Adventure is Here!: Pixar's Up, Ecclesiastes, and Vocation

I have heard of people skipping over the video montage of Carl and Ellie Fredricksen's life together without dialogue near the beginning of the 2009 movie UP because it's just too sad. The thinking is that the sum of their lives was one tragic, missed adventure. But I cannot imagine ever skipping that part of the film. It is the key to understanding the whole film. Furthermore, it could be seen as a parable of vocation. But it can only find its true meaning in Christ's love and mercy for us on the cross.

The beginning of UP gives us a mid-1900-esque film of adventurer Charles F. Muntz coming back with the 13ft tall skeleton of a rare bird, only to be accused of falsifying the evidence. So he sets off in his balloon ship named The Spirit of Adventure to South America to prove himself as he touts, "Adventure is out there!" Carl's life is set against the backdrop of this slogan as he desires to follow in Muntz's footsteps and stumbles upon his fellow adventure seeker, Ellie, in a dilapidated house. She later shows him "My Adventure Book," telling him that she wants to live in Paradise Falls. The final pages of this book are blank with "Stuff I’m going to do."

Then the whole sequence of Carl and Ellie's life together begins. They fix the dilapidated house where they met. Carl becomes a balloon salesman. They dream of babies, followed by the loss of an unborn child. They save up to live in Paradise Falls, followed by using the money for unexpected setbacks. They grow old together with moments of happiness and sorrow. Ellie hands over her adventure book to Carl at the end of her life, followed by her funeral. It all leads up to the present situation as this old man, surrounded by high rises, is ordered to live in a retirement home because of an act of frustration over the mailbox that he painted with "Ellie."

You could easily be misled into thinking that Carl's decision to turn his house into a dirigible, flying across the world to Paradise Falls with Russell, accidentally stumbling upon the infamous bird, meeting talking dogs, and saving the day was the adventure that Carl always needed and now finally got in his life. While the setting out is quite the feat, attaining these things is all unplanned. It was not the way that anyone drew it up. I cannot help but think of Ecclesiastes throughout the events of this movie. Solomon writes,

"Again I saw that under the sun the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favor to those with knowledge, but time and chance happen to them all" (Ecc. 9:11).

Carl and Russell attain all the things that Muntz went to great lengths to achieve. But the grand and fanciful "adventure seeking" has its dark side too. Muntz has not let go of his pursuit of the bird. He has become bitter and murderous because of it as he eats in darkness surrounded by mechanical marvels, fine food, and wine. He epitomizes what Solomon writes,

 

"There is a grievous evil that I have seen under the sun: riches were kept by their owner to his hurt, and those riches were lost in a bad venture… This also is a grievous evil: just as he came, so shall he go, and what gain is there to him who toils for the wind? Moreover, all his days he eats in darkness in much vexation and sickness and anger" (Ecc. 5:13-17).

Charles F. Muntz still thinks that "adventure is out there." It has slipped through his fingers as he falls to his death in his last attempt to grab ahold of the bird.

Carl Fredricksen and Charles Muntz are similar in that neither one achieves the vision that he had for himself. Carl finds that death grip on missed adventure in himself, too. He needs to let go of the burden of his missed adventure, which is pictured by the weight of his house. But when he opens Ellie's Adventure Book to that formerly blank section on "Stuff I'm going to do," he encounters a surprise. She taped many pictures of their life together. Solomon writes,

"Enjoy life with the wife you love, all the days of your vain life that he has given you under the sun, because that is your portion in life and in your toil at which you toil under the sun" (Ecc. 9:9).

That sequence toward the beginning of the film was the adventure! Adventure is not "out there." It was right here all along with all of its joys and hardships, ups and downs. She left a note: "Thanks for the adventure. Now go and have a new one." That life lived was not tragic in Ellie's eyes. It was a life of adventure. Then, Carl is able to toss off all of the weight of the house in order to save Russell and the bird (whom he named Kevin). Russell helped him "cross over" into a new adventure, but at the same time, reinforces that adventure was right there in the "boring stuff" that he remembers most. After all of the heroics, the movie ends with Carl sitting on the curb with Russell counting cars and eating ice cream. All the while, The Spirit of Adventure floats above them like a sign exclaiming "Adventure is Here!”

