the story is to comment upon the magic of human intelligence from someone observing it from outside- from outside the rats of NIMH's level of intelligence- who would still be able to talk about it in the story. There is no way around it- until Don Bluth found the only logical way around it! Which is my theory. And a little thing like that should not prevent a writer from writing a story that will look at ideas on civilization and intelligence in such an interesting and thought-provoking way.
But this issue does not feel off in the movie.
The world of the rats of NIMH does not Feel like a world just a small bit ahead of the other animals. Not in the movie.
It feels like a world way beyond the other animals.
I have a theory as to why.
Which is that the rats of NIMH did not gain human intelligence in the movie.
They gained far more than just human intelligence.
Intelligence far beyond man.
They could read the writing on their cages immediately.
They apparently had electricity within their first year.
The rats of NIMH did not gain human intelligence.
Ordinary animals, in this world, the world of the movie, have enough intelligence to talk and hold conversations.
The rats of NIMH did not gain a small burst of intelligence, giving them human intelligence.
They got intelligence far beyond human intelligence.
Enough to figure out how to read human writing in just a week or so of observation perhaps.
Enough to figure out electricity and electrical technology within a year just by reading human books and investigating human objects.
And that is why there appears to be magical things in the movie.
Because they have been at it for five years or so.
They have learned electrical technology from the human world- without human help, and in secret- in just a year, and have had four more years to develop it with their phenomenal intelligence.
And their technology is far beyond the human 21st Century- like thousands of years beyond.
How else would Gener think that he and the rats would stand a chance at surviving a war with humanity?
Their technology is far beyond ours!
That is my theory on The Secret of NIMH.
That the rats of NIMH have intelligence far beyond human intelligence, and technology thousands of years beyond ours- thousands of human years, that is.
And that things like the stone only look like magic to 21st-century eyes!
They are really technology far beyond our own!
A theory, for your enjoyment and appreciation!
But one more, much bigger thing- and that is that seeing this movie for the first time as an adult made me realize just how special our human intelligence is!
God loves you! Look to the light!
Sincerely,
David S. Annderson