We talked about this TV show series
today and I just wanted to blog a little bit about it. Adventure Time
definitely does mess with people's heads. I find it crazy how Jake can shape
himself into other things like a hammer, taller, smaller, or basically anything
your mind can dream of. The plot in each of these TV shows differs as well
where some make more sense than others. All in all I think that Adventure Time
is a great show that makes you question logic and humanity for that matter. I
also like how they have recently made a feminist show exactly identical to Fin
and Jake. Fiona and Cake finally made Adventure Time even more enjoyable for
both girls and boys. I personally like Fiona and Cake better, but that is most
likely because I am a girl, obviously. xD… Adventure Time also challenges the
way to handle situations that arise like fighting off evil wizards, but also
giving pity when pity is needed to those who are “evil.” Overall, I never used
to but finally this year I really do enjoy this TV show now that I have watched
more episodes and took the time to understand their adventures.
Coming off the conversation from class today about "Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends" and "Adventure Time", I thought I would share what my favorite children's television show is and that would be
This show balances adventure, sci-fi, and comedy really well. The great thing about this kids show is the adult humor that it has. It isn't anything bad like "Family Guy" or "South Park" but it keeps the adults entertained and enjoying a kids show and that is important. One of my favorite episodes features the two main characters trying to start a grill for a cookout and long story short, they end up burning all the hot dogs.
To prevent themselves from getting in trouble, they run to the freezer and find a rare type of hot dog.
Mordecai and Rigby realize that the hot dogs are actually living, breathing hot dog people that have been trapped in the freezer for a while. Mordecai and Rigby befriend the hot dogs and realize they could just go buy another pack before their boss finds out they burned the other hot dogs.
The two friends allow the hot dogs to go free but it isn't until it's too late that they find out the hot dogs true intentions. The hot dogs want to get revenge for people eating their brethren so, to get revenge, they start attacking the park and trying to eat the people instead.
Long story short, the two heroes spray the hot dogs with mustard and then the hot dogs start to eat each other! It's great!
I think the reason why I love this show much is because it has weird stuff like this. Most all of the episodes take simple things such as board games of "doing someone a solid" and turns it into the weirdest thing possible and that is why I love this show so much.
When I went to see Frozen in theaters, I went with my sister. Which, it is an excellent movie to go see with your sister, wether you liked the film or nah. The best thing about it, though, was definitely some little boys who was there with their mom (or somebody, I don't know their lives). You could hear them gasp at exciting parts, exclaim at shocking parts, and when Anna punched Hans, they tried to whisper "I would've punched him too" So often, especially in this department, we get so wrapped up in critiquing and being aware of all the little things that go into a film and elements of story and plot holes that we forget to just let ourselves enjoy it. I have enjoyed films others have hated, and I have dislike films others have loved. Do I think Frozen was an amazing film, or one I want to see all the time? No. Do I think it had important messages for kids to see in a safe environment? Yeah, I do. Do I love Let It Go? Yes. No shame. It also produced a pretty chilling villain, who is definitely up there in my list of Disney villains. Being aware of media is good. Critiquing media is wonderful and helpful and so important. Letting these things ruin your enjoyment of media is a sad path to embark on. Kids don't care about these things, they go in expecting to be entranced and amused and entertained and they come out enraptured. Kids are smart too, much smarter than we often give them credit for. They talk about these things for days, sometimes obsess over them. And there's just this conviction and stubbornness that they will like whatever they like in spite of you.
So. The point. Be critical thinkers, but don't let that hinder your enjoyment of things. Being an adult is stupid and boring. In like, less than a year, I will have to figure out jobs and living situations and all this other shit. Now, Peter Pan has taught me that if nothing else, not growing up is a bad thing. But liking something as guilelessly as a kid is something we should all try to do more.
Just don't let the pretentiousness of society hinder your joy of things
I might be digressing a bit from kid's
media and more into how kids should be taught and I'm not one to
really speak on how children should be taught, as I don't know a ton
about kids; however I do know how my parent's methods of disciplining
me have affected me.
