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![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) mindwinder | |
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A recent comment in a film music forum (yes, I participate in a film music forum, and yes, film music is good for you) ended with a query as to whether the Harry Potter books and movies were "just kid's stuff". This lead to the almost unavoidable comparisons to Star Wars and Lord Of The Rings (sorry, inhabitants of Narnia, you weren't included) as those other stories that many consider "just kid's stuff". This, in turn, prompted someone to comment that as kid's stuff these works don't treat kids like kids, but as equals.
[drop the needle]
Well, what is it with this "just kid's stuff"? Are we to take this as some sort of insult? Does treating a kid like a kid rob him of anything? What sort of ethereal equality is at stake here? Is there a point in further eroding something as ephemeral as childhood?
When I was a kid, I was treated like a kid. As an adult, I thank my parents for this every day. Because I was allowed to be a kid when I was a kid, I don't have to be a kid as an adult. Though in a way I have remained a kid at heart, there's something to be said for allowing kids to be kids, and adults to be adults.
When I was treated like a kid I was never abused, talked down to, or ridiculed, and the myriad of questions with which I had constantly bombarded my hapless family were always answered honestly, intelligently, and with great joy. Eventually, I have grown into an adult. That's what I remember, anyways. Or rather, that's what I'd like to think?
So what are we to make of a resource gobbling, contentious society in which kids are blended into the vast mass of faceless, sheepish consumers, in which responsible behaviour is exchanged for adult mannerisms, in which complex social issues and life questions are examined by way of the fortune cookie, in which critical thinking is considered the plague, in which centrism is equated with spinelessness, and in which the expression "kid's stuff" is used pejoratively?
I've read somewhere that adults can actually learn from kids. Hmmm... Yes. Something about innocence? Another great idea dragged and kicked around, chewed up and spit out in favour of self-satisfied, narcissistic cynicism. And when a ray of hope occasionally shines through the dense fog of pre-packaged sentiment and formulism that passes itself off as entertainment most of these days, we have a hard time with it.
Is it because oftentimes the light that reflects off the faces of children reminds us of our potential failures as adults? Of how we have conflated mature with self-absorbed, resolved with obstinate, infatuation with love, caring with guilt assuagement, and respect with being envied? Perhaps we have a problem treating kids like kids because we no longer understand what being a kid actually means. Well, hopefully not entirely, as evidenced by those rays of hope. Eventually we will recover and begin treating kids like kids again, thereby treating them as equals.Current Mood:  contemplative
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Given that there continue to be certain types of art which, under the guise of children's entertainment, contain magnificent explorations of the kind of universal themes from which every human being would benefit through contemplating, there will always be plenty of "kid stuff" which has a lot to say to any of us. My most recent experiences of this:
1) the animated film HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE, which was on one hand a sweet and meandering fable, but on another level seemed to brush against the real greatness of what art is about on a not-always-literal level. A child can watch this film, as a child, and enjoy it on its own terms. And when he or she returns to it later, it will reward the adult they have become as well -- not only can the adult visit the wonder of childhood, but the former child could see just how significant the aesthetic pleasure of "art" is. This is in contrast to, say, HAPPY FEET, which, despite its many delightful aspects, is a bit more concerned with surface effects than it is with achieving a timeless universality.
2) I saw the touring version of the Broadway musical version of THE LION KING while in Orlando on New Year's Eve. Admittedly, I don't tend to enjoy newer musicals, and one tends to have a healthy distrust of the corporate Disney of today (as opposed to the Disney of Walt's own earlier era). But I have to say that this Broadway LION KING, directed and designed brilliantly by Julie Taymor and with huge collaborative input from a wide variety of very creative people (from Garth Fagan to Hans Zimmer to Tim Rice and, um...yeah, that Elton John fellow), has something to say and says it in a way which both speaks to a child and speaks to any adult with a heart open enough to listen and appreciate it. When SO much of what I see these days is big corporate junk, to have found the LION KING musical to be such a rare effort of high-budget quality was a thrill.
This perhaps doesn't really address your main topic, tamas, but it allows me to say "welcome to lj!" ;)
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