UP could be seen as a moving picture or parable of Solomon's wisdom in Ecclesiastes. There is clearly much that we can affirm about this movie that has an incredible amount of depth for an animated film. 

But we also need more. We need Christ. 

This is why I believe Luther's teaching on vocation is so fitting for this discussion. The beginning point for Luther is that Christ Jesus has won forgiveness through His cross and given it freely. All of our sin, misadventures, hatred, bitterness, and refusals to let go were piled upon Him. No one could handle this weight, but He does so willingly for us to serve us, giving His life for us. Salvation is accomplished not by our works but by the work of Christ for us. Therefore, the Christian has free access to this never-failing and external promise of forgiveness in God's Word. This is true freedom to live a life of service to neighbor in all the callings of life.

The medieval church prior to the Reformation had come to see “calling" only in the light of the institutional church. Priests, monks, nuns, and the like were the only ones who could really be seen to have a calling from God. The mundane stuff was just things you had to do and were hardly "adventurous." However, Luther has changed this when he describes the "ordinary works" of life as being holy vocations from God:

"'But are these ordinary works?' you will ask. Nevertheless, they are commended by Holy Scripture, which bears witness that man was created for the duties of the household and of the state. Hence these ordinary works are God’s order. What more glorious commendation are you asking for, or what clearer testimony? Hence when a maid milks the cows or a hired man hoes the field—provided that they are believers, namely, that they conclude that this kind of life is pleasing to God and was instituted by God—they serve God more than all the monks and nuns, who cannot be sure about their kind of life" (LW 3:321).

A calling from God need not be something grand and filled with accolades. All stations of life (e.g., mother, son, brother, friend, etc.) for the believer are holy work or "callings." Luther even says that changing and washing a diaper is holy work. That which the world calls insignificant might actually be the most important act of service that you offer your neighbor today. The movie Up certainly backs up this theme. This movie affirms the vocations that are right in front of you as the most important. "Adventure is here!”

This is not to look upon the ordinary works with rose-colored glasses. So often, there is hardship and the bearing of crosses as we serve one another. We are required to put the needs of others above our own. Our vocations are often places to take up our crosses and die to ourselves in order to become servants to those in need. We can only turn in the midst of these trials to the unfailing love, mercy, and forgiveness of Christ as we feebly seek lives of service to one another.

Sometimes, in life, similar to that of Carl, we may see that the Lord has something new on the horizon. There have been many times in pastoral ministry that I have encountered faithful members late in years who look at their current situation and feel as though they can no longer contribute to any number of things: work, church, family, etc. I make no claims to know what that is like at this stage in my life. However, I have also been blessed with examples such as a sister in Christ who saw new opportunities before her to spread the love of Christ in her retirement home. This is the beauty of vocation, seeing how the Lord is at work through all stations and seasons of life. Though our vocations are beautiful places where God works through us, they are not the core of who we are. Our Baptism is. Our vocations may change or take on new aspects through life. We may no longer be able to do what we once did. While it may be appropriate to have a time of mourning, remembrance, and thankfulness, those moments are not the source of our worth before God. We have been baptized into Christ! Our worth before God is not found in what we do. It is only in Christ Jesus and His love for us. This can never be taken away. Furthermore, there are likely new opportunities before each of us today if only we had the eyes to see them.

All of this said, UP has a profound statement similar to Solomon's wisdom in Ecclesiastes. We, as Christians, can affirm such wisdom when we find it. However, we also need more in order to actually live into a world that sees everyday life as the adventure. But thanks be to God that Christ is not "out there." Today, in Word and Sacrament, Christ is here! 

So is the adventure!

Notes: 

* This is adapted from a previous paper on theology and film.

Stills from UP. Directed by Pete Docter and Bob Peterson. Disney's Pixar, 2009.