Walt Disney Motion Pictures is no stranger to tackling deeper and challenging storylines in a child-friendly manner, and their 2014 hit Big Hero 6 is no exception.
While it might not be the first time Disney has shown loss on screen, it was the first time the company dared to tackle the complexity of grief.
The film begins by following the gifted 14-year-old Hiro Hamada (Ryan Potter) as he navigates being a teenager applying to a top-ranked university engineering program. The struggles of having to prove yourself to your classmates, peers and professors based on the societal assumptions and stereotypes based on your age. Until tragedy strikes as his brother Tadashi Hamanda (Daniel Henney) passes away in a fire at their university, while attempting to save the beloved professor Callaghan.
Hiro feels an immense sense of guilt over his brother’s passing, as Todashi took Hiro to the university to show him the superhero suits and technology he and his friends have been creating in an attempt to get Hiro to stop participating in robot battles and to reach his fullest potential.
His world quickly turns upside down as he attempts to navigate life without Todashi. As a genius, Hiro lacked the social skills and progressed through school too quickly to develop friendships and is forced to grieve the loss of his closest and only friend alone.
That is, until he uncovers Todashi’s final project, the lovable Baymax, a caretaking robot intended to change the healthcare industry. Designed to treat individuals until they are stratified with their care.
Baymax is quick to pick up on Hiro’s emotional hurt, but can’t quite understand why or how Hiro is hurting and how to help. Unleashing Hiro and Baymax on a mission to find out what happened to Todashi to heal Hiro and release Baymax from his service.
Throughout their journey, Baymax and Hiro grow close to each other. Hiro’s perspective changes from a desire to get rid of Baymax to a dependence. The audience watches as Baymax goes from Todashi’s final project to the last remaining connection to Todashi in Hiro’s eyes.
The Five Stages of Grief:
As Baymax and Hiro grow close, Hiro begins to break down his walls and tell Baymax about his grief. Opening up about his feelings of loneliness, anger, guilt and sadness, reflecting the stages of grief.
Denial:
Hiro becomes numb after Todashi’s death, spending the first couple of days after the event attempting to convince himself it was just a bad nightmare. He tries to make himself believe he would wake up and Todashi would be there.
Depression:
In the days after Todashi’s death, Hiro locks himself in his room, isolating himself from his family. During this time he doesn’t eat or sleep, and spends most of his time in a state of sadness. He is constantly feeling the heavy weight of losing the final remaining member of his internal family as both of his parents died when he was young.
Anger:
Hiro become enraged when his discovers Yokai is responsible for starting the fire that killed Todashi. He is further enraged when he realises the fire was started to gain access to his microbots to start an army to take over the city. Hiro becomes fueled by his anger, pushing to become irrational and irritable in his mission to take down Yokai. Fueled by anger, Hiro will not stop at anything to take down Yokai.
Bargaining:
Hiro’s whole mission is believing that if he defeats Yokai then he can bring Todashi back. He struggles between believing that defeating the person who killed his brother he will be able to honour his brothers legacy and part of him believes he’ll be able to bring Todashi back. After all the super group is a talented group of individuals who created a whole collection of super suits and equipment.
Acceptance:
Acceptance comes through Baymax. At his heart he is a health care companion and was created with the purpose to help others heal. Created with hundreds of scenarios and treatment options, Baymax provides Hiro support in his journey through grief. While Baymax was created to serve as a healthcare companion, he also serves as the last remaining connection to Todashi and Hiro learns that in order to preserve Todashi’s legacy he must acceptance the loss of his brother and learn ways to showcase his legacy and one of the being showcasing Baymax!
Have you seen Big Hero Six? Do you think they did a good job at exploring the stages of grief? Comment down below!
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