Children’s animated movies

TheIndianGirl · Mar 1, 2022

I see what you mean, though I have never noticed them before especially the hidden sexual images. I also think it depends on how much we read into it, like I didn't really see the woman on the Lion King cover until I saw a picture drawn out. But yes, at least some of the items are inappropriate. Maybe, when the films went for review, these items were missed (this would not surprise me). I find it hard to believe that someone like Walt Disney would have approved. I do think some scenes, like in Aladdin and Hunchback of Notre Dame, are not suitable for children (sexual content).

TheIndianGirl · Mar 2, 2022

On the movie Fight Club, although there are scenes which depict anti-Christian lifestyle, I found that the main character (played by Edward Norton) was essentially a good guy who tried damage control at the end once he found out what was really happening (even to the point of shooting himself) in order to stop harm, however unfortunately he could not stop what happened at the end of the movie. Brad Pitt's character, who can be considered a Luciferian, dies at the end. But yes, I do remember that scene.

Lanolin · Mar 2, 2022

6 year olds shouldnt be watching too much tv/movies
spend time reading books with them. I know parents cant always monitor every single thing their child does but make the effort and set a few boundaries

Like dont give out tv as a babysitter or let them loose on devices. I think 30 minutes max is enough time each day for a 6 year old to handle. A 90 minute movie is maybe what a 9 year old can watch in one sitting.

6 years olds dont grasp family dynamics or the deeper things adults can see in a Disney movie. They'll be looking at the colourful characters and the hearing the voices.

A 6 year old wont look at the Lion King and tell you oh its based on Shakespeares Hamlet!

I dont think even 10 year olds notice bigger themes in Harry Potter, whether its about revenge or magic or what. All they read/see is a boy who like themselves, is perhaps misunderstood or alone because his parents are gone and he has to live with his aunt and uncle. (before being whisked to a magical world)

This is why a movie like Home Alone is popular. An adult might be alarmed because the parents just plain forget about Kevin! Like what parents would even do that?! But to a child the struggle is real. What are they going to do without their parents?!

Lanolin · Mar 2, 2022

btw lots of Disney movies deal with the death of one of the parents

Simbas dad...dies
Bambis mother...dies
Snow Whites mother...dies
Cinderella's mother...dies
Aladdins parents...where are they?!
Anna and Elsa...dont have parents
The Jungle Book...where are Tarzans parents? is he raised by wolves?

so it cant be said that a lot of disney movies show your typical nuclear family. (assuming nothing bad ever happens to nuclear families.,,but reality is...parents can and do die, separate and divorce. ) And this happens even in Christian families nobody is immune to tragedy.

I think as long as overarching themes of forgiveness and redemption are there, even miracles, faith and hope, then any story can potentially have a message that is how good (love) can overcomes evil. Its the way you view it maybe.

anyway. I dont really buy into the thing where oh this story/movie is of a culture not my own therefore I cant even let my children watch it. The Bible is full of gory stories....and the people in the Bible do not always show good traits they are shown warts and all!

Lanolin · Mar 2, 2022

sorry Mowgli...it wasnt Tarzan...that was a different story.

Mii · Mar 2, 2022

it's an addiction.

My intention is not to be condemnatory or come across as belittling but TV/Movies aren't necessary in a Christian's life and if you have somehow convicnced yourself of that, take it to the Lord in prayer. It's not an easy fight.

I would further caution anyone that sees that "one frame" that exists in MANY films. There are 20,000 other frames.

tstumf · Mar 2, 2022

Mii said:

I understand, I’m heading towards that destination of not having tv. Myself personally I’ve reduced my viewing by perhaps near 75% over the last year. I used to binge watch terrible shows along with the family all the time. Wouldn’t be out of the ordinary to spend 4-6 hours watching tv in the evening and early mornings . I’d absorb hours of local and national news. I can’t do it anymore. Wife had her shows, I had mine. Neither of us could really stand the shows the other liked to watch and one or the other of us would go find busy work to do elsewhere in the house while the other watches tv so I can’t say ive lost any healthy family time together. I’m practicing what is called benevolent detachment from that stuff by Gods grace . Wife on the other hand, she is still very much into binge watching things like (the office) ( murder mystery reruns) etc. she allows my son to binge his shows.
I’m a 90s kid and Power Rangers was beginning to be a thing back then. Well I bumped into the old original (terrible) quality original Power rangers on Amazon prime last week and watched one episode with My son thought it was neat, ok that’s a cool thing that doset happen too often,the show I liked as a child his age he liked as well… kinda had a nostalgic daddy moment. But now…. when I’m coming home I’m finding my wife allowing him to binge watch it…. So My cool daddy/son moment is Not so cool now and created a binge watching problem . About the time I put one fire out on this stuff another one pops up. Leaning heavy on Gods grace with it because I’m not sure what to do. But yes I agree they absolutely are NOT necessary and I think the shows on them became idolatry for me.

