This post is courtesy of one of my students who mentioned this during the last few days of school.
My classes were all watching The Last Unicorn. They didn’t have Chromebooks, testing was done, and where wasn’t a whole lot left to do after 8th grade promotion. So, let’s put on Sifling’s favorite childhood movie! I didn’t mind watching it five times in a row. Heaven knows I did that plenty as a kid. Here was the comment that spawned this post:
“Wow. The Unicorn is kind of mean.”
I was straightening up the room and not entirely paying attention to what part of the movie it was, but I think it may have been where the Schmendrick said ‘don’t worry about it’ in response to the Unicorn not being able to turn him into a real magician. In return, she said “I’m not.” I should preface this post by saying I’m talking about the movie, not necessarily the book (though it is a pretty faithful adaptation).
Yeah, now that I think about it, the Unicorn does come across as mean, at least in her interactions with people/things she can talk to. She’s a little less brusque with animals, though still demands respect from them (see interaction with the Butterfly, though in her defense, that one could drive anybody bonkers). But her interactions with humans in particular…yikes. Even when she becomes human, she’s not the nicest person at the outset, though she does improve somewhat. I think after the third viewing I may have hit on the reason why.
The Unicorn isn’t a mean/malicious being in her deepest self, quite the opposite. I think it’s more that she doesn’t think the way a human does, and she’s also been fairly isolated for a good chunk of her life. Here’ the evidence I will present.
First, the Unicorn is immortal. It’s not directly stated in the book or movie how old she is, but it’s implied that she’s not exactly young even by the standards of her species. It’s also implied that she’s never left the lilac wood where she lives, meaning, she hasn’t had much chance for social interaction with, well, anyone. The Unicorns in that universe don’t seem to be gregarious, and while perhaps not shunning interactions with each other, they don’t seem to go out of their way for them, either. Maybe it was a ‘get together only to mate’ kind of thing.
This would have made the Red Bull’s task of rounding the Unicorns up even easier. If they didn’t communicate with each other, they wouldn’t know something was wrong if their kind started disappearing (because they don’t seem to seek each other out). The first our Unicorn hears that something might be wrong is from two hunters that wander into her forest and speak of the lack of Unicorns in the world. King Haggard had been collecting Unicorns for years (how long, I don’t know, but it’s also stated in the book that he’s pretty old, so it’s safe to say this has probably been going on for decades).
Second, the Unicorn doesn’t process emotions like we do. She states as much in that she can’t feel regret, but she does know what sorrow is. It’s interesting to me that she understands the difference, but either choses not to exercise it, or is unable to do so. That is the prime reason she comes across as unkind when she talks to people. It’s not that she is; she just doesn’t know how to talk to people, and never had the opportunity to learn. When Molly first confronts her in tears and anger, the Unicorn doesn’t know how to handle it. She tries to be nice, in her own way, but it seems stilted, like she’s trying to follow a script that she’s only seen once or twice. Maybe she was one of those Unicorns that went to maidens from time to time, but if that was the case, it’s been a while for her, and she only sort of remembers what she is supposed to do.
Another line that struck me was when Molly accused the Unicorn (now Lady Amalthea) of being cruel to Prince Lear. Now, is Lear awkward in his courtship? Yes, largely because he as as much clue about how to go about doing so as the Lady Amalthea does at interacting with people. Bless the man, he tries, and he does everything he can think of to win a woman’s heart. And, if Amalthea were a real, human woman, it might well have worked. To Molly’s way of thinking, Amalthea is being cruel and unfeeling towards Lear, and she is. There might be a way Unicorns court each other, and if that’s Amalthea’s baseline for comparison, she might not understand what Lear is doing.
Molly does get frustrated with Amalthea for her treatment of Lear, and verbally lets her have it. However, Molly does not seem to understand until a bit later that the Unicorn doesn’t process her emotions like humans do. She has them, but makes much different use of them. Only when Amalthea starts to become more and more human does she start to reciprocate Lear’s attraction. Again, she is learning how to be human, and to an extent, un-learning how to be a Unicorn.
So, the short version: The Unicorn’s not mean, just socially challenged and has a somewhat alien way of thinking, at least by human standards.
Hilary
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