The Latin meaning of the word or name, Nemo is “nobody.” So finding nemo really means, finding nobody. For some reason I was pondering the character Captain Nemo from the Jules Verne’s books today. His man of mystery so to speak. Captain Nemo, in reality Prince Dakkar was a hindu son of a rich nobleman in India. He was sent as a young man of 10 years old to Europe. He was a traveling scholar, learned modern art, philosophy and became quote the student of modern science. He returns to India, gets married and lives his life. However, the British rule ran by one of their trading companies becomes intolerable. Prince Dakkar becomes a revolutionary and fights in the revolts of the late 1850s in India. His family gets killed, the revolution is stamped out and Prince Dakkar losses faith in society.
He decides to leave, abandoning to a remote island. He uses science to create his submarine ship called the Nautilus and dives under the sea to completely abandon society. He renames himself Captain Nemo, effectively, becoming nobody. Dakkar becomes the alternative of himself, and serves as the foundation of the two great novels written by Jules Verne. He is erratic, eccentric, and brilliant.
It is rather funny that Pixar decided to name their popular feature film “Finding Nemo.” Almost seemingly a reference to this idea that if we could somehow go against all odds and actually find Nemo, we might some how save ourselves, save society and restore the passion for life that the young Prince Dakkar had and lost having become disappointed with the human family. Bit of a stretch, I guess the movie really was about a clown fish looking for his lost son. No deeper meaning implied.
Jules Verne’s absolutely meant, and did very well, express his attitudes about where people had got themselves. In the book, Mysterious Island, Captain Nemo getting toward the end of his life asks Cyrus Harding and his companions:
“What think you of my life, gentlemen?”
Cyrus replies, “Sir, your error was in supposing that the past can be resuscitated, and in contending against inevitable progress. It is one of those errors which some admire, others blame; which God alone can judge. He who is mistaken in an action which he sincerely believes to be right may be an enemy, but retains our esteem. Your error is one that we may admire, and your name has nothing to fear from the judgment of history, which does not condemn heroic folly, but its results.”
Captain Nemo murmurs, “Was I wrong, or in the right?”
Cyrus sends Captain Nemo off with this final statement, “All great actions return to God, from whom they are derived. Captain Nemo, we, whom you have succored, shall ever mourn your loss.”
So maybe finding nemo is not about finding nobody, maybe it is really about finding yourself.
After all the cartoon really was about Marlin, wasn’t it? The story is always about the protagonist. That was not Captain Nemo either, it was Professor Pierre Aronnax.
Guy Reams
