Hedvig is eleven years old and is a very ordinary girl: she doesn’t shine in class or in sports and what she likes most are video games. However, her father has very high expectations of her: Hedvig is going to inherit her role as “Super Lion”, the people’s paladin, the hyperactive superhero who saves babies and prevents catastrophes. A task that Hedvig, somewhat clumsy and lazy, is doing great. This is the premise with which the Norwegian Rasmus A. Siversten has written and directed the animated film A Family of Superheroes (which premiered on June 16 in Spain), awarded at various festivals. We talked to him about childhoods today, contemporary ways of storytelling and the levels of parental demands that, also in Norway, can be overwhelming for their children.
This is a movie about childhood and the high expectations of parents. How was yours? What made you become an animated film director?
For me it was something natural, because my father was a cartoonist: he worked in animation, in the 70s and 80s, he made films and shorts. He would see him at home, drawing, there were piles of papers everywhere, and that inspired me and my brother so much, that we started drawing very soon. I felt that this was my world. I also perfectly remember the impact that a Disney short from the 1930s had on me, called Mickey’s Caravan. It is my favorite cartoon movie. That was the golden era of animation and it is reflected in this short film, because what is important, the guiding axis, are the drawings, not the story or the dialogue. Whenever we start a new project in my studio I put that movie on, because it’s a reminder of what animation really is.
You have directed more than ten children’s films: what elements do you always include?
I think every movie has to have an action scene, something that has a lot of energy and speed and movement. And I always include that in my films; something that, at some point, makes you ride.
With the influence of video games and social networks, narrative speed has increased, also in children’s literature: Does the story have to be hectic to capture the attention of children?
Without a doubt, editing tempos today are faster. But I like this, because I have a short attention span and I like movies to have that kind of energy. But I don’t think it’s essential: if you look, Japanese movies like those from Studio Ghibli (My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away, etc.) have quite slow rhythms. I think the key is not the rhythm, but the story. That you identify with the characters and their emotions.
But what dominates today, emphatically, is Marvel-type cinema, with a narrative similar to that of video games…
I think there is a misconception with this idea that children require everything at a very fast pace. I was surprised, with my own children, that when they were children they would look for more leisurely movies. I was the one who played very energetic things for them (movies like Transformers, etc.) but they were looking for something more calm. The truth is that I don’t think the way in which children consume audiovisuals has changed so much. I think that if the movie hooks them, whatever the pace, they sit down, enjoy it and don’t move.
In her film, the pressures children are under today are the common thread: poor Hedvig has so many expectations placed on her that she is overwhelmed. Where does this dilemma come from?
The inspiration was my own son, who is now older, and my own experience as a child, because I felt a certain pressure to succeed. But that increased with my son, because when he went to school we discovered that he had dyslexia: and seeing how he wanted to be like the others and get good grades, but couldn’t, because he had this problem, was very hard. As a result of that, I began to document myself and I realized that children today have a lot of pressure from their parents, who want them to be the best in studies, in sports… I read a lot about this pressure and this film emerged, which what it says is that children should not live through anyone’s expectations but their own. If not, they will not have a happy life.
Are there even helicopter parents in Norway?
I think that it is different in each family and also, that the expectations increase when they go to high school and the grades and social networks appear. What I did discover by researching myself is that Norwegian teenagers are more unhappy now than they were twenty years ago. There is a clear pattern: a pressure that did not exist before. You also see it among parents, bragging about their children and what they do… That’s something that surprised me: why is it so important? Why don’t you let them be themselves? Deep down: Isn’t it a matter of projecting your aspirations onto them? All this emphasis that is placed on the children: Is it because of the children or because of the parents?
And what conclusion did he come to?
Before I found out my son had dyslexia, I was a bit like that: I constantly urged him to do better. Until I had to stop, take a step back, and try to understand what was wrong with him. But I think for many parents it’s easier to keep going than to hold back and stop, to try to understand your child.
Can growing up with the idea that one is super special and destined for great things, as one of the characters in your film does, backfire?
I think so, that’s a bit of the moral of my story: if you put too much pressure on your children, they’re going to be unhappy. If the only affection you show them is through this system of win and get and succeed… This is not a healthy way to grow! Although, in the end, it’s about finding the balance, because if a child is very interested in football and has aptitudes, then I think it’s very good to promote it. But the question would be: for whom do I do this, for me or for my son?
Something surprising in her film is that screen time is not portrayed as something terrible: in fact, when the protagonist is happiest is when she is playing on the computer, with her friend. Why did she make this decision?
Every parent I know talks about their kids and screens. It is a theme that will be very familiar to parents and children when they see the film: this constant discussion about the screens. I was also very reluctant (I unplugged the computer, like Hedvig’s father does in the film), until I understood how important screens are for them and for their social life: they can all be together, on a Friday night, playing , talking about points, etc. It’s almost like a party, a social event. So I stopped being so strict; I realized that I had to recalibrate things and be more tolerant.
Hedvig, the protagonist, lost her mother. Did she write it like that to continue the long tradition of orphaned characters that exists in children’s fiction?
It is true that orphanhood is a cliché, there has been a lot of discussion on this topic. It’s an easy narrative device, that the protagonist’s parents are dead… But here it makes sense: Hedvig and her father have to find a way to reconnect. But the father, to deal with the death of his wife, has become a workaholic, a symbol of a successful man, a superhero… And they don’t connect, they don’t talk about what happened.
Quentin Tarantino said that the death of Bambi’s mother traumatized him: What do you think of the trend of not showing children “traumatic” movies or modifying (even canceling) classic tales?
It is a difficult question, but you have to keep in mind that everything changes, constantly. And you can’t expect things to be the way they used to be. There is a new movement that calls for changes because, it is true, history has not always been fair and it is natural that there is this discussion. But it’s hard: How much change? As? The truth is that I have no answer, but it is true that there are things that have to be changed: why not?
But isn’t this a way of overprotecting children? To show them a world in which neither wolves nor orphans nor stepmothers exist…
It is true that fairy tales were a good way to deal with fears and anxieties, because they told you hard stories that made you put yourself in the shoes of another. And yes, you are right, I believe that children must be stimulated, challenged: they understand everything, they are much smarter than we think.