JStates · Mar 2, 2022

tstumf said:

Yeah, balance is key, I know what you mean. A little bit of something is good fun, but when it begins to consume all of one's free time and thoughts, it's a problem.

I will say if you try to just cut these things out of life without replacing the time with something else that is beneficial, the binge watching will probably just keep creeping back in. If you are trying to cut back on the movie/show bingeing, then add something else into the mix, preferably something that is enjoyable and beneficial and that you guys can do together.

Growing up, Friday was always pizza and movie night. Aside from occasional cartoons on Saturday mornings, however, that was really most of the TV time that we got. Mom and Dad would occasionally watch grown up movies when we kids were in bed. It was a good, balanced system, I think. The Friday movie night was something we all did together, good clean family friendly fun, and dinner while we watched.

Playing outside, playing board games, reading, building with Legos or Erector sets, etc. made up the rest of the kids' play time.

Things have changed so much in the modern era. You don't have to rewind a VCR tape or wait a week for the next episode or get a few movies from the library at a time. Entire seasons and years and years of shows are available at a mouse click. There's no natural limitation build into the delivery system, so we have to set limits for ourselves.

Mii · Mar 4, 2022

tstumf said:

Sorry I didn't get back to you very quick. I feel like it's a long process for most people to follow the Lord in this area.

I'll think about sharing my personal history with films because that might be beneficial for some but for me it's difficult.

My view has developed over the the last 7 years or so and it's not like it happened overnight so I don't really want to just put forward the whole "stack" of all the insights that I've gained because I feel like it's overload for the most part.

I will say that I've gorged deeply on films and yet always (since I was a child) felt conviction about it. I'm not sure that most people put themselves inside the movies the way that I do and have what I would call a "filmographic" memory. They "seed" in my mind in a way that nothing else really does and can be coupled with sin in a way that I don't know of anything that really can besides maybe dreaming. I don't want to get into that much other than to say that they compliment MANY sinful states and one might wonder why that is.

I suppose part of me (and this part I'm uncertain about) doesn't want to "ruin" movies for people as they are ruined for me. I guess because I feel like God may operate within them on some level and that is part of a person's walk and I don't want to cheat anyone out of him working in his timing and somehow benefit the enemy in condemnation, etc.

Anyway, this is requiring a bit more out of me than I planned but I encourage you to just keep praying and be mindful about becoming pharasaical or judgemental in any way...for me that is something to guard against because the enemy seems to take to a different tactic.

Look for little openings and use those. It used to irritate me greatly when my parents would ask "what did I watch" and I didn't want to tell them for guilt or because I wanted to keep it private. Maybe try to start a dialogue about a particular show that you are familiar with without encouraging someone in fandom. Fine line really.

So like you mentioned Power rangers. What did you (your son) like about this particular episode? What is your favorite character? Why? Do you see any parallels to biblically moral principles? I personally would couch that last if someone weren't obviously receptive.

The goal would be to stimulate thought instead of someone just "zoning out" or becoming a "zombie" in front of a TV set. Where are they zoning out to?

If they don't want to talk...why not? Pay close attention to any working the Lord is doing in casting it down...sometimes it's really subtle.

Why does a person want to be private about it?

People are similar with sermons though. "How was the service on sunday?" ...."it was good". "oh, it was an hour long, maybe a few more words on it?" "What did you think of when he talked about this?" It's uh...a challenge sometimes to do that but you can also do it with films in order to make use of the time potentially. These are just suggestions though, I don't know your child and I don't really you know you either. Could be that little of this is useful but pray about it and if I can help further let me know.

I don't know what will work for you or how far God wants you to go. Balance and being choosy with what you watch is a good place to work from. There are a lot of ways that I navigate the psychology of it but it's too much for me to type right now.

