2/27/08

Thanks again, Walt!

So I was already miffed when the girls came out of their first viewing of The Little Mermaid having learned the following lessons:
  1. Humans are barbarians
  2. Daddies are scary
  3. The most important thing a girl can dream of is finding the right man
  4. How to kiss like a grown-up
  5. What witches are
  6. You shouldn't eat fish
  7. It's okay to disobey your father's rules
Now, thanks again, for this gem of a conversation I got to have yesterday:

Melody: Mommy, I hate you.
Mommy: Really. Do you know what 'hate' means?
Melody: Hm. No.
Mommy: Where did you learn that word?
Melody: Nemo tells his daddy, "Daddy, I hate you!"
Mommy: You've never even seen Nemo.
Melody: He's on my Talkin' CD at night.
Mommy: Oh, so he tells his daddy he hates him. Do you think that is a nice or mean thing?
Melody: Not sure. Maybe mean? He sounds madd.
Mommy: 'Hate' means you don't love someone at all and wish they were gone forever.
Melody: Like dead?
Mommy: Yes, like that. Do you wish that for Mommy?
Melody: No, I love Mommy. I love you the best.
Mommy: I love you too, sweet girl.
Melody: Why would Nemo be so mean to his Daddy?

That's a really good question. My girls have already learned Imbecile, Ugly, Idiot, Barbarian, Witch and Stupid from Disney movies. Do we really need 'hate' added to that list?


Why can't we have a children's move that is, I dunno, appropriate for children???

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I was really surprised when I watched the second Little Mermaid with my great nephew. I thought Ariel's behavior was horrible and her Daddy didn't even play the roll of a good parent. We also watched one that involved mice (can't remember the name of it) Perhaps the Great Am. Tale? Any how, the mice were way too sexy! : )

TheKeepersMom said...

Amen.
Well said.

Anonymous said...

Try "The Brave Little Toaster".

Nicole said...

Half of me says...I wish we could have real children's movies...

But the other half thinks that it would be cruel to hide the real world for that long.

Cate said...

I agree with you 100%. My children have learned the parents are stupid and disobedience is a great thing from many of the disny movies. I really with there were some better movies out there for kids. I have four (oldest 17) and this has always been a struggle.
In my real world it is never acceptable to disobey your parents or call anyone stupid.
I loved what Cindy said about the the sexy mice....every disney movie features very voluptous characters, why is that???

Angie said...

Watch out for Mickey Mouse too!! My then 3 year old watched Twice Upon A Christmas and told me he was running away because I didn't care about him, asked me "you give up yet?" when we were trying to discipline him, and a few other not so fun, although secretly funny things. I've banned anything not on Noggin!! With my luck even that will start teaching him some bad stuff.

Anonymous said...

My favourite take away lesson from The Little Mermaid: A girl has to give up her voice to get a guy.

My other nemesis is the Barbie series, where all the evil characters are ugly and all the good characters are beautiful. Good life lessons, there...