A film reflection by Chang-Shanmei
After a midnight screening of Alita: Battle Angel, my daughter and I left the theater with different kinds of satisfaction. My husband and I felt that the film spoke directly to parents of adolescents. Alita’s courage and confidence also won our daughter’s admiration, making her a second heroine after Katniss from The Hunger Games. We even ordered the official English novel together, hoping to build on her enthusiasm and encourage English reading.
Our daughter had just entered adolescence and had invited us to see the film. I wanted to preserve the memory of a family midnight screening, knowing that such invitations would become less frequent as she grew older.
My husband said, “This film was made for parents of adolescents.” I added, “And specifically for parents of this generation.” Rather than reviewing the plot, I want to connect the film with adolescents who play online games and reflect on parent–child relationships. Parents who do not play may gain a little more understanding of children who love games. When we can accompany children, communication and discussion become possible.
The Metaphor of a Body That Does Not Truly Die
In the film, technology has advanced to the point that a body can be repaired as long as the brain survives. Like a character in an online game, the body functions as equipment that can be repaired, replaced, or upgraded. The protagonist Hugo steals weaponized body parts to sell. This is a new form of robbery in which modified limbs, rather than money, are taken.
Dr. Ido, who develops a father–daughter bond with Alita, is a brilliant surgeon. He finds her living head in a scrapyard, gives her the mechanical body once made for his deceased daughter, and names the amnesiac cyborg Alita. He is compassionate and often repairs the bodies of poor residents without charge. In a massively multiplayer online role-playing game, his role resembles a healer or support player, while Alita resembles an attacker with extraordinary offensive skills but less protection.
In online games, bodily destruction is part of the learning process. As long as the player’s awareness remains, death is not final. An avatar is an extension of the player into the game world. Its intentions and decisions come from the player, while the character’s body and equipment can be selected and redesigned. Combat becomes training toward mastery.
The film makes the body one more form of equipment. Dr. Ido can repair it, although the game-like society still demands a price, whether money or respect. During a chaotic fight among bounty hunters, he warns that he will stop providing free repairs unless they stop. Everyone immediately does. Professional expertise becomes a powerful form of influence when others depend on it.
Power and the Search for Identity
Alita is an archetype of adolescence. Having lost her memory, she does not yet understand her abilities, but she cannot hide her desire to challenge, fight, explore, learn, and experiment.
For adolescent players, the game self has clear goals, control, and power. Games also allow them to fight beside close friends and newly met companions. These features align with developmental needs for identity, peer recognition, friendship, and love. Powerful reward systems make games increasingly compelling.
Alita says, “The loneliest feeling is not knowing who you are,” and insists, “I’m not your daughter.”
We gradually learn who we are through the world’s responses to us. Adolescents’ wish to become themselves often includes opposing parents. Adolescence is sometimes described as a second “No” stage, filled with fearlessness and an urge to grow stronger and fight for one’s own identity.
What, then, is the role of parents? Perhaps we can only do what Dr. Ido does: accompany adolescents, warn them about danger, and help repair the injuries that follow. They must still enter and experience the world themselves. That is part of growing up.
Games, First Love, and Giving One’s Heart
The film makes first love literal. To help Hugo fulfill his dream, Alita takes out her most precious heart and offers it to him. Later, when he is gravely injured, she keeps him alive and asks her father to help rebuild his body.
Young love can be pure, intense, and willing to give everything. It may be naïve, yet it becomes unforgettable because it is sincere. The same wholehearted pursuit of a dream can overlook danger. Although Hugo is rescued once, he ignores warnings and dies while pursuing his dream. Adolescents sometimes need a little luck simply to survive their own fearlessness.
Empathy and Healing for Parents
James Cameron mentioned having a thirteen-year-old daughter, which made me smile. I too was accompanying a child entering adolescence: developing her own opinions and critical judgment, carrying energy and ambition, valuing companions, and seeking greater autonomy. Parents must change how they accompany a child through this stage.
If you are willing, listen to your child talk about an online game. Ask the child to introduce the world, rules, and sources of enjoyment instead of only prohibiting play or setting time limits. Gaming may be an area in which the child feels competent. When parents understand and appreciate that competence, even when it has no connection with school achievement, their sincere attention and recognition can help inner strength grow.
Listening enriches conversation between parents and children. When children know that adults are interested in what matters to them, they are less likely to assume, when a problem occurs, that their parents will neither understand nor want to understand.
© Chang-Shanmei. All rights reserved.