It's a hard fight like I said, everyone fights it differently and some things may be totally unnecessary to understand. We don't need to know everything about evil in order to war against it. Some people only need to know that a thing is wrong or is leaning toward idolatry in order to make changes...others want the reasons for turning made exceedingly clear. I think God blesses the former though and the latter is about submission which transcends to every facet of life with our wills and is a MUCH harder fight for me personally.

tstumf · Mar 4, 2022

Mii said:

Sorry I didn't get back to you very quick. I feel like it's a long process for most people to follow the Lord in this area.

I'll think about sharing my personal history with films because that might be beneficial for some but for me it's difficult.

My view has developed over the the last 7 years or so and it's not like it happened overnight so I don't really want to just put forward the whole "stack" of all the insights that I've gained because I feel like it's overload for the most part.

I will say that I've gorged deeply on films and yet always (since I was a child) felt conviction about it. I'm not sure that most people put themselves inside the movies the way that I do and have what I would call a "filmographic" memory. They "seed" in my mind in a way that nothing else really does and can be coupled with sin in a way that I don't know of anything that really can besides maybe dreaming. I don't want to get into that much other than to say that they compliment MANY sinful states and one might wonder why that is.

I suppose part of me (and this part I'm uncertain about) doesn't want to "ruin" movies for people as they are ruined for me. I guess because I feel like God may operate within them on some level and that is part of a person's walk and I don't want to cheat anyone out of him working in his timing and somehow benefit the enemy in condemnation, etc.

Anyway, this is requiring a bit more out of me than I planned but I encourage you to just keep praying and be mindful about becoming pharasaical or judgemental in any way...for me that is something to guard against because the enemy seems to take to a different tactic.

Look for little openings and use those. It used to irritate me greatly when my parents would ask "what did I watch" and I didn't want to tell them for guilt or because I wanted to keep it private. Maybe try to start a dialogue about a particular show that you are familiar with without encouraging someone in fandom. Fine line really.

So like you mentioned Power rangers. What did you (your son) like about this particular episode? What is your favorite character? Why? Do you see any parallels to biblically moral principles? I personally would couch that last if someone weren't obviously receptive.

The goal would be to stimulate thought instead of someone just "zoning out" or becoming a "zombie" in front of a TV set. Where are they zoning out to?

If they don't want to talk...why not? Pay close attention to any working the Lord is doing in casting it down...sometimes it's really subtle.

Why does a person want to be private about it?

People are similar with sermons though. "How was the service on sunday?" ...."it was good". "oh, it was an hour long, maybe a few more words on it?" "What did you think of when he talked about this?" It's uh...a challenge sometimes to do that but you can also do it with films in order to make use of the time potentially. These are just suggestions though, I don't know your child and I don't really you know you either. Could be that little of this is useful but pray about it and if I can help further let me know.

I don't know what will work for you or how far God wants you to go. Balance and being choosy with what you watch is a good place to work from. There are a lot of ways that I navigate the psychology of it but it's too much for me to type right now.

It's a hard fight like I said, everyone fights it differently and some things may be totally unnecessary to understand. We don't need to know everything about evil in order to war against it. Some people only need to know that a thing is wrong or is leaning toward idolatry in order to make changes...others want the reasons for turning made exceedingly clear. I think God blesses the former though and the latter is about submission which transcends to every facet of life with our wills and is a MUCH harder fight for me personally.

Thankyou for taking time to respond . Gives me much to think about and take to God in prayer. I appreciate it greatly.

SomeDisciple · Mar 4, 2022

Back in the day, cartoons were simple "good vs. evil" and for the most part, the evil would be obvious evil. But now everything is upside down. It's too bad, because I think every once in a while we need take a break from the material world and engage imagination... but it doesn't do us any good to engage with wicked imaginations.

Lanolin · Mar 9, 2022

I actually was one of the power rangers....the pink one.

No seriously.

A lot of work is put in to bringing films to screen. Just watch the credits and see how many people are involved in making that 90 minutes of screen time! Especially a Disney film. Now I havent seen Encanto, but from the wikipedia article, it seems like they tried to make it as authentic as they could in telling the story of a Columbian family.

Of course, for some ppl, like yourself, its not going to be your cup of tea.
However there are books (even Disney storybooks) so if its the screen time you are worried about, give them the book and read along.

I am not really seeing how Encanto can be much different from a magical film like Narnia, Lion witch and the wardrobe which ALSO features witches and magic. Or Lord of the Rings.
if its just the many female characters, then,

what exactly are you objecting to? Women can be heroines in stories too. Its not just the preserve of males.

