Post 28: Mosquito Coast and PB Comparison

After watching "The Mosquito Coast" and reading "The Poisonwood Bible," there are several undeniable differences. Both take place in a rural village far away from the grasps of America. Both Nathan and Allie are determined that they can provide a much more, for lack of a better word, prosperous life for all of the villagers. In this way, both Nathan and Allie are both blind that their style of executing this message, or method of conveying this information are their detriment. Obviously, both fathers alienate their own families from them as the book and movie proceeds. At one point, the younger son and the older son who narrated in "The Mosquito Coast" stated "I wish he would die already". Although nobody in the Price family would be rash enough to say that, Orleanna has previously talked about how the hardest thing to do everyday was to decide whether to stay with the family or leave. Even Leah, Nathan's biggest advocate starts to miss her lifestyle in the U.S. Conversely, the differences between both the movie and the book are somewhat more subtle.

Nathan and Allie's reason for leaving the U.S differed. Allie was fed up with what America has become. In the opening minutes of the movie, he mocked along the lines of, "The land of opportunity? This is just an oversized trash dump." Nathan on the other hand leaves America determined to "save souls," from their pagan worshiping. Interestingly enough, near the end of "The Mosquito Coast," Allie and his family on their boat-house come across an enclave of Christian missionaries in a village. When Allie and his eldest son entered the church the missionaries built, they watched a television with the minister giving a rather interesting attempt to incorporate technology into a sermon. After watching for a couple of minutes, Allie, disgusted with the electricity used to run the television as well as the fans in the church, as well as the message being conveyed scoffed and walked out of the church. Later, this encounter resulted in Allie burning down the church (with people still inside of it, mind you), and stealing gasoline from the missionaries. What was interesting about this to me is that if Nathan saw Allie burn down a church, he would be infuriated. Similarly, I think that if Nathan came across the village which Allie bought, he would tell Allie that this was all blasphemous, and that he should not force this ice technology (or as Allie himself puts it, that ice is indicative of civilization), on villagers happy with their current lifestyle. Allie and Nathan both stand for causes which have good intentions, yet both of them don't agree with what the other is doing (presumably, Nathan wouldn't Allie is doing). In this way, from my point of view, it is fine to present a point of view, such as religion, but when you try to force it on someone, you become your own detriment. This is because as seen with differing points of view on religion in "The Poisonwood Bible," and "The Mosquito Coast," you yourself might just be blind to how negatively you convey your own message, or how non-comprehendably and culturally outlandish your viewpoint may be.