Disney Deception

So as I was listening to a Disney songs playlist the other day, the song "Kiss the Girl" came on, I started thinking about The Little Mermaid and realized that I had never thought through how the movie would have gone if during that part Ariel hadn't been thwarted and had gotten her kiss. It's an aggravating part of the movie, but if Eric had kissed her it would have been super awkward. "Yes, now I can stay human and stay with you!" "You can talk?! What do you mean stay human?!" "Oh, about that, I was kinda  a mermaid and temporarily traded my voice away..." Awkward. The way it plays out, Eric chooses her knowing what she is, which is much more sound of a decision. But there are no repercussions for her deception, like there are often not repercussions for violence.

Zootopia

So I went and saw Zootopia this week, and firstly, it was quite good. Maybe not as hilarious as people say it is, but a good solid show. However, due to the influence of my media class, I couldn't help noticing a few things, like the fact that the female animals were sexualized! The main rabbit character has an hourglass figure and a bulletproof bra essentially instead of a fully-covering vest, and the pop figure that is woven throughout the movie is wearing a sparkly pink fringe bra and miniskirt set with curled hair covering half her face, she also swings her hips a lot. It drove me a little crazy. Still a good movie, but I was annoyed at the messages that young girls are getting even in movies with animal characters that you need to have a certain body type.

Prosocial Songs

I really don't listen to music much unless I'm doing a massive pile of dishes or during one hour at work, so I'm usually pretty behind on what's new and cool. Thus, it's likely that everyone else has already heard this song, but I discovered this week "One Call Away" by Charlie Puth. The music video gives it a Taylor Swift "You Belong with Me" feel, and overall the purpose of the song is "come be with me, I will make your life great and you will be happy". 

I like the prosocial aspect of the lyrics, even if they are somewhat self-serving, and I really love the chorus. The proclamation that someone will be there whenever you need them and they'll try hard enough for you that they'll be better than Superman is quite nice (helps that it's also pretty catchy). It's a great change of pace from the music that other people have on at work that generally consists of relational aggression or screaming electric guitars and men yelling things I can't understand and probably wouldn't want to. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxuY9FET9Y4

Kid's Shows

So as point of confession, not all of my entertainment options match my intellectual ability. I really like watching children’s shows because of their lighthearted nature. So lately I’ve been watching Dragons: Race to the Edge and I’ve really found it fascinating to look at it from the perspective of an adult. I feel like when I was growing up watching Arthur it was really just for kids and talked about things like honesty. When I watch the Dragons show that is aimed for older kids and really a broader audience in general (but I feel is still a kids show) there is a lot in it for adults. One I watched yesterday had a whole literary theme going on that would be way over kid’s heads. But there was a fair amount of darkness too, it wasn’t just about getting the desired object, the bad guy leader literally said to kill them, that the air would soon smell of death as well as fear, and pulled out swords to kill a captive. It seems like we’re socializing kids to become adults younger and younger.