Wreck-It Ralph: What Would Happen If We All Put Others First?
By Marcy Kennedy (@MarcyKennedy)
Wreck-It Ralph is an animated movie starring the villain of the arcade game Fix-It Felix, Jr.
Ralph’s role in the game is to smash an apartment complex with his giant fists. Felix fixes Ralph’s damage using his magic hammer. If the player wins, Felix gets a medal from the Nicelanders whose building he repaired, and Ralph gets thrown off the building into a puddle of mud.
At night, when the arcade closes and the game characters can travel between games, Ralph is still shunned by the other members of his game. He’s forced to live in the garbage dump, and they don’t invite him to the 30th anniversary party for their game. The only friends he has are the other members of the villain support group he attends.
Unhappy with his life, Ralph takes off, abandoning his game. The next morning when the arcade opens, Ralph’s absence gets them an out-of-order sign and puts them in danger of being unplugged permanently. All the characters would be homeless.
Ralph’s attempt to steal his own medal results in a cyborg bug traveling from a first-person shooter game to a go-cart-racing game called Sugar Rush. The bug (like a computer virus) threatens to destroy the entire world of Sugar Rush, leaving those characters homeless as well and killing a little girl (Vanellope) who can’t leave because of a glitch in her programming.
Now two games are in jeopardy.
Vanellope steals Ralph’s already pilfered medal to use as an entry fee in a race that the other normal characters don’t want her in. Ralph accidentally sees other characters tormenting Vanellope because of her glitch and rescues her. He agrees to help her enter the race to win back the medal she stole.
And as Ralph helps Vanellope, he starts to care for someone other than himself for the first time.
When faced with sacrificing himself to save Venellope and Sugar Rush (and all the characters in it who’d been mean to them), Ralph puts their well-being ahead of his own.
With Remembrance Day (Veteran’s Day) recently past, I can’t help but think about what an admirable quality that is. We’re not all called to risk our lives for others, but we do have opportunities on a smaller scale to think about the greater good and to put others’ wishes ahead of our own.
I don’t think we should sacrifice our own desires to the point of being constantly miserable. What we want matters too, and in the movie, Ralph ends up getting his own little home and has friends the way he wanted.
But in the short term, we often need to set aside what we want and do what’s best for others. If everyone did that, the ripples would spread, and we’d all be better off.
Has there been a time when you put aside what you wanted to help someone else?
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Nov 26, 2012 @ 12:25:38
It may sound silly, but this really makes me think about recycling. Sometimes we feel lazy and may just want to throw things in the trash instead of taking the time to wash them out and break them down. But, if we think about what is good for the Earth, we will realize that recycling, and sometimes spending a little more money for a more green product is what the world needs us to do. On a personal level, I believe that when we are doing what is best for ourselves, it will also be best for others. It’s just distinguishing between what’s best for ourselves and what we may want to do in the moment, which may actually not be in our own best interest, like eat an entire gallon of ice cream or spend money we don’t really have. Like always, Marcy, you really got me thinking.
Nov 26, 2012 @ 17:14:49
Wow! Not silly at all. That’s actually a perfect analogy. Recycling can be a pain, especially if you’re like my husband and I and live in the country. We don’t even have garbage collection, so we have to take everything to the dump ourselves. No green or blue box for us. It’s a hassle, and it would be easy to toss recyclables all in the trash instead, thinking we won’t be around long enough for it to matter to us, but that would be really selfish. We do our best to sort our recycling and take it to the dump to put in the recycling bins there even though it’s extra effort. Such a great example!
Nov 26, 2012 @ 12:33:00
I saw Wreck It Ralph too! It was a fun walk down the memory lane of games that used to captivate me as a kid. I miss Pac Man and Q-bert!
I agree, if everyone tried to put others first even once in a while, this world would be a better place. Sadly, I don’t think it’s human nature to do that. Life seems to be a constant struggle between selfishness and generosity. Sometimes selfish wins. Too often, I’d say. Our US political system reflects that.
There are times, too, when putting others first goes too far. Finding the balance is key…not something they teach in school, is it!
Nov 26, 2012 @ 17:20:09
I miss the old games too. I never played at an arcade, but when I was little, we had an old Commodor 64 computer that my uncle passed down to us. (He was a computer science engineer with the government.) It had pong and Pac-man, and so many other fun, simple games I loved that required a joystick.
I do agree with you that selfish wins too much of the time. The best we can do is fight it, and know that even if it doesn’t seem like it, our small acts make a difference.
Nov 26, 2012 @ 13:27:30
Hmmm, I think I disagree with Melinda. I believe it is in our nature to help others, and put them first when the occasion arrises, but that we stunt that natural instinct for whatever reason. Perhaps we were bullied as a kid, or a good deed wasn’t recognized like we thought it should be. I don’t know, I suppose I would like to think we all have kindness inherit in ourselves. But then, I do tend toward the generous side of the spectrum, often to my detriment.
We still need to see the movie and now your little review has me even more excited. Ugh. That darn to-do list needs to go away so I can get out and play!
Nov 26, 2012 @ 17:28:44
I hope you get a chance to see it. I watched it in 3-D. While I don’t normally enjoy that, it was perfect for this movie. And if you’re like me and like touches of corny, goofy humor, you’ll laugh out loud.
I agree with Melinda on this one. I don’t normally bring my faith into what I write here, so I hope you won’t be offended if I do it now. It’s the only way I can explain why I agree with Melinda. My personal belief (based on my Christian faith) is that originally humans were created with a good nature. Sin corrupted that good nature and now we all have a tendency toward evil and selfishness rather than toward good. We have to constantly fight that corrupted nature. The fight is easier for some people than for others based on how our experiences have shaped us and whether we have faith in Christ.
Again, I hope sharing that wasn’t offensive. I try to stay away from faith arguments since that isn’t the focus of my blog, but I felt like I could safely share why I feel the way I do and you would take it in the spirit it was intended, as one friend discussing an interesting topic with another 🙂
Nov 26, 2012 @ 13:43:30
There have been many such opportunities, Marcy, and I hope, many more. 🙂
Nov 26, 2012 @ 17:08:29
Prudence, I’ve witnessed your generosity. I hope you never lose that quality 🙂
Nov 26, 2012 @ 19:36:02
My entire family loved this movie. I think as parents we are provided with opportunities all the time to put others first. We do thinks we might not want to because our children want to, like go do the water slide a hundred times in one day. The same is true as child when our parents get older. But I also agree with Emma’s statement. I take recycling very seriously and am sometimes in conflict with others who find it much easier to throw things in the trash.
Doing good deeds for strangers is addictive. It leaves one with an exhilarated feeling you’ll want to duplicate again, and again.
Nov 26, 2012 @ 19:42:12
I like that you pointed out how children (and even grandchildren) need to sacrifice for their parents as they age in a similar way to how their parents sacrificed for them. My family is at that place now with four grandparents in their 80s. My mom especially spends hours helping them, driving them to appointments, cleaning, etc. But it’s so important and valuable.
Nov 27, 2012 @ 00:09:52
Wreck-it Ralph sounds like such a cute movie! And yes, I think it’s more human nature to think of self first, but there’s plenty of thought for others too. I’m glad you mentioned that putting others first can go too far – I think it’s important to have a balance!
Nov 27, 2012 @ 17:45:35
I completely agree. We still need to take care of our desires and ourselves or we’ll simply start to resent the other person. We need balance 🙂