If you've seen Toy Story 3, this post will make sense. If not, it might.
Angie and I went last night to see the new Pixar film, Toy Story 3. While is was a very good film, it definitely had the feeling of an amazing effort and terrific product, but it was just that, a product. A franchise film that didn't need to be made, but will generate a lot of income and allowed the artists a great project to work on.
To the point. The short the rolled before the film, Night & Day was a cute exploration of the contrasts between similar locations in the night and during the day. Pros and cons of both were played out and the characters become jealous of each other and a fight ensues. There was a small child 3-4 seats down from me and during the tussle between the two characters (which were animated in 2d, yaaay) he declared 'WHYARE THEY FIGHTING????'
Now Pause for a moment. As an adult I was admiring the clever animation and personalities of the two main characters. Once that child spoke up though, it quickly became a hollow experience for me, because it didn't make any sense. Why where these two characters at each others throats? Was it necessary to have a knock down drag-out? And why oh, why did the creatives have one character panting and howling at bikini-clad girls at the beach and at the pool? What are we teaching our children when we take them to a special place like the theater and sit them down for that kind of indoctrination? Violence and Sex, that's what.
Much ado has been made in the past about 'crazy' parents not wanting their children exposed to those kinds of things, but it does make a difference. I used to to bash my sisters brains in every opportunity that I got, it's probably part of the reason that our relationships have grown to non-existence in the last 20 years. Additionally, I've struggled my entire life with an improper view of women in general as sex objects. I am a classic passive-aggressive personality with sprinkles of sociopathy, where did that come from?
Is it too much to say cartoons? Probably to say it exclusively, yes. But I will tell you this, we are all screwed up and it's the little things that we don't think matter that are poisoning our minds, just like it's the myriad of chemical additives in everything that's destroying our bodies.
Children recognize the incongruities in their world. Issues that we as adults just accept without question. Well, I say question everything. Don't take anything at face value and don't let the air of the world tell you how to define yourself.
Wow, that was very cathartic!
EDIT: I received a comment that the fight was a natural occurrence resulting from their differences. I resist your reality and insert my own. I say that differences should draw us together in a common bond of interest in the new. The internet has proven beyond a doubt as has the entertainment and publishing industry) that humans have an insatiable desire for new, for different. Yet, we don't need the same to make us happy, in fact the further apart we are, the more fun we can have.