tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3592985394059172101.post1018712537323690098..comments2023-10-07T06:24:05.693-04:00Comments on Lost in the Movies (old website): Why are kids' movies sadder?Joel Bockohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11238338958380683893noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3592985394059172101.post-13721957761483716582009-11-04T03:56:55.734-05:002009-11-04T03:56:55.734-05:00Joel, perhaps you are too close to your childhood ...Joel, perhaps you are too close to your childhood years, or, as is more likely, I am too far away from that time, but this kind of anthropomorphism leaves me cold. As do other 'adult' entertainments like I Robot and The Bicentennial Man.<br><br>For me they perpetuate un-reality, a denial of what is real. The mythology of these movies is just that - a comfortable somnambulism where the sleep-walker does not come to harm if he embraces values that are honored more in the drumming than in the keeping.<br><br>Kids can handle reality, they do so everyday.Tony D'Ambrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00359495250856189815noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3592985394059172101.post-77805465617041389172009-11-04T04:01:45.568-05:002009-11-04T04:01:45.568-05:00PS: Joel, I suggest you add the Subscription Links...PS: Joel, I suggest you add the Subscription Links gadget to the sidebar so that readers can one-click subscribe to posts and to comments.Tony D'Ambrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00359495250856189815noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3592985394059172101.post-7007717878016803292009-11-04T10:51:07.330-05:002009-11-04T10:51:07.330-05:00Thanks, Tony, I will check that out: I'm not s...Thanks, Tony, I will check that out: I'm not sure how to do so yet but I'll look at the Blogger options and see if I can wing it.<br><br>As for the anthropomorphism, I think it may be misleading to look at a film like this and see it as robots given human attributes - better to see it as people (kids, perhaps) disguised as robots.<br><br>I like mythology, but then I do have somewhat different views on art than you do. I don't think movies should be exclusively mythological, though there's definitely a place for that kind of deep emotional experience in my opinion - the waking dream can be such a rich and rewarding experience - but there's also certainly a place for realistic drama, for the avant-garde, you name it.<br><br>I would like to point out, though, that the relationship of reality to mythology may be more complex than you seem to feel. Kids and adults most often "handle" reality by the very somnabulism you mention, and an existential fatalism may do as much to facilitate this as mythology does. If anything, a film of extremes (such as Wall-E) may heighten the sense of desperation and fear, bringing us closer in touch with our fundamental knowledge of helplessness, something many try to bury in their day-to-day lives. Mythology, like dreams, wakes us up from the "ordinary" and can put us in touch with a "deeper" reality.<br><br>Certainly, I find I've had far more epiphanies in dreams than in my waking life but they may just be me. And obviously you've got more water under the bridge to assess such things, so I'll just close by nothing that while I use "we" for effect and while I do believe that many others share the same perception, I'm well aware that these are fundamentally my own reactions and are not necessarily universal.MovieMan0283http://www.blogger.com/profile/11238338958380683893noreply@blogger.com