I want to remember the important things, even if they are sad - The Sheep Detective Agency

It's a little late, but I decided I wanted to leave behind this review that I was debating whether or not to write.

While watching the movie, I found myself wondering, 'Wait. Is that... the image people have of sheep?'
Stupid and helpless. Every time they were depicted that way in the dialogue while I followed the story, I kept wondering, 'Is this a cultural thing?'

About 35 years ago, I was drawn into a class on British and American children's literature at university.
Through picture books and children's literature, the professor would question our families, schools, and ways of living. At key moments, he would say things like, 'It's written this way, isn't it?' then look around at everyone, fall silent for a moment, and just grin; he never actually gave us the answers.
I came to respect that professor for teaching me the very joy of literature.

When I joined his seminar in my third year, he told me, 'If you are studying British and American children's literature, you should at least know Mother Goose as part of your general education.'
Of course, he gave some lectures on Mother Goose, but basically, the works he taught were wide-ranging, extending even to Japanese children's literature and young adult fiction.
It was up to us whether or not to read the books he introduced and study them on our own.

Mother Goose was always on my mind, and when I finally managed to go to New Jersey, I bought a book I fell in love with there and read it over and over.

Mother Goose is like nursery rhymes; everyone probably knows 'London Bridge is Falling Down,' 'Mary Had a Little Lamb,' and 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.' It also includes lullabies and Christmas songs you've likely heard.
For people who have lived in the West since childhood, it's deeply rooted as a cultural element; it's used in charms, appears in illustrations on supermarket products, and is even quoted in movies, so knowing it makes what you see and hear much more enjoyable.
For me, having lived in New Jersey during my childhood, there are things I knew, but there are also many things I learned during this time as a university student.

What would be the equivalent in Japan? Counting songs or children's folk songs. Some of them are a bit scary, too. Something like that.

I remembered this time that I had vaguely thought, 'There are a lot of sheep in that book I bought when I was 20.'
There are also cats, dogs, donkeys, ducks, pigs, mice, and so on. That's probably because they were closely tied to daily life, and surely sheep were the same in that sense.

I had just been thinking about it vaguely and never pursued the thought, but when I looked into it a little this time, it seemed to be related to Christ being a shepherd. I don't know much about religious things, but it seems sheep are often used as metaphors for humans. If there is such a cultural background, it makes the way I see this movie feel a bit more interesting.

In the movie, the sheep are described as being helpless, but they are set up to understand human language.
However, humans cannot understand the sheep's language. They just bleat. (So cute...)

In the trailer, there was a scene where George, the sheep's owner, reads mystery novels to the sheep every night and stops right before the culprit is revealed, saying, 'To be continued tomorrow.'
The sheep, frustrated by the 'to be continued tomorrow,' guess the culprit themselves and talk about it, back and forth.

There are no spoilers regarding the story, but I do touch on the content a little.

Just as I had hoped, it was a bit comical, the story was interesting, there were many funny scenes, the sheep were of course adorable, and it was a proper mystery.

But what really bothered me was the scene where they tell each other, 'It's too painful to endure the sadness, so let's forget this,' and then forget it on the count of 'one, two, three.' It's a bottleneck in the story and appears many times.
They become unbelievably lighthearted as if they've truly forgotten, returning to the emotions they had before the sadness, but I felt like I was being shown the very foolishness of humanity. Especially when I think about the world today.

It is true that we should not have to think about things that are pointless to think about, things that won't have any influence or change anything. Yet, because we think about them and become anxious, or dwell on them alone, I think there are moments when we need to say, 'Stop thinking for now!' Even in the future.

But there are also things we must think about, aren't there? For things that don't have an immediate answer, perhaps there are things we should keep thinking about slowly and steadily, maybe even for our whole lives.
That includes things we must remember.
Remembering things is important for the world that follows, and for how we live our own lives after that.

In cases of unbearable sadness, it can become a trauma, and it can be so painful that people truly forget. Depending on the person, they might try to keep themselves from thinking about it because they don't want to remember.
Ideally, it would be better to overcome the trauma, but I cannot irresponsibly tell someone to force themselves to think about their emotional wounds.

However, if by trying not to remember, we end up repeating the same mistakes, inflicting them on someone else, or losing something precious, then I think we must stop and face them.

The sheep in the movie seem to live carefree and happy lives by forgetting things.
But it also seems foolish. They appear to live caring for one another, but in reality, that is not quite the case, is it? After all, there are things that can only be done because we do not forget someone important or our own feelings.

Even though I wish to live a carefree life, perhaps I cannot fully become carefree because there are so many things I cannot forget.
I thought that perhaps I ponder things so much because there are many things I must not forget, and perhaps it is because I do not forget that my feelings for others are rich and deep.
When I think of it that way, I start to feel that my troublesome side is not so bad after all.

George the shepherd must have named his favorite sheep Lily so that he would not forget her.

And I really liked Moppel, who could not forget his sadness and accepted it, without daring to impose it on others.

**

Oh, and one more thing, "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" by The Proclaimers that played at the end!
It was a song that played in the 1993 movie "Benny & Joon" starring Johnny Depp. I bought the soundtrack CD and listened to this song on repeat until I could sing the chorus, so I felt very nostalgic and very happy.