Human bodies are messy. They produce gas, fluids, smells, and sounds that polite society has declared off-limits. Hank, stranded on an island, has been stripped of society. He is free. But when he re-enters the forest with Manny, he begins to re-learn his own shame. He tells Manny: "Don't do that. That's disgusting. People don’t like that."

: One of the film's most acclaimed sequences features Hank using trash and branches to recreate a city bus ride for Manny, showcasing the duo’s ability to find romance in the ordinary [18, 28]. Performance and Production

After journeying back to "civilization," Hank is discovered at a birthday party for a girl he doesn’t know. His father is there. The police arrive. The fantasy shatters. Hank is not a hero; he is a disturbed man who desecrated a corpse.

: A central message is that the more we accept our own and others' eccentricities, the happier we can be [1]. Human Connection