I know when I was a child I was not
allowed to watch Yugioh because it had 'demons' and my parents tried
to discourage me from Pokemon but my brothers and I latched onto it
and they let it slide. My parents aren't really the definition of a
crazy Christian, but when I was younger they seemed to fit that
description to a degree, primarily with what TV shows I could watch
and that I couldn't say words like “shut up” “crap” and
“hate” I was even discouraged from saying “darn” because it
was too close to damn and “fudge” was a substitute for the f-word
and therefore I couldn't say it.
I do know that I am the first child of
three younger brothers to follow, so I've always been the guinea pig.
I know my father did in fact spank me with a wooden spoon when I was
young and wouldn't listen or did something wrong. He didn't do it
when I was older, but it happened at some point nonetheless. I know
as I got older there were disciplines of “removal of privileges”
such as no hanging out with friends or no computer. I know when I
didn't get good grades they'd try to set up plans that were meant to
help me (spoiler alert they made everything worse.) And I do know
that throughout my life I have felt disconnected from my dad because
of how he disciplined me. I certainly thing some things helped, but
in the bigger picture I think it may have done more harm than good.
But I've digressed out of the world of the child, let me get back
into that.
Nowadays society seems way too hyped up
on political correctness. Children's shows have been ridiculed for
making “offensive material” and taken heavy blows as a result of
over sensitive parents. Even back in the early 2000s Spongebob was
ridiculed for being bad for kids because it was too distracting and
the parents made a huge fuss about it. But what they didn't take into
account is that the show isn't meant to educate kids it's meant to
entertain them, and when they did a study to see if it really did
distract kids, they did it on 4 year olds when the show is meant for
6 year olds and up. My Little Pony made a clumsy pony with
crossed-eyes that had a clumsy slur to her voice and parents exploded
that it was making fun of mentally challenged children and the show
was forced to change her voice and uncross her eyes as a result.
Nowadays parents try too hard to
protect their kids. “Oh we don't want to tell Billy 'no' because
that implies that he's wrong and hurts his self-esteem.” If you've
ever seen the movie Parental Guidance it's
a perfect representation of the modern parent versus the previous
generation's methods of raising kids. Currently I think there should
be a good balance of consequences and unconditional love when raising
kids, you shouldn't smother them all the time and you shouldn't be
the stern voice all the time. I still have some learning to do on
kids and how their little minds work; my first step to this will
probably be reading a book called Just One Minute about
how just a moment can change a child's life dramatically.
I
leave y'all with my thoughts, and no clear conclusion. :P
Over the weekend I decided to watch The Prestige and I was not disappointed. The main storyline is
about two rival magicians who try to outdo each other in their tricks and
illusions that they perform as a part of their magic acts. As it turns out, the
entire storyline ends up being an illusion in that one of the magicians used his
twin brother as a double in order to perform what appeared to be an impossible
trick. The film features Hugh Jackman as Robert Angier and Christian Bale as
Alfred Borden, the two main magicians previously mentioned.
The greatest aspect that The
Prestige shows throughout its structure is the destruction and downfall
that comes from living a life based on revenge, obsession, and self-ambition.
While on the outside, the characters are becoming more wealthy and powerful
from their successful careers, it is evident that on the inside they are
searching for something greater and they are never truly satisfied with what
they have accomplished. One area that is particularly affected is their
relationships with their families and friends. The Prestige challenges the prototypical magician roles used by
other movies and takes a more dark and revenge-filled approach. And while this
is a bold move by director Christopher Nolan, it is one that I think pays off
in the end.
I saw this post afterclass on Facebook that pretty much summed up what we said in class. This was really interesting to discuss and it brought back memories of when I was a kid and how my imagination would wander and take me to distant places in far away places in my yard on the farm back at home. I remember when I was little sometime during the summer I would go out at night when the moon was out and sit and watch the moon flowers bloom. I kept thinking that it was magic and the feeling I felt when I saw them bloom felt like magic. When we're young everything seems much more meaningful than when we're older, and I wish that we would always have that as we continue to grow into adults.
