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?
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...".
ReplyDeleteI 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.
ReplyDeleteI 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?
ReplyDeletei love pixar films
ReplyDeleteage 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...
ReplyDeleteHe'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.