What Will My Children Watch?

I was an Ariel girl. One time I got in a fight in the sandbox with a redhead over who was better, Belle or Ariel. I’m a brunette (naturally). Disney was my childhood and continues to be a large part of my life to this day. Today’s my day off and I’ve already watched four animated movies from my childhood. This week has been a week of two-dimensional animation.

Which is why I wonder why no one seems to want to create these beautiful works of art anymore. Are today’s children really that different from the children of my generation? I don’t think so. Film makers just want to keep pushing and pushing and pushing on; they refuse to stay in the same place, even if people want to see films from the same place. I’m not talking about not growing as an artist; I’m talking about growing for the sake of growing. And because of this blind ambition I, a twenty-four year old in a six month relationship with no plans for children in the next three years, am sitting on my couch asking myself the same question.

What will my children watch?

I don’t want to take them to the theater to see the three-dimensional movies that are based solely on technology and look what we can do as opposed to a beautiful movie with struggles and victory and awesome musical numbers.

The Lion King and Hercules weren’t that long ago, and neither was Mulan. My friends and I are obsessed with the two-dimensional classics and the newer ones, like The Emperor’s New Groove. Can you sit through that movie without choking on laughter? If so, you’re the type of person I try to avoid in my daily life.

The movies started out without so much of a revolutionary feel behind them, but eventually they became more than love stories and the messages grew to echo one of my favorite lines from Harry Potter. ‘Soon we must all make the choice between what is right and what is easy.’

So many of our favorite Disney characters make the right choice, even if they don’t do it immediately. Esmerelda in The Hunchback of Notre Dame isn’t just one of the strongest female Disney characters, but one of the strongest Disney characters in general. She refuses to accept injustice from the beginning. Pocahontas in her self-titled film stops a war even if it means her father might disown her. Mulan, Wendy returning home, Megara and Hercules.

Pixar continues with this sort of feeling to their films, that you can grow up and do the right thing, that you can always have joy and make great choices. Other children’s film are about jokes and flashy colors nowadays. There’s nothing wrong with such a thing in itself, but again, I beg the question: What will my children watch?

What movies will teach them and make them feel and twenty years later make them cry and laugh and think about watching the songs and scenes with their own kids? Certainly not the shit Hollywood is producing these days. So let’s keep our fingers crossed that one day Disney will go retro and bring back the beauty that Walt began.

Because right now my kids don’t have a hope except for my movie collection.