So on Tuesday we were talking about good children's entertainment. Which I love good children's movies and so forth. One of the things though when I watch kids movies is that indeed most are trying to pander to kids. Most of the times they just have bright colors and weird crap going on in the show. But sometimes I watch old cartoons from my childhood to see if they still hold up. Luckily some still do. One of them being the kids next door. I got to watch them again over the summer and was glad that I didn't feel as weird as I probably should. Mostly because my parents give me a weird look when they see me watch cartoons. I am hoping to watch some more of the old cartoons soon.
One of the ways I like to judge good children's films and such is do I feel awkward watching it? If no I consider it to be at least OK because it doesn't pander to be just a kids film. Of course it is possible to be great after all Toy Story is my favorite film. But if great movies like The Lego movie, How to train your Dragon and even Kung fu panda 2 plus most of Pixar then kids movies will be made with great quality and care. Because of this I can't wait to see what future kids movies bring that I will see with friends or future dates. Speaking of which any takers to see the Book of Life?
I loved everything about Colorforms. Hands down, my favorite. From the moment, I heard the little girl start speaking, I had a smile on my face, and it only grew bigger when I saw what she was doing. And then it clicked - colorforms. That's not even a word, that's something only a child would come up with while they're finger painting. It makes no sense, and yet total sense all at the same time. I got super excited.
I also thought of the readings we did from Lewis and Singer, where they said stick to your roots and the small things will make the most impact and connect with the reader the most. I can attest to that, because that opening scene, with her covered in paint, took me right back to when I was just about this girl's age and I decided it would be good fun to draw with markers all over my face and body. To me, it was fun and creative and why not?
There's a great picture that my parents took of me standing there holding the marker and smiling madly, and if I had it I would post it. And now that I look back, I think to myself, thank God my parents took that picture, because it shows that my creativity wasn't something that they looked at as needing to be disciplined, but they appreciated it. That support also showed about fourteen years down the road when I decided that I wanted to go into the arts. I'm so thankful to have been raised in an environment where creativity, exploration, art, and music were an emphasis. I know so many people my age who have been guided away from going into the arts because it's "risky." Well pardon my French, but, to hell with that. We need more artists and dreamers and risk takers in this world. We need to stop suppressing the creative spark that is found in children, because if we let that happen, we're soon going to find that we live in a very bland and boring world.
First off, Colorform; cutest thing ever! It was obvious what was going to happen...but my lord was it pleasing to watch! Never had a girl and her grandpa celebrating a foreign holiday has ever been captured so adorably!
Yeah I'm a guy that used words like cute and adorable in a blog post! WHAT ABOUT IT?
Anywho, going on topic, I feel that it is very important to not sugarcoat children films and pander to them. I feel that it is important to treat them with the same respect that you would with an adult or your fellow college student. Because they are capable of taking a lot of dark themes. The one video with the cat, the pirate, and the fish. You know the one. That was freakin' hilarious! But I certainly did not expect to see how that film ended. But for something as ridiculous that can be viewed as childish can pull such an unexpected punch and dark turn, you have to give them props. And you know what, I do feel like kids won't be scarred for life. It's important to show them something silly but still leave an emotional resident with the audience that shows that the filmmakers respect their audience and not, pardon my French, bullshit them. It's a huge pet peeve of mine that so many movies or TV shows aimed towards younger viewers basically talk down to their audience. But I can't say everyone does this.
And if you still don't believe me, need I remind you of Mufasa's death?
Books. Movies. Short Films. Stories. Games. All of these can provide helpful things to a child especially when they are in the need of it. After all being a child is fun but very scary since they are still trying to make sense of this cruel world. Heck, I'm still trying to figure it out myself.
