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Ligers Lived

INTRODUCTION
Thank you for Levin and Schlozman’s excellent piece on "Napoleon Dynamite" (1). As a one-time resident of small-town Idaho, I feel compelled to offer an elucidation of Napoleon’s cultural background. The culture of small-town Mormon Idaho is very different from other places. Here, terms such as "frick," "dang," "heck yes," and "gosh"—not to mention "gall dang" and "oh my heck"—are ubiquitous substitutions for unacceptable swear words. And this homogeneous, superficially all-American but, in fact, idiosyncratically mystical culture breeds a substratum of magical thinkers. There is an epidemic of trinket shops stocked almost entirely with tchotchkes of the crystal-bearing wizard type and a remarkable number of after-school groups devoted to activities such as shape changing, with a preference for unicorns. The fantasy animals that interest Napoleon surround him, in the culture and in the hills. Unicorns can be found next to the wizards, and Ligers briefly populated the outskirts of Lava Hot Springs, Idaho (Google "Ligertown" for proof). So Napoleon is not quite as odd as he might seem to outsiders. What we are seeing in the character of Napoleon Dynamite, at least partly, is an interesting product of an even weirder and more interesting culture, one that is depicted with striking accuracy in this film.

REFERENCES

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1. Levin HW, Schlozman S: Napoleon Dynamite: Asperger’s disorder or geek NOS? Acad Psychiatry 2006; 30:430–435[Abstract/Free Full Text]

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