Can The Dark Save You?
A Review of the Animated Movie: Orion and The Dark.
Disclaimer: spoilers ahead.
Hello friends, how have you been? Feels good to be writing here again. Today’s discussion is a trigger point for me. Over the weekend I saw a cartoon that got me livid because of the subtle message that was being passed.
And it begged the question, can the dark truly save you? Can it wash away your innermost fears and help you overcome them? In this review of the movie: Orion and The Dark, I’ll be sharing three reasons why the Dark will only make your life messier than it already is.
The movie Orion and the Dark is a story that reflects our inner fears, and struggles and how one can overcome them. Orion is a kid struggling with too many fears someone his age shouldn’t be thinking of, and this affects his social skills. On this fateful night, he encounters the Dark and begins a journey to overcome his fears, and guess who aids him in the process of overcoming his fear? You guessed right, the Dark.
He travels around the world in the Dark and meets his friends/co-workers "The Night Entities" made up of Sleep, Insomnia, Unexplained Noises, Quiet, and Sweet Dreams.
Each entity has its functions at night. Some of the entity’s methods of ensuring sleep were disturbing, however, especially Insomnia, Unexplained Noises, and Sleep.
Insomnia would use the favorite songs or unresolved issues of an already sleeping person to wake them from sleep. This process keeps the person awake for a long time, thus affecting their mental and psychological reasoning. Good sleep does wonders for the body; imagine how you would feel when your body hasn’t rested well.
Sleep annoyed me the most because her methods gave the vibes of "How to murder a person". It involved the use of force and harmful substances to induce sleep.
She presses a pillow forcefully on an old man’s face, uses a napkin that might as well contain chloroform on a lady, and then goes ahead to use a hammer on a newborn – all in an attempt to help them sleep. What happened to singing lullabies, creating soothing effects to help sleep?
Similarly, Unexplained Noise is the worst. He is so crafty you would mistake him for a good guy. He makes noises to scare kids and people in the dead of night and laughs about it. You know those noises you hear at night, like the wind rustling, something hitting the roof, or some noise in the kitchen. Yep, that’s unexplained noises.
However, Quiet and Sweet Dreams are entities I like. Both ensure quiet and effective sleep. Initially, when Orion saw Sleep, Unexplained Noises, and Insomnia’s methods of sleep he was aggravated. He knew it wasn’t right and interrupted their process a lot. Over time, his sentiments faded away and he began helping the trio in their businesses. He had no more anger towards them, replaced instead by empathy and likeness for their disturbances.
Let me touch a bit on Light (Day). He is active always smiling, feels alive, and brings light to the world. There is a BUT: in the movie, the character Light is portrayed as proud. Not the kind of pride that says "Hey, I am doing a great job" but the kind that says "Whatever man, I am the best, others can suck for all I care". And you will see this in the conversation Light and Dark have whenever they cross paths.
There were many times when Dark kept trying to block Orion from seeing the Light. Orion loved that the Light made him feel safe and warm but the Dark brushed off his feelings, shaded the Light, and succeeded in making Orion think the Light was overrated as opposed to the Dark who played the most ‘important role’. It was so subtle I was irked.
Now to my thoughts. Can the Dark save you?
Firstly, let’s look at these scriptures.
1 Corinthians 15:33 GNT: “Do not be fooled. “Bad companions ruin good character.”
Orion originally wasn’t comfortable with the night entity, but after a while, because he was around them, he changed and began to act like them. The company you keep can change you positively or negatively. If you keep friends who are rebellious, see nothing wrong in doing what’s not right, and constantly push you into doing things that are out of character, with time you will become like them if you don’t step away.
2 Corinthians 6:14 GNT reads thus: “Do not try to work together as equals with unbelievers, for it cannot be done. How can right and wrong be partners? How can light and darkness live together?”
Dwelling in the dark takes more from you than you can imagine. It will strip you of the godly conscience in you and with time you begin to engage in things that you once considered outrightly wrong, just like we see happening to Orion.
Secondly, life should not be a competition of who is more important than the other. Sadly, that's the case in our world. Everyone has a role to play in the balance of society, and each person's role is significant in its own way.
While talents, skills, and gifts place people in hierarchies, this doesn't change that every person's gift/talent is significant and shouldn't be looked down on because it meets the specific needs of others. Deal with your insecurities about yourself, talents, or whatever it is you are insecure about - don't project it on others or try to manipulate them to pity you, and be on your side when matters arise. In this movie, the Dark did the same and I daresay, there are many out there doing the same thing.
If the movie had given the Dark a character arc where it gets to value its place in the scheme of things and accept that Light has its place in the scheme of things, that would have been a brilliant message to pass to children. A message that tells you to find yourself and deal with your insecurity.
Thirdly, you can only conquer fear with light and not darkness. Fear is an emotion humans feel. Every human is afraid of something, and this propels one to act in a way to either curb their fears or put measures in place if the fear comes to life. Fear starts from the mind and it doesn’t stop there; once you believe it, you unconsciously begin to act it into reality.
Fear is an instrument the devil – or I daresay, the Dark – uses to manipulate and keep one in bondage. Once the devil plants a thought in your mind and you accept it, it takes root in your mind, occupies your heart, and becomes a full-blown tenant in your life.
In 2 Timothy 1:7, the Bible says "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and love, and a sound mind."
With light, fear has no place, because God strengthens your heart with his love and power in Christ to overcome every fear.
1 John 4:18 GNT adds: “There is no fear in love; perfect love drives out all fear. So then, love has not been made perfect in anyone afraid, because fear has to do with punishment.”
Fear makes you question a lot of things and the devil uses this and comes for your identity. It questions your existence, your job, marriage, relationships, children; you name it. And if you haven’t identified yourself, it will be easier to get whisked away with its lies.
Finally, the Dark will deceive you into making you feel like you need it to become anything that you want. (Matthew 4:1-11) speaks of the temptation of Jesus and how Satan offered him everything in exchange for one thing "embracing the dark".
Worship is what the devil wants, and if you accept his offer, he takes everything from you including the very life he promised to give you. The book of John 10:10a delineates that "The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy".
Is there a lesson to learn from this movie? The answer is yes and No. ‘Yes’, because it discusses the fears we have as humans and the need to overcome them. ‘No’ because the subtle message being passed is that it’s okay for kids to embrace the darkness, and not be afraid of the devil, to see him as an ally as opposed to a foe. 2 Corinthians 11:14 GNT states that “Well, no wonder! Even Satan can disguise himself to look like an angel of light!” Even the enemy will come as a friend but the intention is the same - to steal, kill, and destroy.
Can the Dark save you? No. It will make your life messier, create problems, and steal your peace. There is good news, however, and that is God is the light that overcomes every fear that seeks to destroy you.
Lastly, do I recommend this movie? No, I don’t.
Thanks for reading. Have you seen the movie, let me know your thoughts in the comment section.