The small film called the Circuit Marine was really cute and funny although it portrayed the small circle of life within nature. At first, it made the captain seem heartless and cruel since he went after his cat who stole his dinner. But you soon to realize that he had a heart and had all of these pets including, a bird, a fish, a cat, and possibly a flower although it was just a picture. But throughout the film things just ended up getting eaten, drowned, or just killed by other animals or water. And as each of the captain's pet died he ended up putting up a picture of his last pet. In a way it made it easier for him to cope with the death than rather forgetting about them. It literally softens the blow. And to be honest, I think that its netter to show children these types of films although it may not be the "kind" of film that the society thinks we should show today. But I would rather show them tat then have them experience it all by themselves, it literally helps them deal with the cruel things within this world just through an amusing but sad film.
Yesssss. I've been wanting to talk about this for a long, long time, and I highly doubt this will be the only blog I write about it because this series is phenomenal. Kino no Tabi: The Beautiful World (Kino's Journey in English) started out as a book series and got turned into an anime series in 2003. The series is only 14 episodes long and has two OVAs, and it's a brilliant story about the human condition. *coughcough*Leeper*cough* In a story like Kino's Journey, which is based primarily on the phrase "The world is not beautiful; therefore, it is," it would be very easy to moralize and say, "This is the right thing to do in this situation." But the series isn't like that. In fact, I had a friend who was appalled by Kino's actions when he watched the first episode. He asked me, "Why didn't Kino help those people? She could have stayed and helped them but she just drove away." See, the thing with this series is that it isn't a story about right and wrong. Kino frequently finds herself in morally gray territory instead of on the "moral high ground." The series serves as more of an observation of humans as Kino prefers to remain a neutral third party in most situations. She was taught not to interfere with the customs of other people and countries, even though sometimes, she probably should. There are times when Kino could do the "right thing" if she just got involved, but she tends to look the other way and let bygones be bygones. Nonetheless, every episode and chapter is heavily imbued with meaning, even if it doesn't have a lesson. And even though it isn't necessarily children's media, it fits the bill of telling a story before it teaches a lesson, and that's part of what makes it so great. I don't think it would be nearly as great if it taught a lesson before it told a story. I believe lessons can distract from a story if the creator tries too hard to show that they're there. Rather, by letting the reader/watcher completely immerse themselves in the story, the meaning of things and any lessons that might be there will come through on their own.
(Honestly, I always say that anyone who doesn't like Kino's Journey hasn't seen or read it yet, and it's one of those anime series that I would recommend to everybody, even if they usually don't like anime.)
I say this every time, but I really enjoyed last class. I don't know how else to start these blogs. It was interesting talking about children's media since I've never been apart of an in depth discussion about it. When I think of children's media, the first thing that comes to mind are the zany, random shows on Cartoon Network that have next to no message for its viewers. I literally think cobwebs are forming in my cranium and that my brain is melting. I recall enjoying some of those shows when I was younger, but now I can barely sit through an episode.
Last class made me think of the children's media I do like- such as Disney movies- and the discussion made me realize why I like them. I learned that the best stories have mature ideas, but are crafted so that they are enjoyable for children. Leeper showed the class a french film called Circuit Marine by Isabelle Favez. It's a hilarious cartoon about a pirate who acquires many pets, but they all end up dying in the end. The plot makes it sound like a sad story, but for some reason I couldn't help from laughing the whole time. The class was heckling and making comments throughout; I think everyone could agree that they were confused as to what they just saw. It was a fantastic story because it was relatable. A child watching may think of their pet who had past away, or it may cushion a child's sorrow when the time of their pet has come to die. Overall, it gets the audience thinking of death, a harsh reality of life, but it does so in a humorous way. Good stories like this keep adults young, and aspire children to grow.
