11 Projects

    The Peanut Butter Falcon Movie Analysis

The action comedy film, “The Peanut Butter Falcon,” was released in 2019. This film is about how a young man with Down syndrome named Zak, escaped the nursing home that he resided in to fulfill his dreams of becoming a wrestler. Along his journey, he met a man named Tyler, who helped train and bring Zak to the SaltWater RedNeck wrestling school to become a wrestler. Tyler and Zak became very close friends and chose to live life together in the end.

The idea that people with disabilities are incapable of doing things that everyone else can like taking care of themselves on their own, or participating in certain sports is hurtful and discriminatory. They believe that all people with disabilities are the same and that people with disabilities aren’t physically able to participate in activities that people without disabilities can. Zak actively fights against this idea by doing things on his own, which he learned from Tyler. Before Zak met Tyler, he was living in a nursing home where everything was done and taken care of for him. But, once he met Tyler, he was able to dress himself, feed himself, and even show his strength to prove he could be a wrestler and that he didn’t have to live in a nursing home. Zak believes that he is a hero and can be a wrestler despite having Down syndrome. He knows how strong he is, and Tyler helps prove to Zak even more that he can be a wrestler or whatever he wants to be despite his condition.

In this film, you can see clear lines between the “good” and “bad,” from both people and actions. A specific scene where you can see this play out is when Tyler leaves Zak behind, but ends up turning around and finds Zak being harassed by kids, who are calling him the “R slur” and forcing him to jump in the water, despite Zak telling them that he can’t swim. Tyler then runs up and shouts, “Hey! He can’t swim!” The kids then responded with an insult and proceeded to push Zak into the water. Once Tyler reaches the kid, he punches him in the face and then proceeds to jump into the water to save Zak (The Peanut Butter Falcon, 24:00). You can see the clear division between the good and bad people in this scene. The kids were the “bad” people who were making fun of Zak and pushing him into the water. Tyler was the “good” person who stuck up for Zak and saved him after he had gotten pushed into the water. The actions of the characters also help dictate what is “good” and “bad.” Like, when the kids were calling Zak the R slur, that was a bad action. But, Tyler sticking up for Zak was a good action. Several other scenes in the movie show this as well, but this is the most powerful one to talk about.

Another scene that is worth mentioning that points out the differences between the “good: and “bad” from both people and actions is Zak’s infamous fight scene. As you know, Zak wants to be a wrestler. Throughout the film, Tyler helps train Zak to be a wrestler. Tyler had promised Zak that on his way to Florida, he would take Zak to the SaltWater RedNeck Wrestling school, which Zak had been fantasizing about his whole life to go to. Once they reached the location, the camp was no longer in business, but the instructor (Saltwater Redneck) still taught Zak anyway. That’s when the day came when they had Zak’s first real match. SaltWater RedNeck had set it up for Zak to go against his assistant, Sam. SaltWater RedNeck had told Sam to go easier on Zak since it was his first fight to begin with. Once they get in the ring, you quickly realize that Sam is not going to go easy against Zak. He then proceeded to call Zak the “R slur” and beat him up vigorously, not letting Zak even stand up to try to fight. The whole time this is happening, Tyler and SaltWater Redneck are shouting words of encouragement to Zak, letting him fight his own fight, and treating him like a normal person. This all quickly gets disrupted once Tyler’s enemies come into the scene, but we won’t go into detail about that. This scene clearly depicts the difference between the “good” people and actions vs the “bad” people and actions. The “good” people were Tyler and SaltWater RedNeck who were supporting and encouraging Zak to fight, not getting in the way of him fighting or having him stop. They treated him like a normal person, instead of babying him and calling off the fight, they gave words of encouragement to Zak to help him continue the fight, which was also the “good” actions. The “bad” people and actions were when Salt Water Redneck’s assistant, Sam, was calling Zak the “R slur” repeatedly and barely giving Zak a chance to fight. It almost felt more as a bullying harassment fight, where the bully is beating up the little kid. He didn’t give Zak a chance to fight, just repetitively beating him down to the ground, not letting him give up.

The unfortunate truth is that these actions discussed as seen in the movie, are all very realistic actions that are seen in the real world. Many people with disabilities or differences in the world are faced with harassment and bullying daily. Specifically talking about people with Down syndrome, they are all faced with stereotypes and assumption based opinions because of their physical features, Originally the “R” word was a medical term diagnosed for people with Down syndrome, but as you can see that term has been abused and used as an insult rather than for science. Overall, this is a worldwide issue that needs to be resolved. All people should be treated equal. Just because someone may appear “different” doesn’t mean they should face hate and discrimination.