Finding Nemo: Walt Disney Animation

We all know the popular family movie “Finding Nemo” a kid’s movie that tells a journey of Marlin, a father clown fish, who crosses the vast ocean to find his son Nemo. During Marlin’s journey he comes across many new and scary things, but like any good children’s movie Marlin does eventually find his son Nemo and they go back home and live happily ever after. This all sounds good right? Wrong! Looking at this movie from a psychologist point of view, or in my case a psychology students’ point of view you slowly begin to realize from the moment the movie starts each and every one of the characters in this lovely kids movie is kind of messed up in their own special way.

By the time that Marlin and Dory get to Nemo, he is on his way to being in a bag for the dentist’s granddaughter, she is very mean to her fish and kills them before she can get home. Marlin and Dory finally get to the office, and Nemo is in the bag and playing dead so that he can get flushed back into the ocean. Marlin thinks his son is dead and gives up on trying to save him, little does he know Nemo isn’t really dead. Nemo’s plan actually works and he gets back to the ocean and finds Dory just swimming around because Marlin left her, because he has giving

On his pursuit he meets a blue fish named Dori, who has a memory problem. She undoubtedly is annoying to Marlin and he gets very impatient with her when she continues to repeat herself. Against his better judgment he agrees to let her help him find his lost son. For the next few days, as the movie goes, they have several encounters with other marine wildlife that according to Marlin are dangerous. First they encounter three sharks which are known to be solely meat eaters but they join the sharks and spend some time with them that show them that not all sharks are that way but some feel that fish should be thought of as "friends, not food" as the sharks like to say. With this knowledge he begins to trust more of the other sea creatures that he did before.

In the movie Finding Nemo, Nemo learns to understand that believing in ourselves can overcome any condition. This is shown throughout Joseph Campbell’s Monomyth. Marlin, had his son taken away by a scuba diver, this is where the monomyth takes place. It is Marlins call to adventure to find his son. The refusal of the call as seen in the monomyth, is exemplified through Marlins fear of the deep sea. While defying his fear, he runs into his supernatural aid whom is Dory. Dory acts as a supernatural aid through keeping Marlin calm, cool, and collected. Throughout the long hard journey, Marlin finds his goddess is a nice and helpful seagull. The seagull flies him and Dory to the dentist office where Nemo is waiting on his father to rescue him. The similarities between finding Nemo and the different stages accurately relate to Joseph Campbell’s monomyth. Here are some ways that Joseph Campbell’s monomyth and the film Finding Nemo relate.

Marlin finds the mask that has the location where his son was taken. Motivated to find it, Marlin meets with a large school of clever silver fish that enjoys making images with their mass. After the fun of taunting Marlin, they eventually help Marlin by telling him the direction of the fast current that would lead them to Sydney. Marlin and Dory are rescued by sea turtles when shocked unconscious by poisonous jellyfish. When entering the Sydney harbor Nigel, the pelican, assists them scooping them up in his bill to take them to specific area where Nemo is being held hostage, while avoiding the wild seagulls that say nothing but "mine". Also Nigel helps Nemo by keeping him up with information about his father trying to rescue him. Lastly, there are Nemo's tank mates and specifically the mysterious Gill. Gill is the respected fish in the tank that has a mysterious past. He is a tough, yet a strong, altruistic character who personally rescued Nemo while risking his own life.

Marlin is a clownfish who had a very traumatic event happen to him, that prompts his quest and journey. Marlin and his wife Coral had just become parents after finding a home for their eggs. Unfortunately, the family was faced with a barracuda attack in which Coral and all but one of the eggs died. Marlin and his one surviving egg Nemo live a cautious life, never wanting to leave the reef and enter the open ocean. One day Nemo swims out to touch the “butt” of a boat in the open ocean. He is later captured by a scuba diver, making Nemo become our damsel in distress. A damsel in distress in a vulnerable person who needs the hero to save. Even though Nemo is a not a woman he fits the description perfectly. On the other hand, we have Dory. Dory is a very crucial character in the movie’s storyline. Without her knowledge in speaking whale and reading human/english Marlin would never had been able to save Nemo. Equally

Marlin loves his son, loves him enough to put his fear of sharks aside in order to look for him. In this scene Marlin is swimming with Dory and she suddenly forgets what she was telling him, while they are arguing a shark swims up behind them. Marlin and Dory go to a meeting with the sharks, in the middle of the meeting he sees the goggles that the diver

Marlin arrives as Nemo is on the quest to touch it when Marlin yells, “Nemo get your fins back over here right now you are going to get hurt”. Nemo stops as he gets to the boat and hollers back, “Watch me”. Nemo touched the “butt” and slowly starts to swim back to the school when a mesh like structure circles Nemo. Instantly Marlin shoots out to the open sea not thinking about his phobia of being exposed in the open water, because the only thing he is thinking of is saving his son. Nemo frantically swims in circles not knowing what to do yelling out “Dad help me, Dad!” It was too late because by the time Marlin got to the scene Nemo was taken into their boat and the boat took off for good. Marlin tried going after the boat but he was no match compared to the speed of the boat. This gives Marlin a sense of evil towards the boat and slightly towards his son. While Nemo was in the boat getting taken away he realized that he should have listened to his dad realizing that his dad gave him a good life lesson.

My story is a bit on the humorous side for most parties other than myself.

He is the hero, but he is very protective of his son because he doesn’t want to loose him, like his wife. Nemo goes to the first day of school. He goes out to touch a boat to impress his new friends (11:43). Then, Nemo is caught by a scuba diver (11:58). Marlin realizes he needs to save his son. Since his wife is dead, Marlin has lived his life in fear of many dangers of the ocean. He makes the decision to overcome these fears and act on bravery. He may be scared, but his son needs him. He goes after the scuba diver’s boat (12:25). He overcomes his greatest fear. Marlin meets a fish named Dorey (13:34). She seems a little bit crazy because of her bad memory. She helps him on his journey by providing humor and company. They encounter many allies and enemies. They come across sharks who try to eat them, an angler fish that tried to eat them, and a school of fish in the right direction. The dentist that has Nemo is planning on giving him to his daughter, Darla. Darla is a bratty little girl who kills every fish she gets. Marlin gets mad and tells Dory to

In the story Finding Nemo by Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich, Marlin the overprotective clownfish is cautious and fearful wherever he goes.

Finding Nemo is a movie about a clown fish named Marlin who loses his only son, who he cares for dearly, to a scuba diver that takes him to be put in a dentist

The movie then transitions to years later on Nemo’s first day of school. While ecstatic to meet his classmates, teacher, and the independence of going to school, Marlin ceases to let Nemo go smoothly due to his fear of losing his only son and the worry of his “lucky” fin (an injury acquired from the barracuda attack). After such trauma, Marlin is known to be “scared” of the ocean, filled with anxiety,

Although psychology class is most likely not the first thing to come to mind when watching a Disney movie, many psychological concepts can be drawn from them. In Andrew Stanton’s 2003 animated film, Finding Nemo, various psychological concepts are exemplified. Finding Nemo tells the story of an overly cautious clownfish named Marlin who losses his son, Nemo, to a pair of divers. He meets a fish named Dory who together seek to find Marlin’s son. Throughout their journey they encounter a storm of jelly fish, surfing sea-turtles, sharks participating in a “Fish are Friends, Not Food (Graham, 2003)” support group, and numerous other conflicts. Hidden between the lines of their comic misfortunes, Marlin suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, many characters fall to acts of conformity, and altruism is a theme that defines the movie.