Hey,
* SPOILER WARNING FOR "BALTO"!*
I know that some "Balto" fans claim that the characters from the movie really relate to the 1920s (Ie: Dixie was a Flapper type, etc.), but I think that the "Balto" characters also relate to kids of the 1990s, and that the movie's creators tried to make a movie that would give younger kids some hope within an extremely cynical world.
The 1990s were a very cynical time. If you were a teen, and you didn't wear drab colors, you never heard the end of it (I began high school during 1993, and I was so teased about my brightly-colored eye shadow that I slathered my eyelids in various shades of brown eye shadow for the rest of my entire high school career!)! If you were a teen, you were expected to be disinterested in life itself, and you weren't supposed to show an ounce of enthusiasm for anything. If you were a teen girl, you were supposed to be suicidal and anorexic (Kate Moss was the idol of us teen girls, and, in fact, eating disorders were so popular that I stupidly became Anorexic on purpose when I was in college during the late 1990s, soon realizing that an eating disorder is NOT something that you can turn on and off), and if you were a teen, in general, you were supposed to behave as though NOBODY could EVER have suffered as much as YOU had (I wasn't so much tied to the Pity Kitty scene, as my high school friends were really nice religious girls who, more or less, liked me for who I was).
That was the America to which "Balto" was released during 1995. In many ways, the movie was, like MANY animated family movies, a reaffirmation of old-fashioned values, because, well, you'll see...
BALTO: In my opinion, Balto represented the high school kid who was being bullied because he didn't fit in with the mood of the 1990s. He was not only different from the others (He was part wolf), but he was enthusiastic, optimistic, and hopeful, and, because he was so sunny, he was beaten down, time and again.
I think that "Balto's" creators used the character of Balto to convey a message of, "Hey, kids! Don't allow the cynicism of this decade to depress you." to American kids and teens.
JENNA: I believe that Jenna represented the archetypal "Bland Girl" of the 1990s. She was calm, fairly unenthusiastic, and plagued by personal suffering. During one viewing of the movie, Jenna's bland, unenthusiastic voice actually ticked me off slightly, but it doesn't really bother me much anymore. In my opinion, her voice, and her entire attitude, marked her as a truly 1990s girl, who was intensely desired by Steele, and yet, who was mellow, calm, drab, understated, almost anesthetized by the blandness of the 1990s. With regards to her personal suffering (Ie: The situation with Rosy), she directly represented the very type of 1990s girl who would normally have been a Pity Kitty, and yet, Jenna turned out to be different! She was depressed, upset by a personal tragedy, etc., and yet, she didn't whine about the situation, or pretend like nobody else was suffering (The Epidemic served to prove to the audience that ALL people suffer during their lives, and that TRUE suffering is not a useable, Pity Kitty condition that can be turned on or off in order to achieve the right amount of social attention).
Jenna's transformation from bland, depressed 1990s girl to helpful, hopeful heroine was pretty cool! Balto's optimism caused her to want to be a better dog. She went from being faithless to believing in the symbolic power of The Northern Lights; she went from feeling helpless about Rosy to saving Balto's rear enough so that he could become a hero. She went from having to seduce Steele into looking foolish to being able to publicly defy him.
ROSY: Rosy represented both Girl Power and the typical child of the mid-1990s. She had aspirations that were atypical for girls, but her mother's subtle nod to Girl Power proved that SOMEBODY was on her side, and that maybe a girl COULD become ANY type of professional that she wanted to become.
Rosy the Child became the focal point of nearly the entire movie, because she represented the future of an entire town, the innocence that defied the cynicism of the 1990s, etc.
STEELE: Steele was, of course, the villain of the movie, but I think that he also represented the combination of wealth and ruggedness that personified some people from the 1990s. He was the champion, the outdoors-man, the expert about EVERYTHING, and he was going to tell everybody else where they stood. He was a classic 1990s bully, because, at the end of the movie, his main concern was revealed, and that concern turned out to be VERY 1990s. Was he worried the most about his loss of power? No. Was he worried the most about the fact that he'd disappointed his owner? No. Was he worried the most because he'd lost Jenna and Dixie? No way! Instead of whining in pain, singing the blues about a girl, or being afraid of his owner's disappointment in him, he sat there moping about not being cool anymore, about not fitting in, about not belonging with the others, about not being socially cared about. In the end, the 1990s teen worried more about mattering to those around them than about anything else. Social rejection trumped physical pain, romantic rejection, and parental disapproval.
KALTAG: In my opinion, Kaltag represented the self-proclaimed "witty teen" of the 1990s; he was the type who felt that he was God's verbal gift to the world, and yet, who expressed his supposed superiority in a passive-aggressive way, all the time hiding behind a popular bully, so that he only dared to have his say in the most insignificant and annoying of ways. He also represented the classic follower; when Balto became "The Cool One", look at who suddenly became HIS loyal follower?
NIKKI: In my opinion, Nikki represented the physically-unfit, dumb jock stereotype of the 1990s. He also represented the classic follower; when Balto became "The Cool One", look at who suddenly became HIS loyal follower?
STAR: I think that it's easy to see that Star represented the runt of every high school clique. He was the kid who hung onto a clique by his toenails, always in danger of being left behind. He was the unfortunate "Whipping Boy" of the clique; whenever Steele, Kaltag, and Nikki wanted to have some fun, they had it at Star's expense, never giving him credit for being cool in his own way.
Star also represented the truly kind 1990s individual, who possessed really good values. He KNEW that what he and the others were doing to Balto was wrong. He KNEW that he didn't enjoy being devalued by Steele, Kaltag, and Nikki. He KNEW that he was just desperate for that very 1990s value called acceptance. His journey from whipping boy to hero was cool, because he was able to work for a good cause, support someone who was actually worthy of supporting, and express his true self. More importantly, he was also able to become great in his own right, by suggesting that a statue be built in Balto's likeness. That suggestion marked the high point of Star's transformation from clique clown to important social contributer; his on-target words had never before been appreciated, but they were suddenly worth something.
THE OVERALL FLAVOR OF THE MOVIE: The overall flavor of the movie was very 1990s. That was both okay and bad. The movie's characters, music, settings, etc., were all slightly understated, minimalist, etc., which created a sort of toned-down, muffled-by-the-snow, smooth effect. The one extremely colorful aspect of the movie was The Northern Lights.
The one extremely negative 1990s aspect of the movie was its reliance upon the concept of selfishness. I mean, not ONCE did either Balto OR Jenna reference "The children" when they spoke of the epidemic. Jenna seemed to be more concerned about the entire town, but all that Balto ever said, in reference to the epidemic, was "Rosy!"; he seemed to be more concerned about Rosy, and about winning Jenna's love, than about curing an entire town, although I'll give him credit for having made more generic statements, like, "Since when do you need a pedigree to help someone." Ironically enough, it was STEELE who said, "You're right. I wasn't thinking about those kids," and, of course, everybody KNEW that HIS intentions were selfish!
The overall psychological flavor of the movie was one of hope and triumph, and the movie's end credit song sort of reiterated the movie's message to children and teens: "Don't let the sombre attitude of the 1990s depress you; have hope, despite all of the drab depression that exists in the world."
See Ya' Later,
Dixie Baby
