This article actually consists mostly of a transcript of a conversation about the recent Pixar film Turning Red, which is currently showing in Slovak cinemas (dubbed of course). While it may help to have watched the film, you can easily comment on the trends which this film exhibits without having seen it. What do you think about the fact that fewer of these animated films for children have an evil villain at their center or that more of them are about the immigrant experience? What effect might these trends have on the new generation that has grown up watching films like this?
What undeniably caught my attention when reading this article was when Ms. Li said that the immigrant experience comes with the feeling of needing to live up to your family’s expectations because of their sacrifice to get to where they are. It is pretty much spot on with how I would describe one of my main motivations in life even though I am not an immigrant. I feel compelled to try hard in life to get at least as successful as they have. If I had to put it into words, since a child is the person that is the next on the path of lineage and some notion of a timeline that child wouldn’t want to be less than their parents because it would be similar to regressing, or a social step backwards. That’s how it is for me. Obviously, you cannot always push the boundaries of success when you consider how many people there are, but the feeling of needing to do so is there either way. Even though it is not a literal change of location, there is some sense of needing to uphold my social standing due to how much my parents have sacrificed to get “there”. For this reason, Ms. Li attributing this to the Immigrant experience comes off a bit disregarding at least to me.
ReplyDeleteOn a different note, the increasing supply of antagonists whose motivations and background are more explored is definitely interesting. I am aware that I usually find myself more engrossed in the antagonist than the protagonist. Of course, there could be multiple reasons as to why there is this supply, but if I had to give at least one I’d say that there really is only a single type of a story you can tell when you have a purely villainous antagonist. That type of story is the good old battle between good and evil. On the other hand, where an antagonist is given an expanded background, even better - a background you can sympathize with, you open the story to more themes and conflicts. There is something very heart-wrenching about seeing a character with great intentions fall and see them transform into an entirely different being and let them be explored from more angles than just one. I just love to see it every single time it happens.
I understand that you feel the need to push yourself brought on by your parents being able to get where they are now. I think everyone knows this feeling to some extent. I see your point that attributing it to a single group of people can be disregarding. However, I do not think that is what Ms. Li was trying to convey. She says: “the immigrant experience does come with this feeling of needing to live up to your family’s expectations.” And then she elaborates with some thoughts, which an immigrant child might face. This does not imply that other people’s experience lacks this feeling. I think this statement is simply supposed to introduce one of the main concepts in Turning Red. Her summary of this concept may be inaccurate. I am certain that the movie itself contained a much more nuanced view on the topic of the hardships that immigrant children face. Nonetheless, I do not consider the remarks of Ms. Li to be disregarding in any way.
DeletePrior to reading this article, the image that I had about children’s movies was based on the classics I saw during my childhood, which featured the typical villain. I remember enjoying them even at a very young age because the concept of a protagonist fighting against a clearly evil antagonist was easy to get behind. Looking back at them, I realise that they usually include a moral message. However, I am not sure whether those messages got through to eight-year-old me who was so focused on the protagonist beating the villain.
ReplyDeleteThe trend we see in Turning Red and similar movies is that they are moving away from the classic protagonist vs. antagonist structure of a movie. Instead, recent children’s movies seem to be focused much more on the moral message. The main conflict in Turning Red is almost entirely internal, manifested through the questions the main character faces. I think this is a possibly better way to go about a children’s movie, not only because it is novel. This approach removes the possibly distracting hero vs. villain part of a story and allows for the moral message to be conveyed much more effectively.
Admittedly, children’s movies would not be as much fun if their main goal was to maximise the effectiveness of teaching kids a lesson. I don’t think that it should be the creators’ main goal. However, I do think that creators should try to find the ideal balance between fun and seriousness. Considering the recent trend in children’s movies, it seems that more serious topics are discussed. At the same time, these movies are as popular as the classics. Therefore, the creators must have found the right balance. This is why I think children’s movies are headed in a good direction.
Tomáš, I largely agree with what you have said here. The appeal of classic animated movies often comes from the existence of an antagonist, somebody who challenges the main character’s aspirations and thus drives the plot forward. The villains in the majority of these movies are portrayed as unquestionably and unequivocally evil, and very seldom show even a sliver of empathy or benevolence. As you mentioned, however, the current trend in children’s cinema is that the conflict is largely contained within the protagonist, as can be to a large degree seen in Turning Red. I concur that writers have visibly been distancing themselves from the classic unequivocal protagonist vs unequivocal antagonist structure, but I do not completely agree with how exactly they have gone about this detachment. In my opinion, it is less that writers have wholly erased villains from the stories they invent, and more that they have given antagonists a much less black-and-white personality. I think Turning Red does have a villain, the main character's mother, but it is not the same sort of antagonist associated with classic Disney. I don’t think antagonists have completely disappeared from children’s films, I am much more inclined to believe that their role in movies has simply diminished, and that their characters lost the qualities of unequivocal malevolence. Such as with the main character’s mother in Turning Red, they gained benevolence, empathy, the ability to change. This I believe makes for a much more interesting character than that of the classic baddie.
DeleteTomáš,
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with your comment. I just want to point out, that apart from teaching kids a lesson parents too can learn something from animated movies. As we drifted towards movies reflecting more down to earth problems of children protagonists, it can be easier for parents to connect with their children. Movies like Turning Red or Inside Out display characters going through realistic and fairly common problems so they are easy to identify with. They can bring back memories of how it felt being a child / young teenager and help to better understand what their children are going through. Therefore, I think it is great that with more adult oriented jokes and metaphors many animated movies are targeted for both children and adult audience. This way everyone can take something valuable just from a “children’s movie”.