I don't know if you know this or not - but I get to watch movies and TV shows for a living. It's a pretty tough job, but someone has to do it. My husband hates me if I ever complain "But honey - the movie was soooo long. And with the sun coming in through the window, I almost fell asleep at my desk!"
I get no sympathy.
But it's okay, I realize I have a great job and I work with awesome people on top of it all. My boss is also fantastic.
*hoping my boss is reading this and will now give me an incredible bonus and substantial raise*
Anyway, I'm not here to talk to you about my job - I'm here to talk to you about how sensitive and in-tune I've become with content for children. This is probably a good thing, but it changes my movie watching experience. Damn it. I can no longer sit back and just enjoy a great animated film and laugh at all of the jokes that have been interwoven for adult enjoyment. You see, now when I watch a film for children, I'm watching it with my parent filter. My stupid f*cking parent filter (Clearly, I'm not so concerned about other filters...) But when watching these films, I notice things that I might not have noticed a year ago.
For example, I was just watching Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, and there is a scene in the beginning when Diego the sabre-toothed cat is feeling sad. The female woolly mammoth, Ellie, tells her woolly mammoth husband Manny to go and talk to Diego about how he is feeling. Manny tells his wife that men don't talk about their feelings. They just punch each other in the shoulder. Begrudgingly, he finally goes and half-assed talks to Diego and totally dismisses his feelings.
Now call me an oversensitive parent, but what is this teaching our boys? This is blatantly telling our sons that men don't talk about their feelings - and I think that is bullshit.
Later in the movie, the same two male characters are trapped in a venus fly trap. The acid from the plant starts to eat away at their legs,
"I feel tingly" says Diego
"Don't say that when you're pressed up against me," says Manny - angrily.
"Not that kind of tingly," Diego responds quickly in defense.
Again. Clearly this is a joke aimed at adults, but...is this really a joke? I mean, I'm a comedian, and I definitely love dick and fart jokes. I have a very basic level of humor at times. I've even referred to myself as a twelve year old boy, "Pull my finger. Tee hee."
But this? What is this? What if our sons DO have tingly feelings when they're pressed up against another boy? Are we supposed to make them feel ashamed, embarrassed or disgusted because of this?
We encourage little boys to kiss and hug little girls, "Aww, maybe they'll get married one day." hahaha. But why don't we ever say this about two little boys or two little girls?
I know of some parents who get angry if their sons play with dolls. Really? DOLLS!
We live in the 21st century and when people have these types of reactions it seriously blows my mind.
Have I gone to extreme efforts to raise my child in a completely gender neutral environment? No. Have I bought my son trucks and things that are red and blue? Yes and yes. But I've also bought him two dolls and he owns three pairs of colourful leggings. I never get offended if someone thinks he's a girl: who cares? I hug him all the time, and shower him with affection. When he gets older, I will encourage him to talk to me about his feelings and let him know it's okay to cry and be vulerable and open.
My husband and I have already made it part of our vocabulary to say things like, "I hope you bring a nice girlfriend home one day. Or nice boyfriend." (Because yes, I've already imagined what it will be like when my little boy is bigger than me and is dating. Agh. Cry.)
Anyway - this post isn't funny. I'm sorry, but I just had to get these things off my chest
So now, go ahead.
Pull my finger.
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