Isle of Dogs

Isle of Dogs - An Important and Futuristic Allegory about our Modern World 

I turn my back

On man-kind

Frost on window pane. 

A crisis descends upon society. A charismatic orator appears in the public eye with a solution. This orator exploits the gullibility of the general population and scapegoats a defenseless and voiceless minority, blaming it as the origin of the crisis. He proposes mass incarceration and deportation until specialists can figure out a solution to the problem. This is a very shortened synopsis of Isle of Dogs, but doesn't it sound very familiar to something in the real world? Wes Anderson tells us a rhythmic and poetic stop-motion story about a group of dogs and a boy in a Japanese city who are the target of persecution and hate, making an important and witty allegory about what is happening in many parts of the world nowadays, all through the eloquence of man's best friend - who doesn't love dogs?

This story is set in a Japanese city, called Megasaki, 20 years into the future. In this city, a crisis is happening: an outbreak of dog flu ravages the town. This outbreak is causing panic and hysteria in the general population and the mayor of the city, Mayor Kobayashi (voiced by Kunichi Nomura), who is a cat lover, proposes the deportation of all dogs to a trash island - The Isle of Dogs - and quarantine them until a cure for the disease is found. However, there is a scientist, who is from an opposition party called "Science Party", that says he is close to finding a cure for the illness and asks the mayor to cancel the deportation. He is met with heavy protests from the masses, who are too blind with fear to listen to reason. And so, the mayor proceeds with the deportation, starting with his ward's dog.

 In this story we follow a "pack of scary, indestructible, alpha dogs" - Chief, Rex, Boss, Duke and King, who are voiced by Bryan Cranston, Edward Norton, Bill Murray, Jeff Goldblum and Bob Balaban, respectively - who are stranded in the island and are trying to survive the harsh environment. They encounter a "little pilot" - Atari Kobayashi, the mayor's ward, voiced by Koyu Rankin - who is trying to find his lost dog, Spots (voiced by Live Schreiber). We also follow Tracy Walker, an American exchange student (voiced by Greta Gerwig), who tries to unravel the conspiracy behind the deportation of the dogs from the city of Megasaki, joining in "pro-dog" activism, fighting "anti-dog" sentiment.

 Wes Anderson constructs in this film a brilliant and imaginative story with many references to our contemporary world, and that is what makes it so important. This mayor isn't interested in the well-being of the citizens of Megasaki. He is a cat-lover that colludes and conspires with shady and wealthy partners to make cats prosper without the nuisance of dogs - a long historic and epic conflict, depicted in the epilogue of the movie. He discredits the opposition and the scientific research being done into the dog flu, to keep the population in his support and complying with his own interests, which are not the city's. He does this by exploiting the ignorance and gullibility of the masses. Doesn't this sound very familiar? Right now, in America (and I include the entire continent in this term) and Europe (and many other parts of the world, namely Israel and India) there is a surge of politicians that use anti-immigration and anti-minority rhetoric who rise to power through the exploitation of the ignorance and prejudices of their constituents. They use the fear and hate of the population to get democratic and legitimate power but, in the end, their political agenda is everything but democratic, since they only serve personal interests and not the interests of the country. They scapegoat all the economic problems of society - in this story, represented by the outbreak of dog flu -  on the rise of immigration and minorities in the country - represented by the rising "canine saturation levels" - and propose mass deportations and incarcerations to solve the problem - represented by the deportations to the Isle of Dogs. This hateful rhetoric against minorities - and, in this story, against dogs - is to distract people from the politicians' true intentions.

 And so, what is the solution to this problem? How do we solve this rampant corruption?

 In Isle of Dogs, it falls to the youth to try to wake up the masses and call attention to the injustices happening in society. this is where Tracy Walker, the American exchange student, comes in. Tracy organizes a "pro-dog" activist youth group that tries to dig into the conspiracy behind the deportation of the dogs. They uncover mass corruption and the real intent behind the Mayor and his party's actions -  a conspiracy between wealthy and powerful cat-lovers. And so, Tracy and her comrades must act to save the dogs and the people of Megasaki. They must reveal this information to wake up the population to the truth

 This is a very interesting aspect of this film. The youth are the saviors of society and are the ones that try to wake up the adults from their own blindness and show them the truth of the facts. This is the tole of the youth in this film, and this is the role proposed by Wes Anderson to the youth in the real world. The youth must act and give a voice to those who are voiceless and oppressed by a large and powerful entity.

 Another interesting aspect of this film is the fact that the dogs represent the voiceless minorities who are too obedient to defend themselves against an oppressive majority. Dogs are voiceless to humans, just like minorities are voiceless to the major population, even though they try to be heard - and an interesting aspect in this is that in Isle of Dogs we can understand the dogs, but not the humans. But, of course, when they work together they can make their voices be heard in the summit of the Olympus of the wealthy and powerful. In Isle of Dogs, the dogs are helped by the youth of Megasaki - and in the real world, the youth must help the oppressed and outcast to make them be heard.

 I would like to talk about one character in specific, that I found the most interesting out of all the colorful and witty characters in Isle of Dogs. And this character is Chief - voiced by Bryan Cranston.

 Chief, who could be perceived as the protagonist of this story, starts as a fierce anarchist stray dog "that bites". When the pack finds the "little pilot", Atari, Chief distances away from him and acts with animosity. He doesn't trust humans and prefers his masterless life. We find out that all the times he has interacted with the human society he has faced resentment. He was put in a kennel trice and the one time he was adopted he was treated with brutality. Chief distrusts humans because he has always faced violence and segregation from them, and so he's afraid of them - Can you blame him?

 How can you blame Chief for being aggressive when all he has received from humans is despise and hostility? And how can you blame minorities for being violent when all they have experienced is hostility and despise from those who hold power? In this sense, Chief represents the misunderstood minorities that are persecuted for their violence against power and live in fear because they don't feel safe in the society they live in. Chief isn't truly violent. During the journey to find Spots, Atari tries to come close to Chief, showing him kindness and care. This is the first time that Chief experiences human kindness. This makes him change - both psychologically and physically. He loses his fear for humans and his desire to bite and finds his true self as a kind and loving dog, who ends up cooperating with Atari in freeing the dogs from the totalitarianism of Mayor Kobayashi. And here is one of the most important messages of this film - if we treat everyone with respect and humanism, with no prejudice and with true equality, we can have a much more progressive and peaceful society.

 In this extremely poetic stop-motion experience, Wes Anderson gives us a lesson about how we can make our modern society better and encourages the youth to act up and revolutionize the world. In what probably is the most politically charged Wes Anderson film, don't be fooled by the apparent childishness of this beautiful stop-motion animation, because its underlying social and political message is going to catch you by surprise. 

 And most importantly, this is a love letter to man's best friend - the dog - and Wes Anderson urges us to love each other unconditionally, just like our furry best friends love us unconditionally. As recited in a haiku in this film:

Whatever happened

To man's best friend

Falling spring blossom.