Lanolin · Mar 9, 2022

In the bible, there is a story about the witch of endor. Very brief but she does play a part in Gods narriative.

Roald Dahls book, the Witches was basically remade into an american film recently
Of course the witches are horrible in that one and the hero is a boy who gets turned into a mouse.

Theres also, before even Harry Potter, the popular classic film The wizard of Oz.

so its not likely you are going to ever escape children fantasy stories that feature witchcraft and wizardry. They are everywhere, even in Narnia.

BUT if you have. firm grounding in the Word I would not worry so much about other fiction.
I cannot dictate to children what I would like them to read. If a boy likes captain underpants and thats the only book that they can read or want to read...well its a a start, They are not going to read captain underpants forever. Am I going to object because I personally believe superheroes need to wear their undies on the inside?

Lanolin · Mar 9, 2022

Commonsense media rated Encanto quite highly.

I know theyve rated books/movies like Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Captain Underpants quite low. When Jeff Kinney and Dav Pilkey, the authors, were questioned about this (everyones a critic!) well, I think the sales of their books tell them that children themselves like what they are producing. Plus, children can relate to flawed anti-heroes who dont know everything.

If its just a generation gap thing (oh no, children like NEW stories Ive never heard of!) I think parents really need to get over this hurdle and stop living in a timewarp. Childhood has not stopped after they grew up.

tstumf · Mar 9, 2022

Lanolin said:

Thankyou for your input. I think for me in the moment it just threw me off a bit watching how zoned out and absorbed he would get watching the show then having him request the soundtrack to it constantly on top of it all kinda concerned me. I Completely forgot how children’s imaginations works with this stuff and they don’t focus on the little nuances like my adult brain does. Also There is a very large prevailing movement at least in American culture recently from the more extreme ends of the feminist movement to subvert all what was considered traditional masculinity as “toxic “ and push men into more effeminate lives even in some area of formal young education. All the LGBTQ+ stuff is being pushed on children who haven’t even discovered what makes them male and female yet…. To me it’s been suggested to allow this in the local school system and has me on the defensive about every so I guess it was an overreaction and failure on my part thinking the show was pandering to the feminist narratives in culture and giving subliminal feminist messages to my son. It was my mistake to assume that and I haven’t pushed the issue any further.

Mii · Mar 9, 2022

tstumf said:

and yet you don't think it still affects them subconsciously?

tstumf · Mar 9, 2022

Mii said:

It might to some extent. but probably not enough to warrant my reaction to it I’m assuming. I don’t know what to think of it. It’s making me feel double minded and that’s not good on my soul nor his. I want to protect my son from subconscious messages of the world especially the popular one right now in culture that is wanting to make men more feminine and less likely to be the strength God calls men to be. I do not want to give him the messages that it’s ok to abdicate his duty as a man and be ok with standing by and allowing his future wife to be the primary strength and protector. This is the precise reason women in culture are looking around and wondering “Where did all the good men go?” It’s difficult to raise a boy into a man in a culture where half the culture is praising him for opening a door for a lady and the other half of the culture is cursing him as being a toxic misogynist for thinking a woman needs help opening a door. Makes my head sick trying to figure out where to draw the line. I was hoping for a more biblical path to resolve this issue but maybe it’s strictly a culture thing rather than spiritual? I feel that the essence of biblical manhood and biblical femininity is attacked in some of these shows and it bugs me allowing my son to watch it because I see the problem yet when I check myself against other people I can’t stay firm on my convictions with it.

Mii · Mar 10, 2022

tstumf said:

Can you explain this better?

For me having any sort of an echo with a particular conviction goes a LONG way and while it doesn't give 100% confirmation still it is encouraging.

JStates · Mar 10, 2022

Lanolin said:

Tarzan's parents also died though... interestingly enough.

JStates · Mar 10, 2022

Lanolin said:

Boy, I'm glad I don't have kids right now. Maybe some day, but I need some time to get my own head on straight. Modern society has softened all of us up over the last 100 years to magic and witchcraft.

My sister in law is a big Harry Potter fan. A lot of people either don't know or don't care that JK Rowling is an actual Satanist and lesbian who based her books on actual Luciferian symbolism. Where do we draw the line? I'm not sure I can answer that myself right now.

God might save me the trouble. Maybe I won't have kids at all. Or maybe the power grid will grid will go down by that time and all this digital stuff will just be gone. I don't know, but I want to be fully settled in my own mind and conscience before I have kids.

Children’s animated movies

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