Transfiguring Adoption’s Overview:

Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey is a new musical that debuted recently on Netflix. It features almost an exclusively Black cast, led by Forest Whittaker, which is refreshing to see in a family holiday film. It tells the story of a toy maker named Jeronicus Jangle (Whittaker) and his granddaughter Journey (Madalen Mills) through a mixture of live-action flashbacks and stylized animation sequences. It’s a story that celebrates family relationships, even ones that don’t come easily, and the power of belief.

The movie was incredibly enjoyable to watch and holds appeal for a wide variety of ages given that the main characters span several generations of age. The movie also includes a number of themes that could lend themselves to great discussion. However, there are some pretty heavy plot points involving loss and estrangement, as well as several fairly scary action sequences so it may be one that is better watched together as a family and to be prepared for the discussions and questions that it might bring up.

** Spoilers Could Be Ahead **

How Is This Relevant To Adoption & Foster Care?

This movie does not directly deal with foster care or adoption. However, early in the movie Jessica Jangle loses her mother, an event that drastically alters her life and leads to a falling out with her father as well. While the movie focuses on the stories of Jeronicus (Jessica’s father) and Journey (Jessica’s daughter) this parental loss and estrangement is a major part of the narrative. All children who have been through foster care or adoption have experienced parental loss in some form- so this story of a girl whose mother died and whose father was so lost in grief he could no longer care for her is likely to resonate.

We also see Journey struggle to connect with a new caregiver when she comes to live with her grief-stricken grandfather, and towards the end of the movie see Jessica engage in the process of reconnecting with her father whom she has been estranged from for a long time. All of these difficult family relationships and the way in which the characters navigate them are challenges that these children can relate to.

Discussion Points:

• Celebrating Unique Personalities
  Journey struggles some in the movie because she is different from the other children her age: she likes math and inventing rather than playing outside, and her mind works a little bit differently. However, Journey is incredibly smart, extremely confident in herself, and unfailingly kind and loving. She ends up using her gifts to connect with her curmudgeonly grandfather, get herself and her friend Edison out of several bad situations, make Buddy 3000 work and save the family business. Use this as an opportunity to talk to your children about the unique gifts they have and while some things might be a struggle because of these traits, they’ll be able to excel in other areas and having people who are all unique and different makes the world a more interesting place. They should celebrate the ways that they’re different rather than trying to force themselves into a mold of who they think they should be. Journey is a great role model for this!
• Learning to love again after loss
  Jeronicus takes the death of his wife extremely hard, especially as it comes right on the heels of the loss of his apprentice and theft of his ideas. He falls into a deep depression and loses his career and becomes estranged from his daughter. He spends the intervening decade mostly sitting alone in the dark in what has now become a pawn shop. He struggles to form any new relationships, despite attempts from other characters. Mrs. Johnston pursues him romantically, Edison wants to be an apprentice, and his granddaughter Journey desperately wants to connect with him, but he rebuffs all these attempts. Eventually, however, he begins to form an attachment to Journey and realize what he’s been missing in his life. After almost losing her, he is able to open himself up to love again and even reconciles with his estranged daughter. None of this happens overnight but he demonstrates how it is possible to find love again. Children who have been through trauma and loss are likely to relate strongly to his character’s struggles. After all the losses they have experienced it may be hard for them to be open to forming new attachments, out of a fear that they will only get hurt again. Watching Jeronicus go through this and talking about how and when he’s able to heal and start new relationships and how that helps him can be a great way to open that door of possibility for the future, even if they aren’t ready for it yet.
• Belief
  The film opens with a little girl who sees something magical in a fireplace only to have her brother tell her it isn’t real. This leads to their Grandmother telling them this story about their great-great-grandfather, Jeronicus who was a magical toymaker, who is able to quantify abstract concepts such as imagination and possibility into mathematical formulas that can bring toys to life. His grand-daughter Journey shares this unique family trait that allows her to see things that others can’t simply because she believes in them. The special new toy Jeronicus has been inventing, Buddy 3000, even runs on belief. At first the only ones who can make him work are Journey and her friend Edison because they believe in him. Eventually Jeronicus is able to find his own belief through his connection with Journey and being reunited with his daughter, Jessica. Christmas is a great time to have conversations about belief. Of course, the fantasy and magic we see in the movies isn’t really, but you can talk with children about other kinds of magic- believing in the ‘magic’ of kindness and generosity in the world. You can also talk about how if children believe strongly in something, and others don’t see things their way it can be hard, like it was for Journey when she was the only one who believed in Buddy 3000 or for the little girl whose brother didn’t believe her, but that it’s important to stick by your convictions even when others try to change your mind.
• Forgiveness
  This can be a really difficult topic to discuss, especially when it involves family members who have hurt us. After her mother dies, Jessica tries to be there for her father despite being a child. However, he has fallen into a deep depression and repeatedly rebuffs her attempts for connection, eventually driving her away. This estrangement lasts many years and neither Jessica nor Jeronicus (her father) reach out to each other. Eventually Journey, Jessica’s daughter, makes the effort to connect with her grandfather and Jessica decides to visit him at last. When she finally does see him again after so many years, they have a difficult conversation and Jeronicus apologizes sincerely and shows Jessica all the letters he’s written to her over the years but never sent. Jessica is able to forgive him for his absence and they decide to work together to reconcile their relationship. In talking with children about this, be sure to discuss the things that Jeronicus did right (or wrong) and how those choices led to Jessica’s forgiveness. There’s no blanket solution to family separation or disagreements and depending on what a parent did to hurt a child; they may not be able to or want to forgive them and that’s okay. But seeing this play out and talking about the things that initially led to the separation of Jessica and her father, and the steps that led them back to having a relationship, may help children who have a desire to forgive and reconnect with family members. Jessica didn’t just automatically forgive him when she saw him again, it took a sincere apology and discussion about how she’d been hurt for them to get there.

