meine Nippel explodieren mit Lust

("You're welcome", according to my phrasebook...)

Since I missed this the first time I posted but must have been saved from being assumed a Spambot, I'll drop my notice of introduction.  I go by Throwback Soul, a DJ by love, a Library Worker by current profession.  I spent most of my time working with the Media Department, shelving and sorting DVD's, VHS's, CD's, Tapes, Records, and anything else that floated through that area.  I have long been an avid lover of all things media, and in particular the premise of the Commentary.  I was brought into the commentary fold thanks to Doc Hammer and Jackson Publick, the geniuses behind The Venture Brothers, IMHO the best cartoon series to have been released on Cartoon Network in ages (up there with Avatar: The Last Airbender for best cartoons released recently, period).  I was drawn to this show for its commentary on Dr. Strangelove, it being the base point of my love and occasional "hate" relationship with Mr. Kubrick, and have back dug many episodes while enjoying much of the newer content.  I hope to be a decent contributor with my occasional rants and notes regarding whatever episode comes to mind, and am proud to promote Friendsinyourhead.com to whoever I can pass it along to.  Salutations and Praise "Bob"!

Sup punks?

My name is Meghan and after enjoying (???) several years of IRL friendship with that oft-bearded semi-tyrant Teague, I thought it was due time for me to come join the internet masses and meet his friends.

A little about me? I have blue hair. It's a thing. Don't make it weird. I sell sex toys for a living. My most often used phrases are "I know that guy" or "I can find you a guy to do that" or "Of course I'll have more whiskey."

I'm a massive cinephile, spending many of my free days sitting in theaters (and living rooms) and am most fond of psychological horror, slasher films and dark, cerebral, think-about-your-life-and-feel-bad films.

I look forward to your banter, and I look forward to finally getting to pick on Teague in front of his friends.
(Moooom Stttoooopppp!!!)

Rarely-used admin super powers go!

Done.

I like this new girl.

Getting to have a chat with the Prophet Savage would be lovely, but unfortunately has not happened.

Hey, all!  Been listening and doing a bit of lurking since Christmas or so (after Whedonesque linked to the Firefly-Serenity commentary), so I thought I'd finally make an effort and join in properly. 

I'm American by birth and training (though not especially by temperament), but I've lived in North East England now for almost 17 years, miraculously still in the same job that I got right out of grad school.  (I'll rant briefly in another post about how films/books/etc never get the terms/titles for British academia right.)  Fave movies off the top of my head: Jackie Brown, Head (the Monkees film), Spartacus, Yellow Submarine and one you can guess from my username/avatar.  Most controversial/unpopular but genuinely felt opinion:  the Toy Story films (especially Toy Story 3) are evil and most definitely not appropriate for children.  If I'd ever seen any of them before I watched them with my kids, I'd have never let them in the house. 

And on that note.... 

Yeah, didn't figure that I'd get away with just leaving it there.   

Basically, though I'm sure the makers of the films didn't actually do this, it's as if the people at Pixar got together and said "You know what the world needs?  Let's remake Ingmar Bergman's Winter Light, but, you know, for kids."  That is to say, although I don't go in for the whole postmodern "anything can mean anything" horseshit, I don't think it's a stretch to see the Toy Story films as basically being about the question "What should you do when the person that is the entire center of your world suddenly stops loving you for no reason?" 

First, I think it's monstrous to even suggest to children that this could happen and to pitch the issue deliberately in a way they could understand (on the assumption that toys = children and Andy = parents).  I certainly have to be in the right mood to want to see a film with that theme (where toys = people and Andy = spouse/partner/God/what have you).  Yes of course there is a tradition of dealing with more adult themes in children's literature, say about loss (the sudden death of one's parents is a children's literature trope) or feeling like your parents don't understand you (ditto), but this is really very different.  This is about how somebody loved and cared for you, and then overnight, for no reason that you are capable of understanding, they just stopped.  Nothing happened to them; they just stopped loving you.  Now, at least as far as we know, we don't have a generation of traumatized children/young adults because of the Toy Story films, so maybe it just goes over their heads or they don't see it that way or something, but that really made me angry when I saw the films.

What then made me even angrier is the (range of) answers to that question that the films, particularly in the third one, seem to suggest or propose.  With one brief (and deeply ironic) exception, I don't think that any of the characters react to the issue in a way that is healthy or appropriate or a way that I would want my kids to emulate. 

