Two loving parents-to-be commence in a joyous banter revolving around their excitement of becoming parents and the shear happiness their impending children will bring them. Two minutes later the mother-to-be and her unborn children are wiped out in a horrific tragedy. Leaving the father alone to raise his only son. No, it's not the latest blockbuster movie. It's Finding Freakin' Nemo.
Way to set the stage for my toddler's nightmares tonight. Thanks Disney.
Apparently the tragedy, violence and systematic "mom offing" in these so-called kiddo movies isn't any new revelation. But I had no idea. As I sat paralyzed with my little guy watching this tragic story unfold I couldn't believe this little fish flick was on the recommended movie list for 2-4 year olds. I was dumbfounded.
When I told my girlfriends about my movie mortification, they all laughed and shook their heads, giving me a look like I had just discovered my belly button. You know, that "aww, how cute" kinda look? However, I felt like I had just discovered a hole in the universe and needed to alert the media. But my brigade of "been-there-done-that" moms quickly flattened my enthusiasm with their sage insight. "They're all like that" one friend had told me, "You just have to fast-forward through some parts".
Wow, really? Everyone knows this? Does every first-time parent come to this revelation and then just "fast-forwards"? I mean, everyone knows that Bambi is pretty graphic. I remember that growing up – kids being carried out of the theater screaming hysterically. I guess I just assumed that was the exception and not the rule. Not having been exposed to babies or other small children before becoming a mom, I mistakenly thought all kiddo movies were filled with puppy dogs and rainbows. In reality, in the kiddo movie, the puppy gets taken out back and shot.
While gaining no support for my concerns by the "been-there-done-that" brigade, I decided to do a little research online. Did you know there are "reasons" for the number of missing and dead parents in Disney films? Yeah, here they are:
This is sometimes due to the nature of the source material on which the films were based – orphaned children are a common theme in fairy tales, allowing children to have adventures and develop the traits of self-reliance and bravery without the comfort (or hindrance) of parental/authority figures. A few Disney films show the actual death of a parent as an emotional plot device – Bambi and The Lion King (a retelling of Hamlet) both use this technique. Occasionally the parents' death, while not shown onscreen, is thematically relevant to the movie (Lilo and Stitch, The Sword in the Stone). At other times, it is necessary to the main character's initial situation of hardship (Jungle Book, Snow White, Cinderella, the Hunchback of Notre-Dame).
Some people might disagree with me, but I feel like the world is filled with enough "situations of hardship" already. Before we know it our kiddos will be faced will all kinds of tough situations. Do they really have to be exposed to these things so early on? Can't they just be kids and believe that the world is made up of sugar plums and gum drops?
At the end of the day I do have a choice in what the kiddo watches. I just wish there was some type of warning like: "Caution, the mother in this film is violently killed off in the first 10 minutes. Please fast forward".
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