Cautionary Points:

• Parental Death
  Early in the movie during a flashback Jeronicus’s wife, Joanne, passes away suddenly while Jessica, their daughter, is still a young child. The death is shown on screen; however, it’s shown during one of the animation sequences. But we do see the mother fall down suddenly in the street and then the father and daughter mourning at a gravesite. These images, even in cartoon form, may be upsetting for children who have lost a parent or loved one to watch. This is also a repeated topic of conversation throughout the movie as it was a defining moment in the lives of both Jessica and Jeronicus.
• Parent Abandonment
  Early on in the story Jeronicus Jangle loses his apprentice, wife, and business in short succession. He falls into a severe depression and is not able to care for his daughter, Jessica, the way he should. He repeatedly tells her she’s better off without him and eventually convinces her to leave, leading to a decades-long estrangement. It’s unclear how old Jessica is when she is sent away but even if she is a young adult by this point it is still a loss. The narrator even says, “She hadn’t lost just one parent, but two.” This loss may be ever harder for children who are in foster care or adoption to process as they may have biological parents who are still alive but unable to care for them for a number of reasons.
• Stealing
  The Don Juan doll that Jeronicus brings to life decides he does not want to be mass-produced and he convinces Gustafson, the apprentice, to take him along with all of Jeronicus’s toy ideas and pass them off on his own. He even sings a song about ‘borrowing indefinitely’. This may send the wrong message to children who have issues stealing behavior as it makes it sound like you can take something and convince yourself it’s okay because you’re ‘borrowing’ not ‘stealing’ which is sometimes a distinction children have difficulty making.
• Betrayal
  Gustafson is very close to Jeronicus and is working as his apprentice. However, he feels overlooked and teams up with Don Juan, one of Jeronicus’s own creations, to get revenge, thus betraying his trust. When children have experienced abuse or neglect at the hands of their caregivers, this often feels like a betrayal- the people who were supposed to love them unconditionally didn’t. They may also feel like they were misled into trusting someone they shouldn’t have and blame themselves for the trauma they experienced. Because of this they may be sensitive to people not being who they say they are or turning on people who they are close to.
• Flirting in a way that makes a character uncomfortable
  Ms. Johnston repeatedly flirts with Jeronicus and asks him out. It is clear that Jeronicus is uncomfortable at her advances and tells her he isn’t interested, but this does not deter her. If children have been sexually abused and felt like their requests for an activity to stop were ignored, they may also feel upset by Jeronicus’s discomfort and Ms. Johnston’s overt and persistent advances.
• Caregiver Rejects Child
  Journey wants to get to know her Grandfather, so she manipulates her way into an invitation to his house. When she arrives, however, Jeronicus repeatedly tells her to leave and that he doesn’t want her there. He continues to reject her attempts at affection even after he agrees she can stay. This continues for several days until at last they are able to connect emotionally and develop a relationship. Journey doesn’t ever seem deterred by this and her confidence never wavers. However, children who have experienced times when a caregiver didn’t want them around might not understand why Jeronicus is being so harsh with Journey and they may find these interactions to be upsetting.
• Adult approaches children in an uncomfortable way.
  As an adult, and the film’s main villain, Gustafson has a somewhat sinister feel. There are a few scenes where he tried to befriend and entice children into giving him information. First, he approaches Journey when she is sitting alone in an alleyway at nighttime, sympathizing with her concerns and trying to get to know her before asking questions about her grandfather and even roughly grabbing her arm. However, she gets suspicious and stands up to him and nothing further happens. In the next scene he approaches Edison while he is alone in the pawn shop, offering him a toy and engaging in friendly conversation as he approaches. This is followed by a cutscene and then we see Journey find his dropped glasses which leads her to find him tied up in the workshop and Buddy 3000 has been stolen. Nothing especially terrible happens to the children either time, but the scenes have an uncomfortable feel to them. This may be problematic for children who have experienced situations where adults tried to get them to talk about or do things that they weren’t comfortable with. The fact that Gustafson, an adult, approaches the children when they are alone and vulnerable may be a reminder of similar situations that might have actually led to abuse for your children.
  
