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Who didn't see this coming? I called it ten minutes into the movie. Some hand-wringing parents have declared 'Up" too dark for children. Why? Because the first twenty minutes deal with the uncomfortable subjects of death and infertility. The reference to infertility is so oblique that children will miss it, but there is no getting around the brief discussion of death and the longer discussion of grief. One parent even claimed they were disappointed in Pixar for creating such a "dark" film.
Oh, shut the fuck up, you soft-headed pansies. The death of Ellie Fredricksen occurred offscreen, and when next we see Mr. Fredricksen, he's sitting in a suit on the steps of the funeral home. For God's sake, the entire ethos of the film was what you do when one era in your life ends and another begins. What was the unfortunate Mr. Muntz if not a cautionary tale of obsession and the refusal to move on? The film was meant to reassure us that life can still be beautiful even in its twilight, and that tragedy doesn't mean the end of hope, or even of love. But in order to show this, it must first draw down the dark. It was done tastefully and briefly, and Pixar has nothing of which to be ashamed.
I'm tired of lazy parents demanding that everything be sanitized into stupid insensibility, lest their precious diddums be exposed to the harsher truths of life. Hiding them from the truth doesn't protect them from it when it finally comes. Pretending death doesn't exist won't keep Grandma alive forever. And do these parents not remember the Disney "classics" they so cherish and pass on to their children with blind fervor(and the desperate desire to distract them while Mommy and Daddy have a quickie)? The Lion King? Bambi? Hell, Finding Nemo? There was death there, too, most of it violent. But now that it's lovable old people dying of old age, it's unacceptable viewing and a violation of childhood innocence? Yes, because a peaceful death with your husband of fifty years at your side is so much worse than getting shot by a hunter or shoved off a cliff or devoured en masse.
I'm not saying that parents shouldn't be concerned about how their children might react to death, but why is it so damn hard to talk to them about it? Yes, a child might be confused or have questions, but one of the job requirements of parenthood is trying to answer those questions. It's scary, but it's what you signed up for when you chose not to abort. Stop placing your feelings of unease and inadequacy above the well-being of your children and blaming Pixar for "making you uncomfortable."
Get over yourselves, you over-indulged twits. Life isn't Disneyland. It's often hard, cruel, and unfair, and by refusing to expose your children to its realities even gently or gradually, you're leaving them woefully unprepared for adulthood. Knowing that people you love aren't going to live forever and that old people die isn't going to leave your child a gibbering wreck. We learned these truths, often in ways far more jolting than a cartoon, and we made it. The human spirit is hardier than we give it credit for, and parents need to stop treating their children like bruised violets.
And to the parent bleating about this being the first incident of blood in a Pixar film: Bzzt. Wrong. There was blood in Finding Nemo, and Dory suffered serious injury during the jellyfish run. Also, the blood in this film was a cut incurred when Mr. Fredricksen clouted a construction worker with a quad cane, not a machete wound. Stop sniveling, you puling imbecile. Your bubby has probably gotten worse cuts from jumping off the playground monkey bars.
Sometimes I think it's the parents who need to grow up.
Oh, shut the fuck up, you soft-headed pansies. The death of Ellie Fredricksen occurred offscreen, and when next we see Mr. Fredricksen, he's sitting in a suit on the steps of the funeral home. For God's sake, the entire ethos of the film was what you do when one era in your life ends and another begins. What was the unfortunate Mr. Muntz if not a cautionary tale of obsession and the refusal to move on? The film was meant to reassure us that life can still be beautiful even in its twilight, and that tragedy doesn't mean the end of hope, or even of love. But in order to show this, it must first draw down the dark. It was done tastefully and briefly, and Pixar has nothing of which to be ashamed.
I'm tired of lazy parents demanding that everything be sanitized into stupid insensibility, lest their precious diddums be exposed to the harsher truths of life. Hiding them from the truth doesn't protect them from it when it finally comes. Pretending death doesn't exist won't keep Grandma alive forever. And do these parents not remember the Disney "classics" they so cherish and pass on to their children with blind fervor(and the desperate desire to distract them while Mommy and Daddy have a quickie)? The Lion King? Bambi? Hell, Finding Nemo? There was death there, too, most of it violent. But now that it's lovable old people dying of old age, it's unacceptable viewing and a violation of childhood innocence? Yes, because a peaceful death with your husband of fifty years at your side is so much worse than getting shot by a hunter or shoved off a cliff or devoured en masse.
I'm not saying that parents shouldn't be concerned about how their children might react to death, but why is it so damn hard to talk to them about it? Yes, a child might be confused or have questions, but one of the job requirements of parenthood is trying to answer those questions. It's scary, but it's what you signed up for when you chose not to abort. Stop placing your feelings of unease and inadequacy above the well-being of your children and blaming Pixar for "making you uncomfortable."
Get over yourselves, you over-indulged twits. Life isn't Disneyland. It's often hard, cruel, and unfair, and by refusing to expose your children to its realities even gently or gradually, you're leaving them woefully unprepared for adulthood. Knowing that people you love aren't going to live forever and that old people die isn't going to leave your child a gibbering wreck. We learned these truths, often in ways far more jolting than a cartoon, and we made it. The human spirit is hardier than we give it credit for, and parents need to stop treating their children like bruised violets.
And to the parent bleating about this being the first incident of blood in a Pixar film: Bzzt. Wrong. There was blood in Finding Nemo, and Dory suffered serious injury during the jellyfish run. Also, the blood in this film was a cut incurred when Mr. Fredricksen clouted a construction worker with a quad cane, not a machete wound. Stop sniveling, you puling imbecile. Your bubby has probably gotten worse cuts from jumping off the playground monkey bars.
Sometimes I think it's the parents who need to grow up.