Before this assignment, I had never seen the film, “Hugo. ” Because of this, when I did watch it, I had the opportunity to experience it through the lens of our management class. At the beginning of “Hugo,” I expected to see leadership through one of the adult characters, perhaps one who would take up Hugo as an apprentice. However, as the movie progressed, I realized that we learn most of our lessons on leading from the young boy himself. This movie brings about many motivational themes, in addition to addressing the environment.
The most obvious leadership theme found in the film, Hugo was that a skilled and intuitive person with great leadership skills can discern when it is appropriate to break rules in order to achieve a greater goal. On the surface, one of the first things we notice about Hugo is his seemingly great amount of self-motivation, before we are given a fuller understanding of the personal struggles that drive his desire to fix the automaton and ultimately find a lifelong friend. We see that his skill and love for all things mechanical or clockwork are directly derived from Hugo’s relationship with his father.
When we discover his gripping loss, we can more greatly comprehend of the complexity of Hugo’s deliberate attempts to obtain his goal and that he’s not just a stubborn brat, but rather a hurting prodigy with valid motives. Hugo’s existence is not that of a typical twelve year old boy. The portion of his life lived with his father taught him the important life lessons of working hard for what you have, being resourceful, and not taking anything for granted.
When we are introduced to Hugo, he is in a different stage of his life “the one without his father’s physical presence. Although at this point he is considered an orphan, he is not left completely abandoned in that the things his father taught him still live on. Hugo’s unique life experiences, strong-willed determination and magnificent tinkering skill, along with the lack of a definitive authority figure in his life (one who garners his respect, that is), Hugo receives a bit of a free pass at breaking some rules. Because Hugo doesn’t rely solely on the authorities against whom he rebels, his breaking of the rules for his own personal benefit is not too great of a risk.
If his uncle had been a kinder, more helpful character, this risk would be much different. But as it stands, Hugo came from a position of having next to nothing to lose. His hurt and loneliness were more worth fixing than securing his basic needs, which were already only barely met. Question What is the explicit and implicit value of the key that is part of a necklace around Hugo’s dear lady friend? The key around Isabelle’s neck explicitly represents Hugo’s ability to finish the work on the automaton and brings life again to Hugo’s relationship with his late father.
Implicitly, the fact that the necklace belongs to Isabelle represents the tie between the two partners who originally created the automaton. The fact that Isabelle and Hugo find each other “an occurrence which Isabelle describes as “destiny” displays the repairing of the relationship between George MA©liAs and Hugo’s father, as comrades again, even if it’s a bit late. Question What life message derives from Hugo’s philosophical insights? Hugo’s philosophical outlook is a beautiful inspiration regarding each person’s place in the world. Coming from an orphan, his message is more easily accepted.
One of my favorite quotes from the film is when Hugo compares life-purpose to that of a part in a machine, saying that “machines never come with any extra parts. [ ¦] That means you have to be here for some reason, too. ? In the midst of his sob struggle, Hugo can still encourage those around him to be all they can be, even though his own internal battle is the same one. What makes Hugo’s story so special is that in the midst of his search for a place to belong and someone to love, he still strives to encourage Isabelle to not lose hope in the same struggle.
This is an example of Great Leadership, without looking through the lens of Management. Hugo uses his own experiences to motivate and withdraw the potential greatness out of his good friend. This kind of leadership is a rare occurrence these days as our society prefers to place our own feelings or struggles deep beyond the reaches of anyone who could use them for their own benefit. We tend to feel that in order to “fix”‘someone else we must “fix”? ourselves first. Hugo exemplifies the beautiful truth that our not-as-pretty moments are the ones that nurture the most hope and growth.
