It is through imagination that children learn valuable lessons in life that have no boundaries. Jonze explores Max’s emotions throughout his journey. When Max travels to the where the wild things are the wild things made him their King. When KW brought Bob and Terry back to the fort and introduced them to everyone Carol got upset “I don’t talk to owls. Owls are stupid! I don’t know why she likes them so much.” This is like the situation Max has in real life where his mother has invited her new partner for dinner and Max’s mum gave all her attention to her partner and none to Max. Their emotions both went from happy to destructive and then to depressed. Each creature resembles a bit of Max and his behaviour. He learns about his uncontrollable emotions mostly through Carol. Throughout Max’s journey he tries to find out who he really is. He arrives as an explorer and a Viking that has strong powers. Towards the end of the film he says “I’m not a Viking, or a King, or… or anything. I’m Max.” The music played a big part in this scene, the child singing meant that he was slowly growing, finding out and admitting to himself who he really was.
An important theme that Jonze has examined in the film is unconditional love in both his parents and sister. There are two people KW resemble. Max's sister Claire and Max’s mum. KW and Claire keep leaving their families to hang out with cooler friends, KW ignoring Carol as Claire does to Max. Even though they fight like siblings do, like when KW stepped on Carol’s face and got mad, they will always care and love each other.