There's a mollusk, see, and he walks up to a subscriber--well, he doesn't walk up, he swims up. Well, actually the mollusk isn't moving. He's in one place and then the subscriber--well, they...I mixed up. There was a mollusk and a subscriber--none of them were walking, so forget that I said that... 🐟💪💻

Nemo's dad is not afraid of the ocean, he's afraid of losing the only family he has left

Hey, if you saw your wife and 1,000 of your children die at one time, that would mess with your masculinity as well

Did we forget that Marlon tried to fight off a Barracuda at the beginning of the movie?

Dude, Marlin is clearly traumatized... He's not an adult nice guy, he's a broken traumatized guy.
Terrible example

Video is a bit hard on Marlin. It's easy to point out all those flaws, all while completely ignoring the traumatic experience that made him the way that he is in the first place.

He very well nearly lost everything, all while doing the the best that he could have. Told his girl to get in the house, tried to fight off a barracuda, but it still wasn't enough. I think anyone would switch up their approach in life after experiencing that.

Another thing worth noting: Marlin had that masculine confidence and relaxed demeanor in the opening of the movie. But then he lost it along with nearly his whole family. From then on, he believed he had to monitor Nemo all the time, to keep him in the house 24/7. Because when he told Coral to get in the house at a crucial point, she didn't listen, and it got her killed. His new approach to the outside world was a trauma response. A survival reflex.

But over time, he starts to put faith in not only himself, but also Dory, who becomes not only a loyal companion, but also a potential second child for him. In fact, if you pretend the plot of Finding Dory doesn't exist, and you just look at the first movie on its own, it's entirely possible that her being alone was because her family got fed up with her short-term memory loss and just abandoned her. So her running into Marlin, who already has a disabled child, was a miracle, if anything.

Marlin's journey, in a way, isn't just about putting faith in his son, and in other people. It's also about his healing and rebirth. By the end, he's his old self again, and his family even grew a little bigger.

I think I realized that as a kid at the third act. Marlin getting swallowed by a pelican only to jam himself down its throat and shout in pure defiance "NO! I did NOT come this far just to be BREAKFAST!" He's not that scared, awkward clownfish. He's a man on a mission and not even the food chain's stopping him when he's so close.

Marlin travelled an entire OCEAN to find his kid, and then did it again for his girl (friend, not lover). I'll always have his back.

Marlin is deeply traumatized. He lost his partner and all of his children to murder.
He lives vicariously through Nemo. Although Nemo may hate some of the ways his father treated him, I don’t think he genuinely felt hate towards him. He was just a boy after all.

It's not "safe man" it's traumatised.

Marlins problem isn't that he's kind, he's overprotective.

I just love how accurately Finding Nemo portrays the process of Marlin facing his fears. In a lot of children's media, people face their biggest fears once and then are "cured" from them, but that does usually not happen in real life: Some days, people feel more brave, at some days less, sometimes you are way to overwhelmed, sometimes you have setbacks ... Marlin does become braver throughout the movie, but he also continuously has to push himself and at times falls back into desperation, his anxieties are repeatedly linked to his grief, so he has to tackle multiple emotions to keep going. Healing is rarely linear, Marlin does not loose his fears, but learns to manage them, which is much closer to real life than in many other hero's journeys portayed in films.

Kind doesnt always mean weak. Kindness is choice not weakness.

Interpreting fear of loss as a masculinity problem is a little weird in my opinion. Marlin isn't unmasculine or uncourageous, he is traumatized. From the very start of the movie Marlin is shown to be sensitive and caring but also willing to sacrifice everything for the sake of his family, he provides them a good home and neighborhood to live in and literally throws his entire body at a massive barracuda in an attempt to save them, then when his last remaining family/child gets stolen right in front of him he without hesitation charges after the boat despite being blocked and stunned by a human with a camera. Afterwards his entire journey he risks his own safety time and time again. Marlin's true flaw is his trauma and fear of loss inhibiting him from being a good father. Nemo resents his father because he lacks the context of what really happened, his only frame of reference is "I'm not allowed as much freedom as the other kids cause my dad is scared" so it's natural he would assume his father is a coward who doesn't really care about him. Nemo realizes he was wrong when he sees just how far his father is willing to go to find him. And that's it. That's the movie. It's not about becoming a better man, Marlin was already a good man, it's about healing from trauma and through that becoming a better father.

Marlin swam across the FUCKING OCEAN to save his child. That is the most masculine thing ever. And doing that without being having a threatening demeanour???? This man is a GOAT.

I watched a video where a child psychologist rated a bunch of animated films for how developmentally good they were for kids to watch; this film ended up in the top tier with Inside Out.

Incredibly powerful movie.

Actions speak louder than strong jawlines 😤

I've always seen Marlin as masculine, he is just heartbroken and traumatized, and that is showing through in an overly anxious way. It doesn't make him "feminine," but nervous.

Love how you've totally glossed over the trauma of Marlin losing his wife. If I recall, it was a major point of the movie.