Phenomenology of HAPPY FEET

Husserl's Theory of Intentionality of Consciousness

In the movie Happy Feet, Mumble valued on searching for the cause of the depletion of their food; fish. However, the leader of the community of penguin valued to remain and not to explore. Let us consider that these two penguins are in their natural attitude. Nevertheless this has affected their response to the situation. We see that mumble with the belief in his heart created that conviction that moved him to act upon their problem, "why is there the loss of fish in their place?"

Now let us put the experience of Mumble in the transcendental attitude. The transcendental ego which we say Mumble has this act of valuing (noesis) and the content (noema) is valued as valued; and the object is the community. It was his value for the community that was operative in his personality because it has been firmly constituted in his person. "What dominant act we encounter in the person is his act-character, which will sediment into a habitus to become his or her personality."

On the other hand, though Mumble has this transcendental attitude of immanentizing the object, the leader of the penguin community remained in his natural attitude; he remained close to the possibilities offered by Mumble. The leader made Mumble outcast of the community. So Mumble left the community but he never left because the community is in him. With this he continued his quest to answer the penguin community's problem. His belief on the possibility of helping the community had become his convictions. It was all because of the many oppositions and his experience of becoming an outcast that strengthen his conviction and turned his belief to conviction. "The more one ascertains his belief through critique the more his actions or behavior flow efficiently from the said belief." We call to mind our great father Socrates who stood out and died for the truth. Amidst false accusations he continued to stand for his convictions.

Now Mumble pushed by his convictions succeeded in answering the question of the penguin community. Going back, he has to convince the community and bring them to a transcendental attitude. But how? Mumble started step by step and indeed, teaching them the step of the tap dance that id spontaneous to him one step at a time. It is an image of a rigorous and tedious process one should undergo in the enterprise of leading others in the community to this transcendental attitude "the community is present to each member!" (the immanentizing of the community). Little by little the elder of the penguin community started to follow Mumble; he started to follow the steps of the tap dance. He has opened himself to this transcendental attitude where there is immanence in the transcendental ego and the transcendental object: The penguin and the community respectively. He opened himself to the truth.

When our convictions flow out from a stance of this transcendental attitude that there is the immanentizing of the community, then like Mumble we will be driven to do good and become heroes for our community. The conviction that all that we do have communal dimension even how little and even how secret; will have its own communal effect. If we do good and and heroic acts then it will have a good and heroic effect in the community, but if we do bad it will also be felt directly or indirectly. We could not escape from our community. Better still, we could not escape community!

We Furries are giving ourselves opportunities so that there will be the constitution or institution of this transcendental attitude; the immanentizing of the community (ego-cogitas-cogitationes-cogitatum). This is a challenge for all of us Furries and Non-furries. We have to create that atmosphere that will provide that community consciousness where one is aware that he and she carries with him and her the community even he and she is doing his and her "personal" routine. We do it step by step.

A leader is drawn from a community; formed in a community; and will serve in a community!