An Attack On Our Most Beloved Children's Movies

First an attack on our most beloved children's books and now an attack on our most popular children's movie.  When will the madness stop?

Do children's movies really have subliminal sexual messages, product placement, and blatant propaganda?  Snow White and Toy Story 3 are under fire for being sexist, Shrek 2 for product placement, Lion King for having "SEX" (or is it "SFX") scribbled in the stars, Rango for its use of excessive smoking, and  The Lorax for its ecofriendly message.

Some of these attacks are ludicrious and I will not even give them any credence by talking about them.  But I do want to address the use of product placement in movies.  I believe that this issue is much larger than any movie.  The attack on product placement specificly directed at our children needs to be expanded to include television and the internet as well.  Right or wrong, it is something that parents have been dealing with for generations.  These messages will not be going away any time soon.  You will need to teach your child how to evaluate them yourself.  This will be a difficult task because advertisers are good at their jobs, but it is not one that you can literally afford to side step.

The movies that have strong messages about things like the environment affords you the opportunity to open a discussion with your children about your views on these topics.  If you do not agree with the views that these movies present, sit down with your child and let them know why.  Anything that can open up a line of communication between you and child can not be all bad.

Consider the movie Bambi.  I am not in favor of hunting, but I believe that not allowing my children to watch a movie because of five minutes of the movie is wrong.  Don't throw out a classic movie because of something that is a small portion of the movie, talk about it with your child.