Resumen de Healing through storytelling: Myth and fantasy in Tomm Moore’s Song of the Sea
Song of the Sea is a film directed by Tomm Moore, which focuses on the legends of the selkies, mythical creatures which are seals when in the sea but which can become human out of the water.
In this chapter, we intend to examine how Irish myth and legend allows Moore to develop the theme of sorrow and loss. These do not only affect the family depicted in the movie, but they also appear to characterise Ireland as a country that has moved away from storytelling and its own mythical roots lacking the expression of its own identity. As Saoirse, the mute little girl in Song of the Sea who is also a selkie, Ireland must regain its voice in order to recover its former health. The quest to save Saoirse becomes the quest to save Irish myths which, in Moore’s opinion, have become forgotten, running the risk of being forever petrified. As quest story, which establishes an intersection between responsibility, memory and voice, Song of the Sea pays tribute to animation cinema, as the place where audiences can still come in touch with magic and wonder, as our ancestors did through myth and storytelling. It also closely follows the structure of fantasy texts, which ultimately aim at “the joy of the happy ending” to which John Clute called “healing”.
