Watership Down Episode One - Netflix
Review and Analysis
Introduction
Netflix has released an animation series based on the popular novel Watership Down by Richard Adams.
The story uses anthropomorphised rabbits to illustrate sociological principles. The recent Netflix series delivers brilliantly both visually and intellectually. In this review, I would like to discuss episode one.
The story begins with a prophetic rabbit (i.e. Fiver) seeing visions of the destruction of his home, Sandleford warren (i.e. burrow) and all its inhabitants. He informed his brother, Hazel, and together they planned an evacuation attempt for some members of the warren.
As they waited at the designated location to ‘elope’ with some of the Warren’s rabbits, they were surprised at how few turned up. Sadly, one of their friends had informed the Owsla (i.e the military caste of the warren) and that led to a full scale pursuit of the eloping rabbits.
Soon, with some wit, the troop escaped the Owsla’s pursuit and began their journey towards a new location, which Fiver had envisioned to be safe for building a new warren.
On their journey to the new location, they encountered the rabbit Cowslip who invited them to join his warren. In spite of Fiver’s resistance (he sensed that something was wrong), the troop decided to visit Cowslip’s warren.
Upon arrival at Cowslip’s warren, they noticed that the rabbits in the warren were very well-fed and that there were an abundance of empty burrows. Soon, they were invited for a meal in which they were offered a lavish amount of discarded vegetables from the humans. All the rabbits, apart from Fiver, enjoyed the warren and wanted to remain.
Fiver, being a prophet, sensed that something was odd about the rabbits in this warren. There was an eerie sense of death and resignation amongst the rabbits.
In an unsolicited tour of warren, Fiver was shown a special chamber within the burrows where the rabbits prayed and spoke to their God. In the middle of the chamber stood a pinkish-purple crystal which the rabbits adored.
Amongst Fiver’s rabbits is a talented story teller named Bluebell. He was invited to share his stories (i.e. from ancient rabbit folklore) with the Warren’s rabbits. At the end of his storytelling, which was classically done to evoke virtues of fortitude and prudence amongst the rabbits, he was unceremoniously interrupted by the warren’s leader who mentioned that these tales are no longer. being told in this warren and that now they only pray for God’s will to be done.
In protest of remaining in this warren, Fiver refused to eat with the lot and to enter the burrow. Bigwig, former Owsla, was worried that his behaviour would jeopardise their position in the warren and went to confront him. Following the confrontation, Bigwig was caught in a snare.
When the rabbits observed his plight and sought help from the existing rabbits in the warren, the leader mentioned blithely that it was God’s will that Bigwig be the sacrifice and that his death would help the others live a day longer.
The original troop was aghast by this statement and all of them agreed to leave the warren. With some effort, they rescued Bigwig from the snare and continued their journey uphill to the location that Fiver had envisioned.
Upon arrival at the location, they realised that it was an excellent location and that their former warren (i.e. Sandleford) had indeed been destroyed as Fiver had predicted.
Analysis — Subtle Catholic Notes
In my opinion, Cowslip’s warren is Richard Adam’s very thinly veiled attempt to criticise the Catholic Church. The worship chamber bears strong resemblance to the adoration room (where the blessed sacrament is venerated) and prayer by the rabbit leader (i.e of God’s will be done) is framed in a passive, resigned way juxtaposed by the active, wit-driven wisdom of traditional rabbit folklore.
This is probably a criticism of the Roman Catholic Church’s beliefs insinuating a departure from traditional Judaism and that the stories and values of the old testament are no longer treasured but replaced with a passive resignation and the desire for needless martyrdom.
To be honest, I was quite disturbed by Adam’s view of Catholicism. Below are three reasons why his perception is erroneous:
- The Catholic Church is not a mental cage
In the animation, the rabbits of Cowslip’s warren lived in a mental cage where they impose upon themselves needless suffering (i.e. the impending doom from snares all around).
