Don't Eat The Junk You Wouldn't Feed Your Children

By Doria Montfort on 06/12/2009

It's no secret that children's entertainment has a history of containing threads of adult humor woven amidst lessons about building strong moral fiber and maintaining good dental hygiene. "Rocko's Modern Life" and "Ren and Stimpy" are extreme examples that contain an ironic tone and subtle social commentary beneath a surreal, slapstick heavy exterior. Riskier films and television shows certainly allowed the genre to grow into a specimen more evolved than a simple goldfish spitting bubbles of traditional values popping and dispersing mutely within the vast body of modern entertainment. However, as DreamWorks and Pixar gained respectable positions in the feature-film industry, "children's" entertainment earned a license to do more than contain mere glimpses of "grown up" humor shrouded beneath opaque and simplistic moral lessons. In fact, at times it seems these films are surpassing adult films in their aesthetic and narrative quality.

Shrek is unquestionably an example of these respectable children's films as a result of its acquisition of the first feature animation Oscar in 2002. Shedding the unrealistic depiction of the "perfect" romance wrought with high expectations and rigid gender roles, it relies on the breakdown of the traditional fairytale. The pristine princess regularly transforms into an ogre, the prince is narcissistic before he is ever tall or charming, and the hero experiences the insecurity, vulnerability, and social alienation that comes with entering sexualized relationships.

"Wall-E" introduces children to the non-dialogue driven narrative, which at a very minimum, requires some mild form of the rare and nearly extinct attention span. It builds a fantastical world based on metaphor generally attributed to the most venerated science fiction films, prophesizing about the negative consequences of technological reliance, consumerism, corporate control, and environmental negligence without apology and often without subtlety. Featuring animate, emotional machines as main characters existing amidst unfeeling humans is quietly reminiscent of films like "Blade Runner", reflecting on the true condition of being alive at this transitional point in human and technological evolution.

The less revered Monsters vs. Aliens articulates paranoia and criticism of government secrecy, abuse of power, and military violence through out references to classic films such as Dr. Strangelove, The Thing, The Blob, The Fly, and The Creature from The Black Lagoon. It seems clear that the utilization of the 50-foot woman (The attack of the 50 foot woman, 1958) as a metaphor for misunderstood, censured feminine strength within patriarchal societies is a lesson all little girls have to learn, or learn to overcome eventually.

Granted, these messages are sub textually placed beneath clear-cut plot graspable by children. However, it seems that the complexity of these films on a narrative level can be subconsciously absorbed in the same way that underlying meaning is unknowingly digested while reading literature. With growing refinement, it's apparent that kids movies are often more meaningful that the factory approved chick flicks and action adventures targeted towards adults. While films like "Transformers" feel painfully scripted in the most Cliché of manners, and "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past" contains a predictable, main character within a singular reference to the Dickens' novel, "Wall-E" is able to create a socially relevant plot featuring garbage-removal machine with more emotional complexity than the characters found in movies created solely for educated adults. This of course raises a question about adult standards, and why would anyone consume junk that they would not feed their children?

[Additional Photos: "Shrek", DreamWorks 2007; "Wall-E", Pixar 2008]