My son and I
were watching Disney’s “Pete’s Dragon” yesterday when it struck me what
wonderful movie this is, wonderful because of all the terrible elements in story.
You’ve got a child runaway, child abuse, truantism, alcoholism, stereotyping, medical
malpractice, herd mentality, kidnapping, loss of a loved one - just to name a
few. Yet it’s told in such a fun-loving way, these horrendous elements are
actually palatable for adults and kids. It reminds of me many of those
happy-negative songs from the sixties with bouncy, foot-tapping melodies and lyrics
like, “Ain’t no time to wonder why. Whoopie! We’ll all going to die!”
For “Pete’s
Dragon”, this happy slant on these awful experiences is perfectly depicted
through the eyes of a young Pete. Younger kids often have this inexplicable optimism
despite the atrocities they may be enduring. That’s one of the things I’ve
always found wonderful about kids; regardless where they are or what situation
they’re in, they always find a way to play or make a game out of their
situation. Such blind optimism wavers during teen years, fizzles in early
adulthood, and practically nonexistent thereafter. I guess experience has a way
of telling us that tomorrow’s not always as rosy as we hope. But I’m also sure
that no matter how pessimistic you’ve grown to be, there’s always something
that makes you at least wish that you had a big green dragon to swoop down and
take you away from the Gogans. I know I do.
Of course, you make some excellent points. Had to think about that list of social ills in the movie, but I see it now. Medical malpractice... *chuckle*
ReplyDeleteNow my children have you to thank that I will probably be singing "Brazzle Dazzle Day" for awhile; but I think that's better than the FISH cheer.