The Hunchback of Notre Dame: My Review.
By: Utibe Usen
Tags: Oppression, Love, Courage

The Hunchback of Notre Dame: My Review.

My love for watching cartoon characters is out of this world. I get really excited whenever I have to watch one on TV or my phone, there’s something I learn from every cartoon I watch.

Sometimes, I pray as the story takes a climatic hit😂😂😂.

Honestly, I prefer watching cartoons to film, because i would definitely draw a lesson or two that applies to real life scenarios.

So, I downloaded this movie from my childhood days again to watch.

The movie is about a hunchback called Quasimodo who was terrified of the real world because of the negative emotions surrounding him, not until he met a lady by the name Esmeralda who became the limelight to his freedom.

This is my summary of the cartoon, if you want more juice, I’ll advise you go download it.😉

Now to the details; what got my attention more in the movie was the level of oppression the guy, Quasimodo was enduring. Imagine being oppressed to a level that you see good in what the oppressor is doing for you, even when it’s obvious they mean harm.

Such was the fate of Quasimodo. There are many Quasimodo’s out here in real life, who have let people oppress them to the stage of no return.

Here are my lessons from the movie:

When you are oppressed for a long time; if you aren’t very careful, your mind can get crippled. How? You’ll begin to believe that your present reality of fear, darkness, hate and what have you is real and that you are all the negatives your oppressor says you are. And this slowly sinks into your subconscious, and bam before you know you’ll keep rotating around the same clock of despair.

For example: if Sade( A Yoruba girl from Nigeria) grew up being told by her parents and close friends that she is ugly and despicable. What do you think her reaction would be, when told otherwise? That’s for you to answer.

You should also have this in mind that your oppressors can be friends, family, colleagues or even close course mates at school. Your oppressor doesn’t have to be mean or authoritative to show he or she doesn’t mean well. They are also friendly faces who are manipulative with words.

I call them “words craftsmen” because they have their ways with words, that once spoken melts your heart into seeing their lies as truth.

However as you navigate life, you’ll have to identify these people and avoid them.

How do you do this? Like I earlier said, they have a way with words.

When you hear the following words repeatedly, don’t wait to be told. Kindly carry your bag and run.😊

When you are told to aim little.

There’s nothing depressing than being told not to rise high. Why would you even say that to someone? You have every right to go as far as you want to in life, don’t encourage words like this.

The world won’t like your type.

This rings a bell, cos a lot falls under this category. Like your color, skin, height, language, just name it. This is where prejudice and judgement gather strength. Just like Quasimodo was hunchbacked from birth, and told he wasn’t good enough to be seen by the world.

You’ll get to hear this from people you least expected to say so. They’ll come after you with full blown attack scheme. You don’t want to stay in that lane of thought, so move out and forward.

There isn’t enough space in the sky for everyone.

I do find this to be a lie because the world is large enough to take anyone. You can be successful and still do more, what’s important is the impact you make out there. Don’t aim for less, keep going.

Finally, acceptance.

Yeah, acceptance. Some of us have conditioned ourselves to be people pleasers because we don’t want to be in the bad book of others.

So we stretch ourselves so thin that we do things to make others see the good in everything we do. This is you trying to gain validation and acceptance in the wrong way, and trust me, it doesn’t end well.

When you do this, you become your own oppressor. Surprised? Yeah, I see your faces.😅

Consciously, whenever you do this, you are trapping yourself in a room I’ll tag “use me whenever you want”.

And because people can see that you are trying to gain their favour and consent, you become an easy target for manipulation however they want.

If you are still in the business of people pleasing. I’ll advise you desist henceforth and seek help from a therapist or a friend who you are confident can help.

That’s your insecurity and self esteem issues at play here.

I’ll end on this note; you can come out of whatever state you are in now. All you need is a courageous step out of that challenge.

For Quasimodo, when he saw Esmeralda slowly dying on the burning stake she was tied on. That was all the courage he needed to rise, she had shown him what loving someone meant.

Find what gives you courage and go for it. For me, Christ is my courage. What about you?

Hope you loved this piece, I’ll like to hear from you.

For those who don’t know my name, I am Utibe, a writer with a purpose❤.