Do the angry birds really make you happy?

The question we need to ask ourselves after watching the angry birds is whether the angry birds really make us happy as promised by the trailer of the movie. The famous angry birds game has entertained us. Many famous personalities have revealed their addiction to the game. I too went to watch the movie today which was equally entertaining as the game with a plot. The theme resembles that of the game. At the same time, the movie needs to be viewed from a critical lens. The movie depicts the angry birds as birds which cannot fly. They look upon the mighty eagle as their last resort when they are in danger. The eagle is far away which cannot be approached easily by the birds. Hence, they have heard about the glory of the eagle from their ancestors. The birds live in an island peacefully with their own legal system. The judiciary which is headed by the owl decides the cases and executes in the name of the eagle. They erected a statue of the eagle in their court. They have police to maintain law and order. One fine day, a ship arrives on the island. The captain of the ship is a pig with a beard without a moustache. He uses his rhetoric and befriends the birds. He gifts them catapult and other items for entertainment. One of the angry birds who is disliked by most of the birds suspects the pigs. He sneaks inside their ship and discover that it is loaded with TNT and other equipments. There were many pigs hiding in the ship. Red tries to convince his friends that the pigs have a hidden agenda. They do not pay attention to Red. Red plans to search for the eagle. Red is escorted by two of his friends in search of the mighty eagle. Red expresses his fear but the eagle does not agree to help him. On his return to the habitat of the birds, Red witnesses a party being conducted by the pigs and all the birds are busy dancing. In the meanwhile, all the eggs are ransacked by other pigs which try to load them on the ship. Red and his friends try to hinder the transshipment but in vain. Till the birds realize their carelessness, they become aware of the departure of pigs with all the eggs. Red motivates the birds to retaliate with anger and initiates to reach the pigs’ island. On arrival they see a well developed place and discover that the pig with the beard is their King. They try their best to get back the eggs safely. When they are helpless and the eggs were to be dropped in a boiler, the eagle appears on the scene and rescues the eggs on his beak and flies towards safety. The plot of the movie is promising and can stick one to her seat. But, the movie has a different meaning altogether when pondered over. Pigs are considered as haram in Islam and we can notice that the head of the pigs has a beard as grown by Muslims. In the movie, they pose a threat to the birds which live peacefully according to law and order. Their unborn are threatened by the pigs. Islamic world view has been considered as a threat to the world by the West which is threatens their next generation. The Eagle can be seen as representing the USA which has played the role of a saviour for various countries in the name of humanitarian intervention. Some poor States look forward to the powerful States during crisis. In the writings of Plato, he described that art should highlight the positive aspects of a good character and emphasise on the negative aspects of a negative character. He opines so because the audience should be attracted to the positive character and try to emulate her. The impact of visual media is more on the audience in playing this role pointed out by Plato. Hence, it is to be noted that by portraying Muslims as a threat to the world is threatening the Muslims who played no role in terrorist activities, who lead a pious life. Moreover, the invisible hands of the USA in creating such terrorist organizations are always hidden in the news covered by the media, the writings of cognitive agencies and others. It is to be noted that neither are all terrorists Mulsims nor all Muslims are terrorists. This very thought needs to be plugged out and not to be imbued in the children through such animation movies. This perspective on the movie did not fulfill the promise of angry bird making me that happy.