It’s an early Saturday morning, I’m ten years old and Lucky Charms are being practically inhaled by my three messy brothers and me. Together, we gather around the television to watch a movie. We immediately begin to argue over what exactly to watch … “Finding Nemo?” “Home?” “Kung Fu Panda?” “Princess and the Frog?” “Lego Movie?” Fast forward almost eight years later, I still find myself on our family couch arguing with my brothers over which to choose. Believe it or not, most of the time we resort to these quintessential kids movies that were our favorite all those years ago, but why is that?
Sometimes we think we are too grown up to fall back on “classic” kids movies, but children’s movies are for adults too. We, as young adults, feel like we need to watch movies with deep philosophical themes that need to be discovered and pondered fully after watching, in order for it to be labeled a movie with “serious value” and “actually worth watching.” In reality, kids movies teach us the most basic lessons that are revealed easily in the film and are usually easy for us to digest.
The first kids movie that comes to my mind is "Inside Out" directed by Pete Docter. Within this movie and the characters of Joy and Sadness, we learn that life is not at all “picture perfect” like we want it to be. Rather, throughout the plot which consists of sacrifice, love and loss, we learn that the feelings of sadness and joy have to coexist with each other. You can’t have one and not the other. We learn, at a young age, that we need moments of sadness and imperfection to appreciate when things are really good. Life is messy and sad sometimes, but when wonderful and joyous things happen to us, we are encouraged to live fully in that moment and relish it, given it is fleeting existence. Learning this at a young age is important, but being reminded of these fundamental lessons as a young adult is almost as valuable.
Additionally, falling back on these kids’ movies gives us a sense of comfort that reminds us of “the good old days.” I think back to my wonderful and playful childhood filled with soccer, playdates, candy, books about fairies and story tales, and my biggest worry being whether my parents would let me stay up past my curfew or not. This life was so perfect. The harsh truth is — life is no longer like this. Now, I don’t have to ask my parents to push back my curfew, as I’m living by myself. Now, my biggest worry consists of much bigger predicaments, like what career path I want to follow, and who I want to be when I’m older. Life goes on, we change and we grow. But, we can always grow back down. Movies have this transformative power in which they can take you back to a specific time in your life and tap into certain memories. This sense of nostalgia that is tied to these movies, which 10-year-old me considered “classics,” shows the power of entertainment and its effect on my daily life.
These movies that we watch when we are young stick with us as we grow. They teach us core lessons about human nature, and serve as something to fall back on when life becomes “too complex.” Our attachment to them is not a sign of immaturity, rather maturity as we are able to acknowledge their use and place in our new “adult world.”
What is your favorite children’s movie? What does it mean to you?
