The Land Before Time: an Exploration of Death and the Afterlife

The first time I watched 'The Land Before Time' I was probably about three or four years old. The film was released in 1988 but back then it took a long time for most films except for the really big Hollywood blockbusters to reach South Africa. Every Friday my dad would rent me a film from the video store in town. I went through lots of animations and goofy comedies starring a host of different animal buddies before my dad finally happened upon 'The Land before Time'. He probably figured that the cover, featuring five cute, little baby dinosaurs would interest me because I liked dinosaurs...and cartoons. Yet there was something about this film that drew me in more than I had ever been drawn in by a film before. Twenty more trips to the video store...to rent the same movie finally convinced my dad that we needed our very own VHS copy. Even when I watch this film now I still cry in all the sad bits, I still get goosebumps every time the narrator talks, get scared by the appearance of sharp-tooth and am filled a bittersweet joy when the baby dinosaurs finally reach the great valley.

It saddens me that in the society of today children are either fed animations that are far too simple for their enquiring minds and when animations do have a hidden sub text they are aimed towards the hordes of the hipster undead who watch 'Spongebob' and 'Adventure Time' and think they were the only ones who got that secret joke. The Don Bluth films of yester year speak of the golden age of animation when the history of immigrants in America in search of the american dream is re-told through a family of musical mice in An American Tale: Fievel Goes West and ofcourse ' The Land Before Time'.

But what is 'The Land Before Time' telling us about ourselves and the world we live in. The message of this film became very clear to me in my most recent viewing. It is quite clearly an exploration of the journey of death and the journey into the after-life. It highlights a fear of all young children and even adults that one day they will have to see their parents die. In the film Littlefoot, a young brontosaurus, is struck with grief after his mother dies from the wounds she incured while trying to save him from Sharp-tooth's attack. In fact all the baby dinosaurs in the film are left alone in some way, mainly because 'the great divide' has seperated them from their guardians. However all the dinosaurs know, from a young age, that their ultimate goal will be to reach The Great Valley, a place unaffected by famine and earthquakes like the world they now live in. I believe 'The Great Valley' represents the afterlife. When Littlefoot's mother tells him how to get there she admits that she has never seen The Great Valley but knows that it exists because as she says " Some things you see with your eyes, others you see with your heart"

Before Littlefoot can begin his journey he first needs to deal with the grief he's holding onto after the death of his mother as well as the guilt about her death. He is counselled by an old, roaming dinosaur called Rooter and then finds purpose in life again when he finds himself taking care of three younger dinosaurs and journeying to the Great Valley. The dinosaurs journey through their dying world and eventually reach the underworld. They journey through the darkness and fear of the underground and emerge in a realm of sputtering volcanoes and tarpits. The darkness possibly symbolises the journey through the mythical underworld in order to appear on the other end. But before the dinosaurs can get to the Great Valley they have to tie up loose ends and defeat the obstacle that holds them back from achieving true happiness. This is sharp-tooth. They concoct a plan to bait him and then drown him in the middle of a deep pond. They succeed and proceed to their destination with the guiding spirit of Littlefoot's mother. When people have near death experiences they do report having being visited by the spirit of a deceased loved one who guided them towards a bright light. The bright light in this case is the glorious sun shining on the lucious, abundant Great Valley. In the Great Valley they are reunited with all their loved ones and as the narration says, lead happy lives. If the unecessary sequels hadn't ruined this image, this theory would be a lot more plausible.

The land before Time is an exploration of the journey through life and death and eventually the aferlife, where one is unencumbered by the guilt and strife experienced in life.
The subtext of this film is probably why I've re-visited it so much over the years when children of today find it so difficult to even remember that they watched 'Sammy's First Adventure' the day before.