Ryan Raffensberger

The Nativity Story This is a story about the birth of Jesus Christ, the “Son of God”, as viewed by Christians. The story starts off with Mary residing in the small town of Nazareth. Her family is very poor and she is of the age where she must work to help support her family but can still play among the streets with the other children. Due to the amount of poverty is the town and amongst her family, Mary is forced into a marriage with Joseph. They are told they must not consummate the marriage for one year. One day an angel appears and informs Mary that she has been chosen by God to carry the “Son of God”. Mary agrees to the angels demands and accepts that she will give birth to the “Son of God”. Mary’s cousin, Elizabeth, who is the wife of Zechariah, was considered to old to bear a child is pregnant. This comes to light via a vision Zechariah has while in the temple. His son will be named “John”. Due to this vision Zechariah is left speechless. When Mary meets with Elizabeth, they learn of each other’s pregnancy and Mary is scared that the town will think she was unfaithful and did not keep her vows. Elizabeth comforts her and reminds her to trust in God. When Mary returns home, she is noticeably pregnant, and the town is abuzz with the gossip over her scandal. Mary's parents can't believe Mary and they fear she might have been raped by one of Herod's soldiers. They tell her she could be put to death for violating her vows. Joseph agrees not to press charges, but he's upset and bitter. The town shuns Mary. But then Joseph sees the same angel in a dream who tells him Mary's telling the truth, and so he takes her back, which now makes him an outcast in the town. Mary and Joseph leave and head to Bethlehem and while on the journey they have adversity which only makes their relationship grow. Many people within Bethlehem hear stories that the “Son of God” is coming and will be born in their town. Due to fear, Herod, plans to kill all of infants in Bethlehem, in an attempt to ensure the “Son of God” doesn’t not take him out of power. Upon arriving in Bethlehem, Mary goes into labor and all of the rooms are filled, they are offered a stable for the night. When Jesus is born the three shepherds arrive and offer their gifts of frankincense, gold, and myrrh. This story is still relevant today among all Christians. This is the story behind the meaning of Christmas. The birth of Christ is held within the religion as one of the two most important holidays celebrated, along with easter and the death/resurrection of Christ. I thought this movie was very well written and brought many memories from my childhood of reenacting this story with plays in the church.

This movie was a depiction of the coming-of-age journey, of a young man, who the spirits choose a totem that he disagrees with. All in all I believe this was a great movie. The animation was fantastic, while portraying the Native American beliefs accurately. The story telling and the comic relief elements also stuck out to me. Disney did a great job with these concepts and told a story that everyone can enjoy. The movie starts with three brothers of which the younger two, Denahi and Kenai, are wrestling and fighting with each other. For today is Kenai’s coming-of-age ceremony, and the middle brother, Denahi, wants to pick on his youngest brother one more time. Being the oldest brother and having the totem of an eagle, Sitka, is the leader of the brothers breaks up the scuffle. During his ceremony, Kenai receives the totem of the “Loving Bear”, which to his dismay offers to trade. The ritual leader grabs him and tells him that he cannot trade and that the spirits chose this totem for him for a specific reason. For love is the most powerful totem in the world. After the ceremony, Denahi continues to pick on Kenai for having a unmanly totem and this sparks Kenai to wander off. Both older brothers go after him where they meet and large bear. After fighting this bear, Denahi is flung over an ice valley that he is dangling over. Kenai does everything in his power to save him while the bear is closing in on them. Being the leader and the eldest brother, Sitka, takes it upon himself to stab the ice and sacrifice himself along with the bear to save his brothers. Following the death of his brother, Kenai sets off in a quest to kill the bear that did this to his family. While atop of the mountain, where the lights meet the earth, the spirits transform him into a bear. When he wakes up, he is a bear and can understand all animals. He goes on a quest to find the mountain where the lights meet the mountains in order to be transformed back into a human. Along the way he befriends two moose and a young bear. While this is happening, Denahi, has found the remains of what looks like Kenai’s body, spear, and bear totem necklace. Denahi sets off on an adventure to hunt down the bear that did this to his brother. Kenai confronts his brother a few times in the woods and realizes that he cannot communicate with Denahi, nor does he recognize Kenai as a bear. Throughout Kenai’s journey the young bear he befriended, Koda, leads him on his way. Later on, in the movie Kenai realizes that Koda was separated from his mother because of his actions. The bear that was killed when Sitka sacrificed himself, was Koda’s mother. It is then that he understands he must take care of Koda and love him as an older brother. It all comes to a head when at the top of a mountain, Denahi and Kenai (in bear form) battle it out and when Kenai is most vulnerable Koda comes to his aid. Koda is now the vulnerable one and just as Denahi goes for his spear Kenai leaps to protect Koda. This enables what the spirits wanted to teach Kenai and they come down and morph him back into a human but Kenai choses to stay a bear and live out his life as a “Loving Bear”. This movie does a great job in depicting Native American religion. From the coming-of-age ceremonies and the importance of the spirits, Disney touched on a lot of native beliefs. They depict the importance of nature with the cave drawings and the sky lights/spirits flowing through the air. To all people having a spirit totem they are given by the spirits through the ritual leader.