  
• Threat of Foreclosure
  Jeronicus stopped inventing and opened a pawn shop but business hasn’t been going well. He is approached by the bank several times and told that if he doesn’t start paying back his loan, he’s going to lose his property. It even gets to the point that he’s told he has to be out by Christmas day, and he is packing up his belongings and preparing to leave. If children have a background of poverty, they have had an experience where they were threatened with eviction or forced to move due to unpaid rent. In those cases, seeing Jeronicus, who’s already lost so much, prepare to lose his home and business might be very hard to watch.
• Moderate-Intense Peril
  The climax of the movie is very intense. After Buddy 3000 is stolen, Journey and Edison sneak into Gustafson’s factory to rescue him. During this attempt, they are chased through a large toy factory among many machines and dangerous situations by a slew of guards. Eventually the children end up in an exhaust tunnel and think they will be able to get out. However, the fan is turned on and the large spinning blades are now blocking their exit. To make matters worse, they have accidentally knocked over a lantern and set the factory ablaze behind them so they are trapped. They devise an escape plan and with Jeronicus and Buddy 3000’s help, manage to make it out okay. However, there are several intense moments where it is unclear if they will be able to escape safely. When children have experienced trauma, they have an overactive stress response to raised adrenaline. So, with intense action sequences like this one, they have a harder time being able to return to an emotional baseline after watching it.
• Character (Robot) Kidnapping/Death
  Given Buddy 3000’s ability to interact and think, when he is taken it feels more like a character being kidnapped than it does just a mere toy being stolen. The children rescue him from Gustafson, only for Buddy to sacrifice himself to help the children escape from the fire. He is badly broken, and it is unclear whether Jeronicus will be able to repair him (though he is able to in the end). As movies like Star Wars and Wall-E have proven, it is possible to be just as attached to a robot as it is to human or animal characters. So, the peril Buddy 3000 experiences might be hard for kids to watch.
• Police Threaten to Arrest Caregiver
  At the end of the film, Gustafson has lied to the police and said that Jeronicus stole Buddy 3000 from him. The Police come into Jeronicus’s shop and start to arrest him while Journey and her mother, Jessica look on. However, Journey is quickly able to prove that it was actually Gustafson who is the thief. However, if children have experienced an incident where a parent or other caregiver was arrested while they were in the home this might be an upsetting sequence to watch.

