I went out to see Cars, that CGI Disney movie about a racing car that gets lost and winds up in a middle-of-nowhere town.

I know what you're thinking: I, the man who laughs like a kid in a candy shop to movies like Saw, went to a Disney flick of my own free will. I didn't go alone, though. I went with Al, and we met up with two of his friends there.

I went to see the movie, but I wound up seeing something entirely different.

In the row in front of us was a little girl with her mom.

Above everything else, even the booming theater speakers, I could hear her laugh. The kind of laugh that only a kid could have; one that doesn't erupt because of bitter irony or from defensive escapism. She laughed at all the jokes, even the ones I didn't hear. She laughed everytime the rusty tow truck showed up onscreen, and whenever a cow/tractor stampeded across.

I laughed too.

Disney movies have always a lesson to teach, and this one was no different. I started to think, where else will they get them? Not even a thousand laughing kids will make me think different: we live in a moral cesspool. These kids are exposed to so much more shit than me and my friends were. Kids her age know what dirty bombs are. Kids her age understand what war is. Kids her age have seen on the news charred corpses of insurgents.

Nothing wrong with that. It's just a sign of the shift in our culture. But my worry is that they won't understand the other side of the coin. The side that even I too often wave aside as Disney-flick fluff, that crap about everyone overcoming challenges to join hands against some easily identifiable villain that will always be defeated after an hour-and-a-half passes. It's true, though. Teamwork accomplishes a lot. Love requires sacrifice. Judging people without knowing them only leads to bad blood. Taking responsibility is necessary to personal growth. Loyalty is rewarded, and betrayal has a nasty blowback.

These are the lessons we're supposed to learn as kids. Too bad it seems to me that Disney movies are the last place that a little boy or girl can watch and understand what the basic tenets of civil behavior are.

That little girl's laughter reflects on my own bitter worldview, and reminds me to laugh too.

This entry was posted by Tyler on Saturday, June 17. 2006 at 19:55. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own blog.