“Do you…?”
“What?”
“Do you still want to talk about Finding Nemo?”
“I…aren’t you working?”
“I need a break from this essay. Please. I’m begging you.”
“I’ll give you five minutes. What were we talking about?”
“The ending.”
“Yeah. What happens in the last scene?”
“Not much. Nemo hugs his dad and goes to school. But the scene before it has some really cool bookending.”
“Bookending?”
“Yeah, like, symmetry. What happens at the end reminds you of the beginning.”
“Like how Forrest Gump begins and ends with that floating feather?”
Mmmm, hear that piano.
“Yeah, or how the beginning and ending scenes of O Brother Where Art Thou are both in black and white.”
“Never saw it.”
“You need to.”
“Sigh. What happens in Nemo?”
“They rescue Dory and the tuna.”
“Right. Just keep swimming…” 
“Yeah.”
“But how is that bookending?”
“Because the tuna aren’t really individual characters. They’re a faceless mob.”
“And…?”
“When’s the last time we saw a tight-packed crowd with its life in danger?”
“The eggs? Why is that significant?”
“Because the movie’s all about trust. The last time Marlin trusted anything, he lost everything.”
“Everything but Nemo.”
“Right. And since then, he’s been super-protective.”
“Can’t blame him.”
“But Dory taught him the necessity of trust and riskthrough their journeys together.”
“So, now…?”
“Now, Marlin has a choice: he can let the tuna die, or risk his only son.”
“I am not gonna lose you again!”
“So he trusts Nemo, and Nemo saves the tuna.”
“Giving narrative balance to the death of the eggs from the beginning.”
“Wait a second.”
“What?”
“First, trust kills. Then, it saves.”
“Sort of.”
“So, what’s the point?”
“The point of what?”
“Why did Marlin have to learn trust? Could this lesson have saved his family?”
“No.”
“So what’s the point of this movie?! To teach kids that life is nasty, brutish, and short?!”
“Life is nasty, brutish, and filled with sharks, if you’re a clownfish.”
“Sort-of-not-really. Marlin never learns why bad things happen; he only learns how to live in light of them. Loving, growing, being brave. It’s part of the deal.”
“Okay…”
“There’s a lot of theology here, actually. The Bible says a lot more about what to do when we suffer than on why we suffer. Seeking Him in all things, and all that.”
“Aaaaand…seven minutes. Are you going to write your essay now?”
“No. Let’s do dinner. What’s in the caf tonight?”
“Tuna salad.”
“…dang it. Chick-fil-A?”
“Chick-fil-A.”
This image encapsulates my goals as a blogger.
Note: This (in all likelihood) concludes my highly informal analysis of Nemo. If you like stuff like this, one source I really recommend is TV Tropes. I use this site all the time to double-check if my terms. It’s goofy, addictive, and even has stuff on the Smurfs. Enjoy.