Yesterday we talked about kids and how they receive media.. As well as how media is created for them. Children in a emotional standpoint. I feel like their minds go all over the place and they can never really focus on one task or emotion. One minute they are crying and the next they are laughing or even asleep. Children have an amazing creative and imaginative mindset. Sometimes I wish I still had a child imagination because I feel like it would help me in my major greatly. I really liked Leeper's animated film because it showed how just a little pencil can be created into basically anything by a child's mind. Dark stories also have to have a good ending for children to be able to watch a film. In class we talked about not showing children dark films without heroic acts. However there is no truth in happy movies and children may also reject that. I feel like kids need just as much entertainment now a days as us college students do. They need healing as well as action and suspense, just on a more mild level, of course. Ahhhh how I miss my childhood days very much.
I've been surrounded by kids my entire life. When I was growing up my mom had a daycare at our house, so I got to play with kids everyday. Then my family worked at kids' Church for fifteen years. I love kids and I always felt it easier to be around them than people my own age or older.
My first job was babysitting for a family and I had that job for four years. Now being in college, it's totally different. There is no one running up to hug me or give me high fives. That is one of the sad parts about being in college.
But back to my family working at our church. My family has been there for a long time, working with the kid's ministry. I just love it. I love working with kids and just being around them is fun.
This is what we did to our Kid's Ministry:
This is what my family does. My Dad came up with a design for a kid's ministry. You don't know it yet, but we have all the bells and whistles. We have stage lights, smoke/fog machine, bubble machine, and a talking robot. Yes, I said a talking robot. My Dad found a way to make a robot by hooking up a computer screen and using an app called crazy talk. He designed a face for it and hooked it up to a body we made for him. (In the back we had someone rotate the robot and move his arms up and down so it makes it appears that he's an actual robot.) He teaches Bible lessons and throws random dance parties for the kids. His name is Carl. Cool Artificial Robotic Life form.
We had a puppet band we named Gear Box. We selected christian rock/worship songs for them to play. This was my expertise. I would go to the back and puppeteer for the kids with some other volunteers.
My dad made these Christmas music videos for the kids. This was the first one we made. I mostly helped him with puppeteering, designs, and coming up with ideas. He was my introduction and inspiration for animation and I'm sure you know why.
I want to go into children's media to inspire kids to be themselves, but to find who they are in Christ. I don't think I can afford to go on the Children's film trip. But I want to go ever so badly.
My little brother explains who I want to be perfectly ... a kid.
And I think I have done a pretty good job of that so far.
My uncle has always been what you would call a film buff; he's always up to date on the best movies, new and old. His collection, in my opinion, is not necessarily the biggest, but contains classics and also smaller, independent films that never get talked about. Every couple of months, he usually gives our family a call and asks if we want to come over for a movie night, and, of course, we say yes! So earlier this year he called and I don't know what I was expecting, but it was not Despicable Me 2! I was so excited, albeit confused where this came from. Uncle Steve has seen Despicable Me 2...?...So he's seen the first one as well? Unfortunately, thirty minutes into it, my contact lens decided to cause problems (funny how that always happens at the worst time), and I ended up having to go back home. I told my mom I was leaving, and she said she would come with me. On the walk back home, I asked why she didn't want to stay and watch, and she shrugged, saying "I've never really liked animated movies." Turns out, she started taking a nap when the movie began, she wasn't even going to bother. I felt really bad, wondering what kind of awful animated movies and shows I must have subjected her to in my childhood that made her dislike them so much to give up on them before they even started.
Fast forward a few months: we were on a bus trip and I was sitting in the back with my friends, and my mom was up at the front with the other chaperones. I saw that the Lego movie was playing on the little TVs, but it was so loud that I knew I wouldn't be able to follow it, so I continued to talk with my friends. At some point, it was time for lunch (which my mom had with her), so I got up and went to find her intently watching the Lego Movie! She turned to me and said "I didn't see it from the beginning, but I'm trying to catch up - it's cute! I'd like to see the whole movie sometime!" If of all people, it can get my mom's attention, there's your proof that animation isn't just for kids!
"That's one small step for man, a giant leap for mankind." ~Emma Watson upon hearing about my mom's change of heart.
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