Father and Son

Minecraft, the Movie, and Son

Solomon’s ring supposedly held the magical phrase inscribed: this too shall change.

I am weird. No hiding that. Over the life, I have intermittently embraced it, with an occasional attempt to fit in, which lasted long enough for me to realize, this is not my tribe. As a modern day father, my son lives in San Jose, while I reside in Texas, continuing to meek out a humble living. My tribe isn’t broken. I have no tribe. Not quite true. I have a virtual tribe, including some wonderful souls who watch over me, relate with me. I have discovered, though, that the son, also, feels the absence of tribe, even while living with tribe. Things are changing. Words are insufficient to put feelings to it, but he actually tried. Want to know?

me and son in a minecraft world with castle made of diorite

I married a non tribes-person, and, not surprisingly, she went to find her own tribe. She had left her Tribe and came to America to forge her own tribe. When she left, our son traveled with her. This is not lament story. She does many things well. We sorted the pros and cons of it. There are both. Those pros and cons change over time. The son, also, feels the absence of tribe.

My son is of two tribes, an American Thai tribe system. He is Spock, Earth and Vulcan. Two languages, two maps, but this, too, is changing as he leans into English more and Thai recedes.

An American thing: my son and I went to see the Minecraft movie. Surprisingly, we both agreed. It was just okay. There are so many ways to make a Minecraft movie. I probably would have been less pratfall humor and more existential, like doing a parody of Groundhog day, and dying a million times to only be respawned starting over with nothing…

I got one laugh out of the movie. My son liked it more but we both had the same assessment: ‘I have seen a lot of good movies. This is okay for a kid’s movie.’

Mario Brothers, on the other hand, got more than a laugh, and my son talked back to the movie… “No, don’t go in there!” So, either he wasn’t invested or he has changed.

I wasn’t invested in the characters for sure. They were all fairly two dimensional and the first fifteen minutes or so was exposition just to get a person up to speed, kind of like the first paragraph of this essay! Yeah, I know, I am not trying to be hypocritical. I am aware of the convolutions of life.

Minecraft is a uniting force. When my son asked ‘what should I do when I go back to California,’ I told him, when the teacher asks you to write about your summer vacation, tell the class about the time you spent with your father journeying to faraway lands, building castles, forging roads, and mining for treasures, while protecting villages from monsters as we sought to tame the legendary dragon. Do it in a way to minimize Minecraft until the end when you reveal something that clearly denotes Minecraft.

But we didn’t go anywhere, he pointed out.

Minecraft Happened.

Maybe in the old days the dragons we fought were real. Then they became metaphorical. Science killed the soul and spirit and gave us a heartless, mindless narrative.

Now dragons are real again. This doesn’t mean what you think it means. This, too, will change. Minecraft the movie is about two worlds. It’s about not having a tribe. It’s about forging a tribe.

Sure, you want a cut and dry movie report: go watch Jack Black! or don’t go watch Jack Black. Over all, I am a fan of Jack Black. Tenacious D singing Star Trek! I wasn’t too happy that his band mate made a derogatory comment about Trump. When I watch Jack Black, I just want to watch Jack Black. Jack Black is a brand. I would like that brand to be inclusive.

It’s okay that celebrities have their opinions and their tribe. Go team!

It’s also okay for media people to make their brand inclusive to all. Maybe you can’t be inclusive to all. Fair enough. If you take the childish, absolute position that team A is evil, then there can be no negotiations. There can only be separation, divorce, war, fighting… These are tribe killers.

In terms of brands, you certainly want your umbrella to include the most people. That’s basic economics 101. For example; I am white, my son is half Asian, and there are rap songs I can’t sing, won’t sing with him, and won’t share them with him, because why give him something he can’t use? Also, I am more about promoting love and free will, less about fear and control. People who claim to want inclusion but then alienate people worry me. People getting awards who haven’t earned it makes it harder to know who is really in that tribe. A certain secular rapper got the gospel award over better artists who are actually living the Christian ideal and singing Christian songs… Not mad. I actually get it. They’re trying to be inclusive. The problem is, you can be so inclusive that you not only kill the tribe, you kill many tribes and make people unexpectedly homeless.

It’s okay for men and women to have their own spaces. It’s okay for movies to be kid movies, but the best kids movies also had something in it for adults that would later have more meaning for the kids when they too grow up and share it with their kids. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, for example, is fun for both kids and adults.

Jack Black’s movie is fair, everyone can watch it, and you really don’t even have to know a lot of Minecraft lore. It wasn’t clever. It was rather predictable. But shallow charm that makes affable enough to be a bonding moment doesn’t necessarily stand out as a hallmark moment. The first movie my son and I saw at the theatre was Mary Poppins Returns. He doesn’t remember it. I remember the dolphin in the bathtub. I can’t sing a single song from the movie, much less hum a tune.

I know every song from the first Mary Poppins. I will forget the Chicken Lava song.

Minecraft is a uniting force. It has changed over the years. Seriously, the first edition is not comparable to the newest, with add ons like the Adidas patch. A good movie has been a long time coming and there is so much that can be done with it and this movie, I think it wears the name Minecraft just to capture the brand, the club, the tribe of Minecraft folk who just love Minecraft. And maybe, that’s enough. I will even allow for the principle disparaging the husband and hooking up with the villager. It was cute, but I am tired of the cliche man is bad trope.

The movie couldn’t capture everything. They didn’t make it to the Ender World or killed the dragon, but given it’s a kids movie, and a kid’s game, maybe there should be a tame the dragon option. Maybe some things should change.

