By now a lot of folks know enough about the Nutcracker story in order to recite it and be at least partially correct, but how many people would be able to make a correlation between the Nutcracker and a host of movies that could possibly be based off of it? There are only so many core story concepts in the world that can be drawn from and the Nutcracker touches upon a couple at least. This in turn makes it possible to link many other movies to the story in a way that depicts various elements that are used over and over and are quite similar. Yes, you might be shaking your head and wondering just how many movies could possibly be similar to the Nutcracker without following the exact story line but at the same time the elements of many stories are very alike if you take the time to look.
Here are just a few movies that could be considered to be based, loosely in some cases, on the Nutcracker.
5. Return of the Jedi
Think about it this way, we never knew just how powerful the Emperor was until this movie, and if you want to think about it even deeper the entire first trilogy carries elements of the Nutcracker in it. Luke is in a sense the savior that is needed to help liberate the galaxy from Sith rule, but both he and his father are in a way like broken toys that still have the potential to stand against the main antagonist. In this case Vader would actually stand a chance of being like the Nutcracker, though in a very dark and unexpected way. In that case Luke would be like a male version of Clara, continuing to believe in his father until the moment when Vader redeems himself. It’s a twisted similarity but it’s there.
4. Venom
Eddie Brock is a broken man before he meets up with Venom, and his former love knows that he has some redeeming qualities but simply can’t see past the failure he’s become. When Eddie and Venom become one however they fulfill the element needed to stand against the true threat of the movie that is represented by Riot and Drake. It’s a very thin thread that would allow this be based at all upon the Nutcracker, but the idea of a broken hero that needs assistance to be great again in order to stand against a greater evil is there, and it could be a thread that’s laced into the core concept of the movie. Plus, Brock’s girlfriend as Venom was just too good to pass up.
3. Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome
Max has been a broken man since the first film and it’s been pushed without reservation. But in this film he’s not only pitted against a maniacal and largely unknown enemy that is utterly ruthless and will stop at nothing, but he’s also taken to what amounts to a different realm and treated as a savior to those that found him. The dream of Tomorrow-morrow land is something you could claim is an idea taken from the Nutcracker since it is said to be fantastical place with a ‘river of light’ that the children firmly believe will be revealed to them by their savior, Captain Walker. Of course Max goes on his way at the end of the film, but the correlation is still there.
2. Alice in Wonderland
If nothing else the fantastical nature of this story and the Nutcracker kind of go hand in hand since there is a savior that is needed and is somehow deficient in some way at the beginning of the movie. Alice is in effect the Nutcracker, and those that are attempting to remind her of her former self are her support. One line from the film strikes a chord, when the Hatter says “You’ve lost your muchness…”, it seems to mean that Alice has lost a part of herself, that she’s broken in some way. This supports the link in a very important way as Alice eventually remembers just what happened the last time she was in Underland, or Wonderland depending on how you want to say it, and eventually becomes the hero of the story.
1. Deadpool
If you haven’t figured out the major theme by now it’s that a lot of the characters are broken in some way and yet are still vital to the outcome of the story. Wade Wilson is definitely broken, the guy had cancer in enough spots within his body that death was a certainty. But when he was given a healing factor that could grow whole limbs back he surged forward and found a purpose, to defeat the largely unknown enemy that had done such a thing to him. In the process he finally reconnected with his love interest and he even found a bit of purpose to his life. A lot of these might be thin in the correlation department, but the elements check out.
You can draw a connection between the Nutcracker and a lot of stories if you really try.
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