What It Can Become

This past weekend I fell back into my guilty pleasures. I watched an animated, G-rated movie. I've always been one of those teenagers that shows up to movies where it's me, my friends who are willing to brave the movie, and the Girl Scout troop filled with 5-year-olds. I know at one point you're supposed to outgrow Pixar and Disney, but I just can't seem to do it. Something about the innocence of those movies, the laughter of the little kids, the simple storylines, it just keeps me captivated more than any R-rated comedy could.

As I've grown older though, and learned more about the world, I've found that these movies are filled with subtle references. A picture titled "Too Big To Fail" in The Lorax, the dictatorship of Lotso in Toy Story 3. Some of it is innuendo that keeps the weary parents giggling, some of it is not so subtle attacks at mankind's pollution of the environment. As I watched The Lorax over the weekend, I couldn't help but wonder — what references are there in the animated movies of my childhood? Is Aladdin actually about the class tensions within a societal hierarchy? Is Cinderella actually America propaganda, an honest-to-goodness rags-to-riches story? Follow the American Dream children — with a little magic, hope, and hard work you too can rule at the top. 

It's at that point, that point when I start sounding like a conspiracy theorist, when I pull myself back. I force myself to recall the wonder I felt watching these movies for the first time. I make myself listen to the giggles around me (mine included) and see the child cuddling into her daddy when the first tree gets cut down. What I found when watching The Lorax is that companies like Dreamworks or Pixar or Disney have this unique ability not only to inspire magic in little kids, but also turn seemingly complex ideas and morals into a simplistic 1.5 hour movie anyone can watch. 

"It's not about what it is, it's about what it can become." — Dr. Seuss, The Lorax

Day 36 of the music challenge: Let It Grow The Lorax