Finding Nemo (2003 - Andrew Stanton, Lee Unkrich)
I really do try not to be so obviously a parent sometimes. OK, I suppose including The Boy in my profile picture doesn't quite mesh with that statement, but I did say sometimes...I try to hold my tongue and not blather about all the fascinating things my child does or says because I know they aren't really that fascinating to anyone outside of my immediate family (though they should be...).
And I especially never want to be one of those people who says "Oh, you just can't understand it unless you're a parent...". But being a parent has certainly clouded my perception of moments - you suddenly have empathy for parents of crying children on a plane, you smile to yourself when you see another child waddling towards someone and you get sucker punched by scenes in movies. Even animated ones.
I don't know which Pixar film is my favourite, but I do know which scene is:
After searching for his young boy Nemo, Marlin finally finds him (sorry if I'm spoiling it for ya there...) only to see him crushed at the bottom of a huge school of fish spilling from a net. As he rushes up to him, we cut to Marlin's point of view:
We've already seen little Nemo in his cracked egg earlier in the film, but when that same short sequence shows up again here it just makes me crumble every single time...It's a simple yet beautiful way of showing how most parents might feel when their child is in danger or hurt - a strong need to protect them just like when they were helpless newborns - and how we may always see them as our little wee ones to be picked up and nestled.
Ah dammit, I'm welling up again. You wouldn't understand though unless yo...Uh, I mean, um, so how 'bout them Oscars, eh?
5 comments:
And I especially never want to be one of those people who says "Oh, you just can't understand it unless you're a parent...".
I couldn't function unless I was one of those people. And not because I'm trying to feel superior, but because honestly, I reached 10 or 12 more levels of maturity once kids came into my life and about 20 more once they hit their teens. I really don't believe anymore that you fully and absolutely achieve adulthood until you've raised kids, specifically, teens. You can be a wonderful, charming, highly intelligent person but you'll never reach that last level of selfless maturity until you get through the teen years. Yes, I know, time for non-parents to start hating me now. But Bob knows it's true.
Oh, I don't disagree with you Jonathan. And I know I've got some doozy surprises and further "growth" coming when the teenage years hit.
I just don't want to be one of those people that continually reminds others of their non-parent-ness and actually look for opportunities in which to do so. And I'm not just setting up a strawman here, I've known a few people like that - nice folks to be sure, but with a strange need to make themselves feel superior by telling everyone about what it's like being a parent.
Then again, I guess everyone looks for those moments of feeling superior.
I'm too afraid that having kids will cut into my movie-watching time. Does that make me the World's Biggest Asshole?
i love pixar films
age is not a factor when it comes to watcing and loving the films Pixar produces.
elgringo, my film watching has actually increased since my son was born. All I had to do was drop down to about 5 hours of sleep a night...
He's pushing his bedtime the last couple of months though, so I'm sensing a change-a-comin'. So you'll only become a WBA when my numbers drop and I start envying you...
And Vicki, I couldn't agree more.
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