By Andrew Nickerson
In military tactics/strategy, many names have risen to prominence, only to fall later. However, one name has remained prominent for millennia: Sun Tzu, ancient general/tactician/strategist and author of The Art of War. This masterpiece has been venerated by everyone from students to teachers to historians, not just for its commonsense approach to warfare, but its primary goal: winning. In fact, his approach has proven so effective that, as generations of critics have said, if you listen to Sun Tzu, you’ll win; if you ignore him, you’ll lose. What’s more, his wisdom has proven universally applicable, with everyone from athletes to businessmen to politicians successfully relying on his brilliance to achieve victory.
Yet, there’s one area that remains untapped: pop culture plotlines. If his wisdom is universally applicable, why not here too? To illustrate this, let’s look at an early-90s film shocker: the garden party sequence from the classic Dennis the Menace1. More specifically, we’ll examine it from the following Sun Tzu principles: morality, leadership, preparation, improv, foreknowledge, recklessness, cowardice, a hasty temper, delicacy of honor, seizing an opening, and underestimation.
Here’s the background: on a side street in a normal town are two houses, the first owned by retired couple George and Martha Wilson (George and Martha from now on). George is known for his short fuse and ego, a rather sad violation of two of Sun Tzu’s Five Fatal Failings of Leadership, a hasty temper2 (anger from now on) and delicacy of honor3 (DOH from now on), and two of his Five Essential Factors to be Mastered for Victory, morality4 and good leadership5. In contrast, Martha is gentle and sweet, able to calm her husband with ease, a remarkable mastery of morality and leadership, namely a caveat of the latter, enforcing discipline6.
The other house is owned by the Mitchells, consisting of young married couple Henry and Alice and their 5-year-old son Dennis. Henry and Alice are wonderful people, but Dennis has a shocking inclination for mischief. In all fairness, most of the trouble he causes is inadvertent and based on either his naïve attempts at helping others or curiosity, although they still constitute blatant violations of another Fatal Failing, recklessness7, along with the principles “what enables the wise sovereign and the good general to strike and conquer and achieve things beyond the reach of ordinary men is foreknowledge”8 and never underestimate a foe9. There is an occasion where his actions are malicious i.e. when he pranks his babysitter one night, a rather brazen violation of morality, but thankfully it’s an exception. Sadly, of all Dennis’ victims, the most common is George, who refers to the boy as “a menace”.
Yet, a series of events commence which’ll lead to an epic disaster, starting with George and Martha winning a prestigious prize at their garden club. It’s based on their having a unique type of orchid, one requiring 40 years to grow to its current state; soon, during an impending full moon night, it’ll blossom and then immediately wither. Such a feat is a remarkable display of foreknowledge, another Essential Victory Factor, preparation10, and the principle, “be flexible; according as circumstances are favorable, one should modify one’s plans,”11 or improv, the latter most evidenced by George’s preventing the orchid from receiving too much water via an umbrella tied to a pitchfork. As a result, the club will hold a special party at his home, both to honor him and witness said blooming.
Now the second event, this time concerning the Mitchells: Alice and Henry must take simultaneous business trips, so someone needs to watch Dennis. Sadly, they soon prove to have violated foreknowledge and underestimation, for Dennis’ reputation is so bad no one wants to watch him; most calls literally end the moment either parent mentions their name. In the end, only one possibility remains: George and Martha, who, in a great display of morality, agree to watch him. Unfortunately for the former, Dennis’ usual shenanigans ensue, but a rainy day soon brings an unexpected revelation to the boy: George keeps a collection of valuable gold coins in a safe in his office. A false front conceals the safe, a nice use of prep, improv, and foreknowledge, although George’s subsequent cocky dismissiveness of the possibility of a thief is a sad violation of recklessness, DOH, and underestimation.
Now the third event, which is by far the most alarming: a mysterious figure (Drifter from now on) arrives in the town via a nearby rail line. Filthy and wielding a switchblade, he soon takes full advantage of improv and the principle if an opening comes to seize victory, take it12, by burglarizing different residents/homes. This shameful violation of morality and another Fatal Failing, cowardice13, worsens due to his shamelessness in his choice of targets, including kids, each success emboldening him. Worse, the town sheriff spots/confronts him in a grand display of morality and leadership, even encouraging Drifter to leave because he doesn’t want any trouble. Sadly, the former’s dismissal of the latter will prove a tragic violation of recklessness and underestimation, one many will come to regret.
Everything coalesces the day of the party, when Alice is supposed to return and pick up Dennis. Yet, all have violated underestimation, in this case of fate, for Alice regrettably calls Martha that morning to inform her a massive storm has blown up, grounding her flight. It’s unfortunate, but Martha, in a wonderful use of morality, leadership, and improv, tells her to just get back when she can, the absolute right decision. Unfortunately, Alice expertly wields foreknowledge by predicting George won’t be so fond of the news…and is right on the money, for he promptly launches into an explosive rant, claiming he’s not throwing away “the crowning moment of my retired life” because “some ninny can’t get her keister to the airport on time.” It’s a shocking violation of morality, leadership, anger, cowardice, and DOH, but Martha promptly wields morality and enforcing discipline by scolding him, pointing out Alice couldn’t help the weather and it’s all plain bad luck, not a matter of fault. George then continues violating the same principles by calling the moment a tragedy, only to have Martha use her principles to shut him down again before letting the matter lie.