Son’s thoughts, written down…

“Hello, this is not John writing this. I am his son.

“I am having a very good time with him here but today is the day that i have to leave. I am writing this as a letter kind of, and it might even get published!” (He knows I like writing in the morning, though I did much less this time. He slept in the study. First time sleeping in a room by himself. Things change.)

“While I am writing this I am shaking because of my feelings.” (We’re working on emotions. It’s okay to have them but we can’t let them make us so sick we throw up and then can’t board the airplane taking him home. This time we used a sour candy remedy, kind of like Warheads. Warheads can stop an anxiety attack dead in its track. I highly recommend their use. We took these to the airport and held them, the thought of putting one in our mouth was sufficient to lessen the intensity of our emotions. We laughed about how our thoughts about our thoughts affect and effect us. He’s starting to get it. Change.)

“I usually call John Sol. I don’t know why but I have been calling him that forever now.

“While I am here we both like to play the game called “minecraft”. It is a very fun survival game that can also be in a gamemode called creative and build your dream world with infinite blocks! There is something called hardcore and that means, if you die you lose the world and can not respond. There is a way of beating the game and that is by going to another dimension and beating the ender dragon! He is the strongest boss in minecraft. Oh and don’t forget about the thousands of endermen in the end dimension! They are one of the strongest monsters to fight you, they can teleport and if you stare at them they will kill you! They are scared of water and that is the fastest way to kill them. Or you can do the boat trick. You trap them in a boat and hit them with your sword to kill them. They drop ender portals and you need them to beat the game.”

Real life or metaphor.

Things change. The movie changed some things. It’s called plot contrivance. The game changed thing. It has evolved. My son has changed. He can sleep in a room by himself, discusses his feelings, makes pancakes for breakfast for both of us.

Our worlds aren’t real, but they are ours.

We drank non coffee drinks at Starbucks and played Chess, too. We went for walks. He is asking questions I don’t know how to answer. He loves cars, astronomy, and is asking the big cosmological questions, asking about God, and death, and WHY questions.

So many why questions.

Why Jack Black?

Good question.

Why can’t I live with you. Maybe shallow Minecraft movies aren’t so bad. How do you answer this? There are so many pros and cons to sort. He has a sister that adores him. A dog. A mom that is home full time and cooks and runs him to hockey and swimming… The repercussions of leaving a tribe risk the relationship with tribe.

This too will change. In addition to talking about cars and planets, he is talking employment. He wants to be co-pilot. He wants to skip private pilot and go right to co-pilot, but I told him that’s not how it works. He also wants to be a truck driver because he loves trucks, the living space, and exploring the world. He wants me to ride with him.

This, too, will change.

Change will happen and he won’t be shaken by them. He will learn to bear them with distinction, not showing the world, not putting on others. The words and actions of others will cease to offend, because love and freewill.

His grandfather is dying. He and his maternal family will travel to Thailand. This will be his first big human death. He is asking existential questions. I can only tell him what I know, think I know, and throw some nuggets to follow. Christianity, Buddhism, the spiritist view and he wants all the answers and proofs now.

We are learning to be quiet and hear with our hearts, not our ears. Minecraft as a metaphor means life is a simulation and we come to Earth because it’s fun. Reincarnation is the respawn feature, only we aren’t just playing Steve. We can be anyone! We can start from scratch and make our way, or be born into wealth. There is evidence in the Minecraft world for an ancient apocalypse, perhaps a zombie one. There are other dimensions. I want the makers to open up the moon with moon gate portal. Open the heavens and make every world in a Minecraft a world…

Change is inevitable.

This Minecraft movie won’t last a couple. It’s not a quiet sleeper, like Princess Bride. It’s not Star Wars. It’s not something anyone is going to remake, like King Kong. Yes, that Jack Black. Some movies shouldn’t be remade. We should watch more originals and allow this to be the ties that bind our tribe together.

We definitely shouldn’t make movies that break the tribe.

I wanted to pass the lightsaber, but I guess I will pass the torch. The Minecraft torch.

This essay is a heartfelt exploration of being a father, navigating identity, and embracing change, woven together by my son’s words and the world of Minecraft. The movie, though not memorable, became a moment to connect, showing me how to find value in the time we share. It’s not memorable because there are no meaningful, lasting anchors that will harbor many souls for a millenia.

Our anchors are missing. Our families are broken. What we have is a millions of tribes of one, roaming empty landscapes making seasonal castles that will be lost in iterations, and bridges to nowhere.

My son’s American-Thai roots and growing strength give this story richness, while my virtual tribe reminds me that belonging can exist beyond borders. The Minecraft torch I pass to him carries my love and hope, lighting his way through a world that’s always changing. His growing resilience in a world that seems to be expanding craziness is the hall mark of his time.

It is said hard times create strong men, but we forget, if we make things so hard that it kills everyone, there is no one left. Meanwhile, if we makes things too easy, too ambivalent and weak, you get Jack Black’s Minecraft. Just a passing flavor. Our movies used to be the force that connected us, finding meaning in shared experiences. So were our teams, our mascots, are loves. We have forgotten, but this too will change as we seek to unite once more, greater and stronger than we ever were.

Wiser, too. Perhaps Solomon’s level of wisdom. Philosophically, the Minecraft movie was a waving of a flag that was intended to bring us together, it just lacked the substance to sustain a momentum.

Minecraft is the vehicle that help my son and I bridge the gap between worlds.