Analyzing the Message of 'IF': The Importance of Imagination and Childhood Wonder

Despite my pile of things to do - the looming threat of completing Red Dead Redemption 2, the waiting stack of Assassin's Creed games, the 600 film long watchlist and a To Read pile that stretches to the ceiling - I found myself in the cinema watching the newest Ryan Reynolds film, IF.

The film is perfectly fine, maybe a 6/10 if you want to critically analyse it, but the much more interesting side of IF is the message. This is a family film, but there are multiple heart-breaking scenes that try to push the metaphor of the film into a thesis statement. So, while this is unproductive and kind of nebulous, I want to try to pick apart IF to see what it has to say.

IF is the first picture that John Krasinski has sole writing credit on that he has directed, meaning he had a crazy amount of creative control. So let's work out the logic of IF.

An 'if' is an Imaginary Friend. In the reality of the movie, every single child has an 'if' until they experience some kind of trauma. Then, the kid grows up. They lose touch with their imagination and their 'if' just goes on existing. The only way that an 'if' can be fulfilled is while they belong to a human.

Now. As much as I hate the 'plot hole' *DING* style of thought. There are a few things that raise my eyebrows when we deep dive into the film.

• All of the 'if's are animated. There are different styles of animation, but Ryan Reynolds (playing Cal, who tries to rehome the 'if's) is revealed to be an Imaginary Friend who just so happens to look human. I suppose he is a clown, but he is an exception to the Imaginary Friend rule that is disconcerting... What does it say about our protagonist Bea that her Imaginary Friend is not whimsical and cartoony, but just a man.

• While it is implied that every child had an 'if', it is also clear that not every child has an if at the time of the film. Benjamin, the child that Bea meets in the hospital, has no imaginary friend. His original 'if' is never a topic of conversation, so I think we can assume that he has not lost his 'if'. He simply never had one.

When a person is reminded of happy childhood memories - their parent's cooking or their magical dance recitals - they can remember their Imaginary Friend. We get to see this happen to Blue, the big fluffy thing that was on all of the posters. The adult remembers their lost pal and gets a boost of optimism and imagination. And that's that. The IF goes on existing. Bea's grandmother can see her 'if' afterwards but Bea herself forgot her 'if' and lost him and then suffered another trauma that forced him away again. The metaphor seems to decide that this means she has lost her imagination, against her will, despite still remembering Cal the Clown.

Bea's central conflict, her character arc, has her struggling with having to grow up quickly. Her mother died of cancer, which forced her imaginary friend away from her and she forgot all about her interactions with the 'if' community. Her father, played quite obnoxiously by John Krasinski himself, wants her to embrace her childhood, like he does. Cast off maturity. She resists, but in the second act she embraces the idea in a musical number that shows what the film has to offer: inventive visuals and an unapologetic upbeat grin that is aggressively infectious. I like this musical number, I promise. I wish there was more of this in the film.

So, growing up is evil. People should hang on to their childhood wonder and imagination? Wrong! Bea has no say in whether she loses her 'if's when her dad is in bad condition after a surgery. She suffers, and loses her imagination. The ending of the movie tries to be optimistic, with Bea finding a painting from her childhood and remembering the Cal is her 'if' and managing to claw him back to her, but the film relied a little too much on the heart and not enough on the comedy and made the film's message something muddled.

This might have been an unhinged tangent about a film that nobody saw, but I think really thinking out films for kids is important sometimes. Imagination never goes anywhere, it just gets out of practice, like a muscle. Don't let John Krasinski tell you otherwise.

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