Of Pets and Comfort Movies

When I first watched How to Train Your Dragon, I loved it. It’s the sort of movie I can watch many times over without getting bored. I was thrilled to finally see dragons in a non-Chinese context and amazed that they did such a great job without having to use an all-star cast. I didn’t know Gerard Butler was Gerard Butler, so he’s clearly done a terrific job. It was refreshing to see America Ferrera in a non-America Ferrera role (fat and/or unattractive with more insecurities than Cinderella. Speaking of which, why did Cinderella figure the Prince would marry a peasant woman the morning after but won’t dance with a woman wearing regular slippers on the night of the ball? And couldn’t fairy godmother think of something more useful to gift her non-fairy godchild? Like education or better living conditions? Pretty cheap of her getting away with one dress and a temporarily inflated pumpkin).

But I digress. I think a lot of our recent fascination with dragons has something to do with our growing passion for depilation. We want to have hairless pets that don’t look naked. Dinosaurs have been portrayed to be pretty mean by Michael Crichton (twice). So the next best alternative is dragons. Plus, the cumbersome issue of factual accuracy can be easily dispensed with in this case. We don’t mind pets with bad teeth because a lot of us are dentists’ nightmares ourselves. But we have a real issue with hair, so a hairless beast that breathes fire is the ultimate pet.

Watching How to Train Your Dragon is like watching Asterix. Except that the Romans have been replaced with dragons in the first half and Obelix has been replaced with dragons in the second. The movie goes to show that dogs are still our number 1 pets in the real world. The best dragon pet wags its tail, is hyperactive, is extremely loyal, makes puppy eyes and licks its master’s face. So in addition to the convenience of discarding facts altogether, dragons can be modelled along the lines of dogs, goldfish, piranhas, iguanas, or pretty much anything else that takes your fancy. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you The Ideal (Imaginary) Pet.