You've got Rex the dinosaur, whose reaction is just to become suicidally depressed, "let's all just throw ourselves into the trash, there's nothing left to live for now, etc."  It is sort of not treated seriously iirc, but that is not in any way to the film's credit.  Then, in Toy Story 3, you've got the Lots-o-Huggin' Bear, whose reaction is to become psychopathically violent and anti-social, though again the film doesn't particularly approve of this reaction. 

But most irksome is Woody's reaction, particularly as it seems like the reaction that we're asked most clearly to empathize or agree with.  It's basically "Jesus will save us".  I apologize if that shorthand offends anyone, but what I mean is the persistence of an utterly blind and literally irrational faith in some higher power, irrational in the sense that there is overwhelming manifest, palpable, perceivable, 'theory-internal' evidence utterly to the contrary.  And again, to emphasize, I don't think most religious people are actually like Woody, in the sense that the evidence for their belief system is not so overwhelmingly 'internally' falsified, if that makes any sense.  The fact that Woody's faith is ultimately shown to be justified in the third movie (when Andy takes the toys over to a new child to play with) just makes the whole thing even more reprehensible (it's a version of Noomi Rapace in Prometheus) and, of course, it doesn't in any way solve the actual metaphysical problem. 

As I say, it's all profoundly ironic on a personal level, but the only reaction I find remotely praiseworthy is from the army men, in Toy Story 3 I think.  They say "listen, it's been fun, but it's come to an end and we're off to make new lives for ourselves, standing on our own psychological two feet and without worrying about whether there's somebody there to look after us".  If my children ever find themselves in a similar position (which they probably will at some point in their lives about something), that's ideally how I'd hope they would react.  But again, that scene is like two seconds.

Anyway, that's the gist of it.  At least as far as I can tell, my kids haven't been scarred, and there hasn't been any kind of generalized outrage that the films are too adult (unlike, say, the controversy about the prologue in Up), but I really don't think the Toy Story movies are thematically appropriate for children.  A series of well-made (and they are in general well-made, in the sense of being emotionally powerful) kids movies about existential/spiritual crisis doesn't strike me as a good idea.  And I in general despise the various ways we're invited to react to that crisis.

I think the remarkable thing about Toy Story is that it successfully gets the audience to identify with a minor supporting character (Andy) instead of the heroes. This is even reinforced by, of all things, the merchandising campaign, which allows you to own duplicates of the heroes just like Andy.

So the message becomes "you never really stop loving your toys, even when you stop playing with them" rather than "sometimes our parents/god stop loving us".

Interesting perspective, tho.

Damn, sellew, showing up and bringing the thunder. You're gonna fit right in.

Hi everyone. Finally joined the forum...figure I'll do the ritual introduction...

--Who are you?---
Animator/filmmaker? (not sure what to call myself). I just graduated with a BFA from NMU in Marquette, Michigan. (the end of the earth is about 5 miles down the road)

I'm kinda in limbo right now. Just trying to figure out what to do next. This summer I sent my senior animation to a few festivals. That has been educational, infuriating, intimidating, humbling....you get the picture. It's on the front page of my site if anyone is interested. www.joerule.com

I like telling stories, whether it's in writing or a visual medium. It's fun to stretch the suspension of disbelief in animation. Also, I find animated characters produce more emotional reaction in an audience (namely me) than from live action. Maybe people allow themselves to be more "vulnerable" when not confronted with real life on the screen? I digress.

--What do you do?--
Draw, paint, 3D model, 3D animate, etc. Fix PCs, servers, networks. Build/restore/paint cars. SCUBA Dive. Unicycle. Wander around at night. Play guitar, piano and trumpet. Watch movies.

--How did you find DIF?--
Found RvD back in 2006. Was a lurker at TFN. Kept track of Mike and Ryan's work, which led me to DiF in 2011ish.

--How do you like your pizza--
deep dish straight from Chicago.....or thin and crispy

I'm terrible at participating in discussions on forums, but I hope I'll find a home for creative discussion here. I look forward to arguing with all of you.

Oh, and I'm hopelessly addicted to theater popcorn and I don't like the new series of Doctor Who (I've tried! Really hard! How can a talented writer like Moffat write such facking incoherent stories??? *sigh* )

Thanks! Critiques and criticism are always welcome on my work btw.