Some years back, somebody pointed out to me that there were signs of satanic influence in the Walt Disney logo. Hud? walt disney cartoons? those wholesome family cartoons like Lion's King - Dumbo - Ariel - to name but a few. Those cartoons had been my secret weapon and ally for so many years in keeping my children totally engrossed and out of my hair while I snatched some precious quiet time to myself. How on earth can those wholesome cartoons be anything but wholesome and a beacon for decent family entertainment? Anyway, I soon put that out of my mind as my children grow out of the Disney years. And I seriously could not buy the idea that based on a simple logo, the whole production and the entertaining cartoons it produced could have had satanic influnence.
The reason why I choose to ponder on this issue today is because I came across an article in this month's issue of today's Catholic (Vol 22 No 8). That's right. An article on Why does Disney hate parents? Now isn't that confusing? I have always thought - and I dare say - that a lot of other parents too have thought - that Disney cartoons love parents. They love parents because they produced films of family values. And yet, there is this article written by a Sonia Poulton which pointed to the contrary.
Reading further on, Sonia pointed out the common thread among all these stories is the absence of parents or based on a single parent theme. In Lion's King, Simba was implicated in the death of his father and ran away in a vain attempt to escape his misery. Dumbo was a fatherless elephant who got separated from his mother. Neither Ariel (the Mermaid) nor Belle (Beauty and the Beast) had a mother. Think of Bambi (abandoned by his father before birth), Finding Nemo (spent most of his time estranged from his father and no mention of a mother) and Cinderella (an orphan ill-treated by her step-mother).
Apparently Walt Disney production, which has been accepted all these years without any question as the most child-friendly of organistions, appears to have something of a parent problem.
Well, Sonia Poulton's this month's piece had only been Part I, so I assume Part II will be following very soon. But in the meantime, perhaps, we parents should think twice before we sit our children down to another Walt Disney production just so we can have some quiet moments to ourselves. After all, we don't want our children to grow up thinking that it's ok or great to have a dysfunctional and broken family.
The reason why I choose to ponder on this issue today is because I came across an article in this month's issue of today's Catholic (Vol 22 No 8). That's right. An article on Why does Disney hate parents? Now isn't that confusing? I have always thought - and I dare say - that a lot of other parents too have thought - that Disney cartoons love parents. They love parents because they produced films of family values. And yet, there is this article written by a Sonia Poulton which pointed to the contrary.
Reading further on, Sonia pointed out the common thread among all these stories is the absence of parents or based on a single parent theme. In Lion's King, Simba was implicated in the death of his father and ran away in a vain attempt to escape his misery. Dumbo was a fatherless elephant who got separated from his mother. Neither Ariel (the Mermaid) nor Belle (Beauty and the Beast) had a mother. Think of Bambi (abandoned by his father before birth), Finding Nemo (spent most of his time estranged from his father and no mention of a mother) and Cinderella (an orphan ill-treated by her step-mother).
Apparently Walt Disney production, which has been accepted all these years without any question as the most child-friendly of organistions, appears to have something of a parent problem.
Well, Sonia Poulton's this month's piece had only been Part I, so I assume Part II will be following very soon. But in the meantime, perhaps, we parents should think twice before we sit our children down to another Walt Disney production just so we can have some quiet moments to ourselves. After all, we don't want our children to grow up thinking that it's ok or great to have a dysfunctional and broken family.
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