Discussion Guide:

1. How do you think it makes the little girl feel when her brother tells her she’s only ‘imagining things’ when she sees something in the fireplace? Have you ever experienced a time when someone didn’t believe you about something?
   Caregiver Note: It’s always a frustrating experience to tell someone the truth, especially if it’s something important to you, and not be believed. Children may have had times in their life when a caregiver or other adult didn’t believe them about something. Learning about times when a child may have experienced this will help you to better know and understand the types of support they might need from you when sharing information. This can also be a great time to remind them that you will always take the things they choose to share with you seriously and you hope they always feel comfortable talking to you.
2. Gustafson wants to be a great inventor like Jeronicus but Jeronicus is too busy to help Gustafson with the invention he’s struggling with. How does this make Gustafson feel? How does he react?
   Caregiver Note: Jeronicus is busy and overwhelmed with his customers and his family’s preparations for the holidays. Because of this Gustafson feels overlooked and like he’s not important which causes him to harbor resentment. So, when the opportunity comes along when someone suggests he get revenge on Jeronicus for making him feel this way he goes along with it. It’s important however, to not engage in victim-blaming. Jeronicus may have hurt Gustafson but that doesn’t mean that he deserved to have Gustafson betray him. It can also be a good way to have a conversation with children about times they might have felt overlooked and what you can do as a caregiver to make sure they are feeling seen and appreciated.
3. Why do you think Jeronicus stopped being able to make new inventions?
   Caregiver Note: Jeronicus experiences several traumatic events in a short period of time- his apprentice betrays him and steals his ideas and then he loses his wife. He falls into a severe depression and one of the hallmarks of this illness is that it causes a person to struggle to engage in activities they used to enjoy. Depression also tends to cause lack of energy and saps creativity. Because of this Jeronicus struggles just to get through the day, much less create any new toys. This was also an activity he used to enjoy doing with his wife so doing it without her is especially difficult. This is a great way to talk about some of the signs and symptoms of depression and trauma behavior and talk about the things that can be done to help if someone feels like he does- such as seeking help from a doctor or counselor or talking to a trusted adult.
4. After Jeronicus’ wife died, he ended up sending his daughter Jessica away. We see him try many times to reach out to her but he “couldn’t figure out the words.” Have you ever had a time when you wanted to tell someone something but struggled to do so? How did/could you resolve this?
   Caregiver Note: We all have times when we want to talk to someone about something but struggle to find the words, like Jeronicus. Talk about their own experiences of this phenomenon and how they were able to overcome it or brainstorm strategies that might be useful in the future, such as practicing a conversation with another individual or writing down your feelings and organizing thoughts before having the conversation.
5. Jeronicus repeatedly gets upset that no one calls him by his correct name. Why do you think that is?Caregiver Note: Names are a very important part of our identity- this can be especially true for children who might have had their name changed at some point due to things like divorce/remarriage or adoption. Since birth parents are almost always the ones who chose a child’s name, this can often be an important link to their past and birth family. Jeronicus likes his name and it’s what his wife called him, so it holds a special significance for him since she’s no longer with him. This question can also be a good opportunity to talk with children who are new to your home about what they like to be called. Some kids like nicknames and some prefer their given name and sometimes these preferences change as they get older. So, it’s always a good conversation to have with a new placement, or even to periodically check-in about, especially during periods of transition.
6. Why does Buddy 3000 work for Journey and Edison but not when Jeronicus is around?
   Caregiver Note: The missing ingredient to making Buddy come to life is belief. Journey believes he can work and so he comes to life when she’s around, even making her and Edison able to fly around the room with him. However, at first, Jeronicus doesn’t believe in Buddy or himself. Once he has come to terms with his wife’s death and realizes his love for Journey, he is able to believe again and at that point Buddy works for him. Children who have experienced trauma often struggle with self-esteem, so this is a great illustration of the importance of believing in yourself and how that has the power to make amazing things happen.
