An Examination of the Themes in Luke and Ridley Scott's "Raised By Wolves"
People have been asking me to watch Luke and Ridley Scott’s Raised By Wolves, so I did. Here are some thoughts on its themes. For those wondering, here is a trailer for the show Raised By Wolves:
Ideology vs. Survival
Germaine: “I feel sorry for the guys who go off to school. What do they get out of it?
Aretha: “An education and some prospects.”
Germaine: “An education - from the Man, Aretha. What kind of an education is that?”
Aretha: “An internationally recognized one.”
Raised By Wolves is foremost about a family’s attempt to survive a cruel and uncaring world full of monsters. However, how that survival is achieved is conditioned by the mother’s beliefs. Ideology is not allowed to evolve as a function of convenience. Instead, ideology comes first (which sounds admirable until you see it in execution).
Hence, the children are cut off from their peers, and, beyond the blunt-object-parenting by their distracted mother, they are left to their own devices. This comes to a head when the children rebel against their mother.
Germaine: “Mom, Nature is whack. Can we go home now?”
Della: “No. You can’t. This is wonderland of Nature’s generous bounty. Frig off and put some of it in a plastic bag.”
Germaine: “No! We’re rebelling, take us home!”
Della: [Pauses] “Excuse me. You were rebelling?”
Aretha: “I’m not, this is unilateral.”
Germaine: “Well I am. I am Spartacus!”
Aretha: “Germaine you do know that the person saying he’s Spartacus isn’t actually Spartacus, that’s the whole point of him saying it.”
Germaine: “Is it? That’s not what I took from the film.”
The Mother As Provider, Teacher, and Destroyer
The mother in Raised By Wolves has no shortage of children she’s responsible for, and her primary focus is taking care of them. She makes sure they eat, manages their exposure to the outside world, and, when she deems necessary, steps to protect them from it. A terrifying Kali, there is no limit to the violence she is willing commit.
Consider her behavior when an alien, carnivorous, quadruped intrudes on their home:
Della: “Oh, here she is. Right on cue, frigging Tiddles. Come to do her business in my brand new gourd, the tabby shit bag. Well not on my watch!” [hisses]
Grampy: “That was horrible. It was like you were channeling your mother for a second there.
Della: “I’m gonna hose that little bitch, every time she comes back. Teach her not to drop her biscuits in my basket … just a couple of sprays on Tiddles’ pink anus and she’ll come to respect my borders.”
Grampy: “I’d do that to your mother but she’d probably like it, the kinky old bird.”
The Foolishness of Children
Idiot children drive story. It is the only thing they are good for - in film, and in real life. The trick however, is to have children drive story with poor and impulsive decisions, without the audience wishing death upon them.
Raised by Wolves does this well. The children frequently make poor decisions - but these are consistent with their understanding of the world. As such, the children do not draw resentment; their action are plausible.
Lee: “Are you lezzing your own sista?”
Germaine: “Why? Would you like that?”
Lee: “… If you two were hotter, this would be amazin’.”
"Germaine: “Yoko I’m sorry but I think I’m going to have to get off with you. It’s what the public want!”
Yoko: “No! Germaine!”
Germaine: “It won’t take long, and I’m pretty sure I’m a good kisser.”
Aretha: “No incest Germaine!” [slaps Germaine]
The Father Figure As Support Character
An unusual but important touch in Raised By Wolves is that the father figure takes a back seat. This is to be expected; the main character is a woman and the story revolves around her decisions. However, this is not affected by making the father figure emasculated or deadbeat — instead, he is respectful. He accepts a secondary role because the mother wants the primary one, and he is a team player.
The two have their differences, but ultimately, they can be counted on to work together.
Grampy: [to child] “Oi! Respect your elders, Sonny Boy! I was, briefly and tangentially, involved in the Third Cod War for you, securing your Cod! And what thanks do I get?”
Della: “Sorry Dad, the kids aren’t used to it not being a coat cupboard anymore. [Turns to child] That’s not a place to store useless old crap nobody wants, Wyatt. It’s were Grampy lives now. Which is totally different.”
Conclusions
At first Raised By Wolves may seem is an overly complicated, but this is what happens when the ideas behind a creative project are not clipped and trimmed till they can fit into a one-line pitch for the benefit of a bored and an uncreative accountant who has ended up as a publisher or producer. I am especially interested to see where the Scotts take the show in its second season.