The Meaning of Life from Napoleon Dynamite

When Spencer Johnson wrote his best-selling parable "Who Moved my Cheese?", he uses cheese as a symbol of what's important in life--security, wealth, happines--zeal for life is embodied by cheese. The characters' actions are motivated by their desire for cheese. They run around the maze (life) in search of cheese (sustenance, self-actualization) which is often moved around (the problems and issues of life and work).

I went to sleep last night and, like John receiving the book of Revelation while banished to the isle of Patmos, or Coleridge dreaming the entire, intact text of Kubla Khan, it was all revealed to me: Parallels in Napoleon Dynamite, where cheese is also used as a symbol for life's ultimate meaning. In this dream, various characters floated comically in front of me, as though in a tornado, and told me their philosophies regarding the quest for cheese.

The first indication of this deeply hidden meaning occurs when Napoleon calls home at the beginning of the movie. Kip is making a plate of food--and grating cheese over the top. Although Napoleon briefly distracts him, Kip longingly eyes the plate and tells him "I'm busy". We scoff at Kip because we judge him to be a loser. He sits around the house chatting away online all day, which our society rejects as a valid preoccupation. He's 32 and doesn't have a girlfriend. We make assumptions. We hate him--how could anyone love him? Ahthough this cheese is a foreshadowing that he has infused his life with zeal, we still don't get it. And we never see his potential--he appears doomed to fail right to the end, but Kip surprises us all. Kip's persistance and growth has paid off, and he literally rides off happily into the sunset with the girl.

Where did the cheese come from? Grandma! She's the character who is the source of cheese in the movie, and indeed, the head of the family. She rides dune buggys and has a boyfriend. She's the only smiling, happy, truly satisfied character. When Kip is grating cheese over his plate, it's HER cheese that he uses—he grates it from a huge block that is symbolic of her large reserves of energy and happiness. As a storytelling method, Grandma's overpowering zeal has to be removed from the picture so we can observe the others in the story and what they accomplish in her absence.

"Napoleon-knock it off and go make yourself a dang quesadilla!". This embodies, in essence, both the theme of the movie, as well as symbolically sets the next events in motion. Grandma is the voice of wisdom and experience, telling him--ingest cheese--fill your life with meaning (more strongly: Go get a life!). Be proactive. Decide to be happy, and let that guide your actions.

But, examining this statement on another level, what is a quesadilla, really? Mexican food made with cheese. And what does Napoleon do next? Befriends a Mexican student, Pedro, and his life improves exponentially from that point. When Napoleon approaches Pedro for the first time, it's a positive, proactive step in his life--a step where he makes a new friend. He helps someone else and stops being self-centered. But by, in essence, making life into a quesadilla, Napoleon matures. His personal journey climaxes when his proactivity pays off: He's able to give Pedro a beautiful gift of himself through dancing at the student elections. This infusion of his life with "cheese" has driven him to perform an unselfish act to benefit another person, and it is both a warm, justifying moment of the movie and the moral of the tale.

Pedro comes to the scene with his own cheese. He's content. It is subtly implied that Pedro gets cheese at home all the time, and is secure, serene and happy. Although he faces challenges, his security guides him and doesn't let him get thrown off course. He is a stable, unshakable constant in the movie, coming in with security and leaving with the benefits of that security.

The primary antagonist is Uncle Ricco. Uncle Ricco represents a rejection of infusing your life with cheese--Instead, he munches steak the whole time. Since cows are clearly representative of the source of cheese (note the theatrical device of assisting the mental completion of this relationship in two steps via the FFA contest), Uncle Ricco's constant eating of steak represents an attempt to cheat life by taking shortcuts (in effect, killing the goose which lays the golden eggs), tantalizingly promoting an alternative philosophy to Grandma's wisdom. Indeed, Uncle Ricco tries to circumvent natural law any chance he gets. He lives in the past, and fantasizes about time travel to 1982 so he can theoretically change the course of his life—a futile attempt to cheat the cosmos. When he assaults Napoleon, what is his weapon of choice? It appears random that he violently flings a steak into his face, but in fact, it is a symbolic attempt to disrupt Napoleon’s newly-found zeal for life by assailing him with Ricco's twisted philosophy. He asserts to Kip “How much you wanna bet I can throw a football over them mountains?” as he eats steak:he constantly feeds himself the perverted outlook on life and mistaken belief that he can circumvent the laws of nature. He lures Kip into considering this philosophy (which is why Kip tries to conform by affirming the assault "That's what I'm talking about..."), but ultimately Kip rejects the notion that nature can be cheated, his delusion shattering like a nylon polymer bowl under the crushing wheel of life's difficult lessons, and he speeds away, fleeing temptation to pursue his heart's true desires.

Ricco's world is rooted in artificial sideroads and overt perversion of the truth, rather than an acceptance of the refining process, patience, and aging that cheese represents.

Note that soulless Tina is never fed cheese as it would be wasted on her.

Taking this analysis and going back to Grandma's directions to Napoleon, a phenomenal insight can be obtained:

Go! (Take action, be proactive)
Make yourself (be independent. No one can make you happy, it has to be your decision, your action, taken on your own behalf. This message has to come from Grandma, the only one who is happy and content with her life)
A Dang (Here we come to a subtle undercurrent. Grandma is frustrated with Napoleon's lack of vision and commitment. Indeed, Grandma may be saddened that she is cursed with being able to enjoy life but has been unable to impart this wisdom to her children and grandchildren. When she says "dang", she actually directs it toward herself, a self-berating comment artfully embedded in her words of wisdom.)
Quesadilla! Symbol of a life embodied with meaning and spice

I hope this is as helpful to you in clarifying the meaning of life as it is to me. I am certain that this interpretation has already been embraced by others, and I wanted to independently record this revelation in its purest state without bias.

Go make yourself a dang quesadilla today. (You guys are retarded!)