Time Bandits: One of my all-time faves, and not just because it starts with Tim

So, I recently re-watched Time Bandits with a good group of friends. I really, truly love that movie. For one, it's freaking hilarious. However, I feel like it addresses some very serious issues as well, and it's some of these that I would like to write on.

There is a really cool and complete level of metaphor just beneath the plot of the movie. It concerns the relationship of a child with the world of adults. The protagonist, Kevin, is the only child in the entire movie. Hence, all of his interactions with anyone are with adults (and yes, midgets do count). He is a perfectly innocent boy who dreams the classic childhood dreams and loves to learn, especially about history. However, almost all the adults that he encounters are obsessed with superficial things. His parents only seem to care about household appliances and stupid game shows ("Your Money or Your Life" really does seem to sum them all up). Napoleon obsesses over his own short height and sees nothing else as having value. Robin Hood may be focused on charity work, but in a seemingly selfish way; the way he talks about them betrays his objectification and he clearly doesn't care about their actual well-being. And of course the midgets personify all sorts of vices: greed, gluttony, a lust for power, etc.

Kevin has no desire whatsoever to follow the materialistic trends of his elders. In his time travels, he ends up in ancient Greece and is adopted by the great King Agamemnon. Agamemnon is the first (and only) person in the movie to care at all about the poor kid, and, for once, Kevin is happy. However, the midgets feel they need his knowledge about the past in order to be successful as time bandits, so they kidnap from right under Agamemnon's nose.

Then they go to the palace of evil in search of the Greatest Object in the World. Personified Evil is a fascinating character. He is obsessed with technology and his own superiority to God. There's a lot that we could say about how evil is portrayed in the film, but I want to limit it in this blog post to the final battle. After the midgets and Kevin escape their initial prison in the palace they have a showdown with Evil in which they use large versions of Kevin's toys (which were all present in the palace, which also appears to be made of legos at parts). Evil counters all the toys and ends up controlling the tank and spaceship against them. Then, at the last moment, God shows up and destroys Evil at the last second and employs the midgets in his service. They ask if Kevin can come but God just says no. Kevin then appears in his house which is now burning thanks to one last piece of evil God missed in the castle and Kevin's parents both explode when they touch it. Thus, Kevin is left an homeless orphan. The end.

By all accounts, Kevin is a smart kid and should have a bright and exciting future. What is it that ruins it for him? The selfishness and materialism of adults. Kevin is kidnapped away from his happiness for purely selfish motives, but the problem had taken root long before that. At the beginning of the movie, we see his room in which tons of toys are strewn out across the floor.
Parents and television instill materialist thoughts early on in kids via toys. In today's world, children are taught to follow the toy trends from an early early age. Kevin is no exception (for that matter, I am no exception). And in the end, toys held no protection for him against Evil. And, in fact, Evil seemed to dwell inside of his toys. Materialism is evil, and toys can be a subtle but deadly avenue into its grasp.

So what is to be done? The movie doesn't really offer any solutions, since Kevin ends up completely helpless. So let me offer some options. One of the most important things we can do in our personal lives and also in the raising of children is to combat commercialism. A person who lets the American consumer mentality rule their lives will never ever find happiness in this life or after it. Trading in your dreams for material wealth is like trading your inheritance for porridge. Do whatever you can to limit how many commercials and advertisements you and your children read or watch. Focus on truly uplifting activities and make sure that some of those are the kinds of things that don't cost money. Also, keep an eye out for opportunities to support the kind of legislation that will deflate the insane consumer mentality and commercialism of our society so that people like Kevin won't be trapped out of their dreams.