"Just 'cause you got the monkey off your back doesn't mean the circus has left town." -- George Carlin

Monday, May 26, 2008

Love for Pixar -- which do you love?

In previous posts and comments on other people's blogs, I proclaimed not only my love for Pixar but my son's love for it as well. I try not expose him too much to it as it IS viewed either on television or via my computer and as I've been told so many times, children his age are not supposed to watch television. Although, I just recently read something on BabyCenter about how 15 minute increments (controlled watching of selected material) for children under 2 shouldn't hurt them (and other mommy guilt laden topics). But that's not what this post is about, so I digress.

Since moving the "office" to our basement, I've found it lonely and boring for some reason. Maybe it's because the window in our previous "office" location overlooked our street and I could watch the comings and goings of the world. Now I just have a sliding glass door that looks onto our fenced in yard. So to give myself some "company" and if I need some background noise to make working easier, I've been putting on movies. This is better than daytime television because A) most daytime television is boring or just plain stupid, B) I've already watched all of the movies we own so I can block it out should I need to put more concentration into something. I know some people find this concept baffling -- when I worked in an ACTUAL office, I listened to my iPod often. That was to BLOCK out certain individuals in the office though. So I suppose I got used to background noise and when there is none, I can't work. (BTW, Monsters, Inc. is on in the background now because DH is gaming and I'm, well, I'm writing this!)

Okay, back on topic!

I've been watching a LOT of Pixar movies lately. I simply LOVE Finding Nemo and could watch it over and over again. It has so much to offer besides a cute story and amazing graphics. Many palatable lessons for young and old alike exist in its storyline. Most of Pixar's movies have this quality. Maybe all? I'll need to rewatch Toy Story 1 and Toy Story 2 to verify this as I haven't rewatched them in a while.

For instance, in Finding Nemo, there are two obvious lessons. One, parents should not overprotect their kids because it could just drive them into danger. Two, kids should listen to their parents and not stray to far from them because the world IS a dangerous place. In The Incredibles, there are a few good lessons but the one that always strikes me is the one about the "bad guys" and how they don't show restraint like the cartoon bad guys. In Monsters, Inc. there are some sutble statements about our society (e.g. use of energy, assumed views of those we don't know much about). But there are so many others. I'm not going to state them all here -- today anyway.

I do want to catalogue these lessons somewhere so when Monkey is old enough to comprehend we can talk about them after viewing the movie.

Enough of my extolling the virtues of Pixar movies. Which one is your favorite and why?

P.S. I've had some posts in queue. Sorry for the onslaught.

3 comments:

-goofydaddy said...

A Bug's Life
lots of good characters in that one! and also lots of lessons - "imagine this rock is a seed..."
:-)

Shellie said...

I LUUURVE PIXAR. I'm waiting to see Wall E. I really can't can't can't choose a favorite. You can tell I have 5 kids. And Disney/Pixar have literally saved us from death by sleep deprivation on more than one occasion. Nemo is great though. I got it thinking it would be great for my little one finned (one eared) boy. Turns out, his true type casting would not be Nemo, it would be Dorey. She's adorable. My Gigio learned the term short-term memory loss from this movie, but he type-casted me in that role... My Enigma's favorite refrain is "Fish are our friends, not our food," which she plastered on the walls after we first saw the movie. A bug's life and the Toy Stories so dominate too, oh I could go on and on. I'd better go get a life instead.

caramama said...

I love The Incredibles! It was such a good movie. So fun and funny. I'm also a big fan of the Toy Story movies. Definitely good lessons in those.