In Adam’s rabbit world, there are plenty of areas where the rabbits are able to roam about freely without the threat of human snares. Yet, these rabbits chose to remain at this location due to the ready availability of food.
The rabbits may have been well-fed but they were living under the constant fear of death from snares. At the same time, they were crushed by the guilt that so many amongst them had already perished in their stead. Friendship was not an option as they feared attachment.
If a mental cage was Adam’s view of the Catholic Church, he was very much mistaken. Yes, there are many ‘rules and regulations’ of the Catholic Church but they are not in place to rob one’s freedom. On the contrary, they are in place to free one from the snares of sin.
The image of a mental cage of fattened rabbits with snares all around more accurately describes worldly people who in loving the pleasures of the world (i.e. alcohol, pornography, drugs, excess food), have grown licentious, fat and complacent.
Yes, they may enjoy the pleasures at present but they are always aware of the lot in their group that have perished under these ‘snares’ (i.e. drug addiction, alcoholism, sexually transmitted diseases, obesity).
The Catholic Church is strict with matters regarding abortion, contraception, euthanasia and family life so as to preserve the dignity of human life and the blueprint of the Holy family. It is within the confines of these ‘rules’ that true joy and fellowship with God and man can be attained.
2) With God, you never have to pay the piper
It is sad that the rabbits of Cowslip’s warren viewed that it was God’s will that members of the warren be slowly taken away as food for the humans. It could have been a rationalisation of their sin.
Deep down in their hearts they probably knew that their abundance of food came from their ‘usefulness’ to the humans. If they did not allow members of their tribe to be sacrificed from time to time, they would cease to receive food from the humans. In a very clear way, instead on relying on God’s providence, they had relied to humans, who view them not as precious children but as food sources.
In fact, based on Rabbit folklore, shared by Bluebell, the rabbit’s God willed for rabbits to be skilled in escaping the claws of their predators. The fact that the rabbits failed to use these skills and to wilfully subject themselves to humans is against their God’s will and is rather a result of laziness and cowardice. Again, this more accurately describes the thought process of worldly people as opposed to Catholics.
Jesus said to his companion: “ Put back your sword… for all who draw the sword will die by the sword” (Matthew 26:52). This principle applies greatly to worldly pursuits. When we desire power, wealth, pleasure and honour, we covet ‘items’ from the devil’s kingdom. As a result, deep down we know that there is a price to be paid.
“We know that anyone who has been begotten by God does not sin, because the begotten Son of God protects him, and the Evil One does not touch him. We know that we belong to God, but the whole world lies in the power of the Evil One.” (1 John 5: 18–19)
Many of us sacrifice family time in pursuit of career success. When our kids go wayward, deep down we know that it is the payment for our greed and vanity. Some of us compromise on our morality to advance in the world, we have extra-marital affairs to advance our positions in the world. And when these morally-compromised acts are exposed, we know that it is our payment to the devil.
In the Catholic Church, we believe that God is a loving God who wants to see us happy. And when God blesses and heals us, we are free to live a good life. We never have to worry about ‘paying the piper’.
3) God’s will be done
‘God’s will be done’ was used flippantly by Cowslip’s warren’s leader in an attempt to nullify the guilt of his tribe. Indeed, this is not an accurate representation of God’s will.
God is love and being in conformity to his will is to be loving. The loving thing to do when you see a brother struggling in a snare (a reference to a brother caught in sin) is to free him immediately, like Jesus healing the sick on sabbath.
That is God’s will.
To negate any act of evil, especially one as obvious as that shown in the animation, by calling it God’s will is blasphemy. And if it is a reference to Catholic teachings, it is absolutely wrong.
The failure to act, in this context, is the sin of the rabbits of the warren. And I believe that they know it and hence they await the day of their punishment when they themselves are caught in snares with no one comes to their aid.
How can one feel the love of God when one is living in sin?
Concluding Remarks
I hope that you have enjoyed this review and analysis. Indeed, it is a very thought provoking animation.
Please check out this limited series on Netflix if you have the time.
God bless!