7. How does Edison feel when at the end of the movie Jeronicus says he is “Quite the Inventor”? How does Jeronicus do better with Edison than he did with Gustafson?
   Caregiver Note: During the first half of the movie we see Edison craving Jeronicus’s praise and he is repeatedly told that he’s ‘just a shop boy’ and ‘not an inventor’. However, as Jeronicus has learned to open himself back up to love and relationships he realizes that he cares about Edison and offers him the praise and acknowledgement he so desperately wanted. With Gustafson, Jeronicus was often too busy to pay a lot of attention to him and so Gustafson let his feelings of being left out and resentment fester until he ended up making the poor choice to turn against Jeronicus. By Jeronicus acknowledging Edison it shows that he’s grown as a person and is not repeating his old mistakes.
8. Why do you think Jessica decided to forgive her father? How did they make amends? Would you have done the same thing in her shoes?
   Caregiver Note: After over a decade apart Jessica finally decides to approach her father again, largely in part because her daughter Journey wants a relationship with him. At first Jessica is very angry with him, but when she realizes that he never stopped loving her, she begins to forgive him. As an adult she is able to look back and understand the difficult time he was going though and that he handled it poorly. He also shows her all the letters he wrote, as proof of his continued love, and sincerely apologizes to her. In addition, she sees the relationship he has built with Journey and she realizes that he really has changed. Talking with children about whether they think she did the right thing or not might offer insight into their own situations. Children who have recently experienced trauma or rejection by a caregiver might not be in a place where they’re ready to forgive them and therefore think Jessica was wrong to do so. For other children who have processed trauma and want to build or repair relationships with their biological parents they may agree with Jessica. Either way, it’s important to talk about the steps it took for this reconciliation and how every situation is different, and it may not always work out as well as it did for these characters.
9. Ms. Johnston tells Jeronicus “The magic isn’t just in what you’ve lost. It’s in what you still have.” What does she mean by this? How does Jeronicus embrace this at the end of the movie?
   Caregiver Note: Jeronicus experiences a great deal of loss- both of his wife and his business and he is lost in the grief of these losses for many years. He doesn’t see any of the wonderful things around him because he is too focused on the things that aren’t there. At the end of the movie he is in a better place, having been able to process his trauma, and realizes he has other family and friends and that there are still good things in his life. This can be an opportunity to talk to children about the positive relationships and things they do have in their life, rather than focusing on the things they may have lost.
10. Activity: Invent your Own Robot ‘Buddy’
    Caregiver Note: Buddy 3000 is something Jessica dreamed up when she was a little girl, which was later created by her father and then brought to life by Journey. Brainstorm with your kids what kind of robot they might like to have- would they want a robot who could make them fly like Buddy? One that could clean their room for them? The sky’s the limit! After deciding what you want the robot to do you can also discuss what would make him work. Buddy 3000 is powered by belief. What powers your robot? Finally think about how the robot would look. If children enjoy artistic endeavors, they could even sketch a robot blueprint or build a prototype out of things they find around the house (paper towel rolls, newspaper, egg cartons, etc.).

About the Author: Jenn Ehlers

Jenn is a central Virginia native who received her BA in Psychology from the University of Virginia in 2012. Since then she has worked for a local mental health agency and the Department of Social Services in various capacities and has been involved in her community’s efforts to create a Trauma Informed Network. Currently Jenn works in vocational rehab and mentors youth in foster care. When she isn’t working, Jenn enjoys writing stories, anything and everything Harry Potter, and spending time with her niece and nephew.

**Transfiguring Adoption is a nonprofit organization seeking to nurture growth in foster and adoptive families by giving a HOOT about their families. Transfiguring Adoption does not intend for its reviewers nor its review to be professional, medical or legal advice. These reviews and discussion guides are intended to help parents to better be able to connect and understand their children who come from traumatic backgrounds.