The guests soon arrive, and George promptly tells Dennis not to embarrass him, although both prove to have violated underestimation when the latter draws an inordinate amount of initial guest attention. As time goes on, Dennis is left in the garage, where he hears George make a speech about the orchid…but with one key omission: George never says the flower will only bloom once; furthermore, there’s no indication Dennis was ever made aware of this. It’s a clumsy violation of recklessness, foreknowledge, and prep, and not the only one as it turns out: Dennis notices a button nearby and pushes it out of curiosity, unaware it’s for the garage door. This clumsy violation of the same principles costs everyone when the door strikes a table covered in elaborate desserts, upsetting it/its contents. As punishment, Dennis is sent to his room, an appropriate use of enforcing discipline, but completely preventable, as has been said.
Later, everyone is outside watching the orchid, which soon splits and begins to bloom. Unfortunately, it’s also when the other tragedy of the night strikes: Drifter was seen outside earlier, and brazenly uses seizing an opening to sneak inside while everyone’s distracted. Worse, George’s arrogant dismissal of the possibility of an intruder comes back to haunt him because Drifter, an experienced thief, uses foreknowledge, prep, and improv to search for false fronts…and finds the safe. He promptly cracks it and steals the coins, but then makes a fatal mistake: on the way out, he accidentally drops a coin, then crudely stomps on it. It’s a clumsy violation of recklessness, foreknowledge, and anger, and it costs everyone since the sound alerts Dennis upstairs. By the time the boy gets downstairs Drifter is gone, which is when we learn the latter made an even worse mistake: in a further violation of recklessness, underestimation, foreknowledge, and prep, he left the safe open, revealing the theft.
Alarmed, Dennis races for the party. Here, George’s earlier gaffe of not telling the boy about the orchid blooming once costs him when the former quickly uses morality and seizing an opening to reveal the theft. Instantly, the flower is forgotten as all immediately go to investigate, and even George looks that way for a bit. In that time, the orchid blooms, yet, when George looks back, it’s too late, for it’s started to wilt. Anguished, he approaches the flower in muted shock…but then, in a stunning violation of morality, cowardice, anger, and DOH, he snaps, rips the orchid from its pot, and throws it on the ground. Tragically, he’s not done, and he storms over to Dennis, where he unleashes a spiel so venomous it bears repeating in full: “You’re a pest, a menace. A selfish, spoiled little boy and I’ve no use for you. You took something from me that I can never get back, something that means more to me than you ever will. Do you understand? I don’t want to see you. I don’t want to know you. Get out of my way.” It’s a cruel violation of morality, leadership, recklessness, cowardice, anger, DOH, and underestimation, one that’s beyond chilling. Being upset was understandable, but going that far was inexcusable, and the consequences are steep: the boy, in tears, leaps on his bike and rides off.
Eventually, Dennis’ absence is noticed, and the neighborhood, in a grand use of morality, improv, and foreknowledge, begins searching for him. Eventually, the scene segues to George, sitting on his porch, letting the depth of his foolishness sink in as every angry thing he told Dennis runs through his mind. He’s ultimately forced to swallow a hard truth: the boy was only alerting him to the theft—there was no evil intent. Furthermore, George was supposed to be responsible for Dennis, and utterly failed; now, the boy is gone, and it’s all his fault. It’s what leads him to use improv and morality to get in his car and begin searching for Dennis, the worried look on his face a sure sign his conscience is finally kicking in. Of course, the reason no one can find Dennis is he’s run into Drifter, which leads to a new definition of vigilante justice….
This was a sad moment that shows just why Sun Tzu expressly condemns anger and pride in leaders. Thankfully, this film had a happy reunion/ending for the affected parties (other than Drifter, of course), but that’s still no excuse to indulge in such behavior to begin with. Then again, it was all perfectly preventable for, as was said earlier, if you follow Sun Tzu, you’ll win; ignore him, and you’ll lose.
Bibliography
Castle, Nick, director. Dennis the Menace. 1993; Warner Bros Pictures, 2007. 96 mins. DVD.
Sun Tzu. The Art of War. Translated by Lionel Giles. New York: Fall River Press, 2011.
Footnotes
1: Dennis the Menace, dir. Nick Castle (1993)
2: Lionel Giles, The Art of War (New York, NY; Fall River Press, 2011), 28.
3: Giles, The Art of War, 28
4: Giles, The Art of War, 3.
5: Giles, The Art of War, 3.
6: Giles, The Art of War, 4.
7: Giles, The Art of War, 28.
8: Giles, The Art of War, 30.
9: Giles, The Art of War, 33.
10: Giles, The Art of War, 3.
11: Giles, The Art of War, 4.
12: Giles, The Art of War, 46.
13: Giles, The Art of War, 28.
Andrew’s originally from Massachusetts, and is a lifelong reader. He has a BA in History (English minor) from UMASS Lowell and JD from Mass. School of Law. He can be found on Twitter (@AndrewNickers19) daily, analyzing characters via Sun Tzu.
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