Read the following quotes.
"There is one rule you must always keep in mind. When you wake up in the morning, wash your face, put yourself in order—and immediately set your planet in order.
…Only the heart can see clearly. The essential is invisible to the eyes.
We are responsible for those we have tamed…"
You probably immediately recalled: the Hat, the boa constrictor that swallowed an elephant, the little sheep in a box, the Fox, the Aviator, the Rose, and of course the Little Prince? The journey of revelation that Antoine de Saint-Exupéry invited us on left no one indifferent.
But today, someone is writing about the Little Prince who, having read the entire journey from cover to cover, grumbled the whole time. He found the Little Prince too pretentious, shallow, and outright empty. Now, having encountered the film adaptation, the grumbler decided to share his impressions. Better late than never. So, let’s begin a monologue about what specifically drew me to the 2015 animated version of *The Little Prince* by Mark Osborne.
And yes, for those who haven’t seen the film: you have a unique opportunity to watch the 2015 *Little Prince* first, then continue reading. This way, you won’t spoil your impressions with spoilers!
So, in 2015, director Mark Osborne created an animated adaptation of *The Little Prince*, where the central story follows a little girl. She lives with her mother and is about to start school. But not just any school—an elite academy that trains future adults. To this end, the girl’s mother decided to make the most of every remaining minute before enrollment. And perhaps the girl’s life would have followed a perfect script: academy, college, a boyfriend, a job, a husband, a career, loans, breakups, and then she would raise her own daughter. But then the Aviator and the Little Prince burst into her life (not literally). These two characters from Saint-Exupéry’s pen fill the girl’s life with new experiences, which can be summed up in one word: *childhood*.
For reference: friends, games, trips to amusement parks, and other joys, it seems, had not been part of her life plan until that moment. They simply didn’t exist.
It is precisely the importance of childhood for personal development that drew me to this cartoon. Before becoming adults, each of us had the chance to be a child. At that time, we not only began to explore the world around us but, first and foremost, to get to know ourselves. To start shaping an answer to the question, *Who do you want to become?* If we translate this into the language of psychoanalysis, it’s about paving a path to your true Self.
While the heroine tries to play the role of a proper adult, she cannot answer this question. Or rather, she was never given the chance to learn how. She is offered a ready-made version of the world, tailored to fit her, or simply taught to *appear* rather than *be* (IMHO). The path to oneself begins with the Aviator and the story of the Little Prince.
A bit of real childhood on one side, and an elite academy for future adults on the other. How will the heroine resolve this conflict?
Well, she will probably set off in search of the Little Prince. After all, he is needed by the Aviator, who ends up in the hospital. But upon finding him, she encounters another adult who has completely forgotten who he is (as well as the Rose, the Fox, the Author, the little sheep, etc.) and has transformed into a "social failure." Having lost his memory, the Little Prince simply exists, trying not to be crushed by the machinery of the big city.
The happy ending comes with the return to asteroid B-612. There, the Little Prince undergoes a rebirth. And the main heroine realizes that the experience of communicating with the Aviator will not fade when she herself grows up. The journey itself merges with reality. No, there is no clear boundary between the real world and the fairy-tale world of the Little Prince, just as there is no line we cross when becoming adults. The magic of the night allowed her to transition from a girl who wants to become a diligent adult to a girl who, first and foremost, wants to be herself—as a unique individual.
Did Saint-Exupéry himself write about this in the original *Little Prince*? I doubt it. But he had plenty of other important themes that also found reflection in the cartoon: the theme of closeness and loneliness, alienation from reality, and the search for true values.
This fairy tale and cartoon are not just for children. They are for anyone who is confused about what they *should* and *want* to do—or doesn’t even know what they want. This cartoon is a wonderful choice for parents who can find food for thought about envisioning their child’s future.
