The lure of a full-HD film can be irresistible for a young adult in need of amusement, especially one home alone with an abundance of time on her hands. A friend has lent me a Blu-ray player this past weekend and having already watched every single movie (in its full, astounding, immaculately crystal-clear glory), there is nothing left for me, except for the contents in the Disney folder on the hard drive.
With seriously nothing better to do, I ventured to watch the animated movies that left unpleasant recollections throughout my childhood. Although Disney may be dismissed as sugar-coated sap, it is only in my (relatively) older age that I realise that some of the cartoons it churns out are not without their share of darkness.
Perhaps it was because my dad could only find pirated copies back then, hence the Pinocchio I watched had a morbid, noir feel to it simply because the dullness and fuzziness of the film made everything much more dreary. I never really felt the gravity of the situation of the scene where children turned into donkeys and were shipped off to god-knows-where, but did feel a sinisterness loom, for whatever reason. These already naughty boys, who have been tricked into coming to Pleasure Island, were free to smoke, drink and break things as much as they wanted. Of course, when you've been taught from a young age to dismiss all this behaviour as bad without really letting it sink in, it really means nothing. It's only when I watched this chaotic, terrible scene the past weekend that I saw just how messed up and disturbing it is that seven-year-old boys were getting drunk, destroying everything in sight and smoking cigars. Considering how much of an "ass" they've made of themselves, the little brats literally turn into donkeys and get sold off to circuses and mines to pretty much become slaves so the big, fat, frightening man can make a lot of money. Human exploitation right there, hardly light entertainment, is it?
There was also this scene from Beauty And The Beast where Belle's father was getting captured by the villagers. I had absolutely no idea what was going on because my five-year-old self could not read what the letters on the van said. I still felt terrible for him nevertheless, but only with my latest viewing have I come to realise that it is a looney bin they are sending him off to, unless Belle agrees to marry her conceited suitor, Gaston. Had I known what it was at an earlier age, I would have realised that it was the first depiction of blackmail I had seen. And what a terrifyingly cruel and sick thing it was _ to force someone who wasn't even a lunatic to live in a horrid place filled with mentally ill people. Animation may make things light, but the concepts it embodies could not get any heavier.
Being the oblivious child that I was, I obviously also didn't catch on to what the Hun leader, Shan Yu, was implying in Mulan when he said to his archer, after speaking to two of the emperor's soldiers, that only one was needed to deliver a message.
Come to think of it, I'm actually glad that I didn't see these horror ingredients when I first watched these movies through seven-year-old eyes. But now that I've finally caught up, it's worth keeping in mind that cartoons are sometimes not just cartoons. Sometimes they have a stuffing of the darker aspects of humanity, a dose of which is needed in order to grow up. Just like my five-year-old self had to get emotionally taxed from witnessing Mufasa's death in The Lion King, my college self had to be jilted to understand how Pan's Labyrinth is not a light afternoon fantasy: the sadism and bloodshed pretty much casts a cloud of horror throughout the whole film.
It is never too early, or late, to learn about the world we live in. Getting jilted may be involved, but ultimately we do eventually get over it one day and perceive that it is just the way of the world. There is nothing more universal than cinema, and what plays on the screen resonates with us. It helps us understand the world we live in more than we think, because while entertainment may influence people in real life, it is also the stories from real life that have been the inspiration for all entertainment.
Parisa Pichitmarn is a feature writer for the Life section.