Sociology Sundays: Marxism and Toy Story

Let it be known that I am a huge fan of Pixar, in fact, as I write this I am sitting in some Finding Nemo PJs and I have to say, the Toy Story trilogy is very much my favourite group of movies that exist, but there are some very interesting moments in it that I think Karl Marx might have a problem with. And being the loser that I am I will be combining two things I love, Marxism and Toy Story and telling you what Marx might say about this childhood classic.


The first thing we need to do is work out how the class system works within Andy's room. Whilst Andy and humans in general would be the obvious choice for ruling class it's also interesting to look at the dynamic between the toys so I will be splitting this into two sections. The Toys and The Humans.

THE TOYS

Firstly we should look at the main character, Woody, Woody is in a position of power, he runs Andy's room, and it all seems to be going well. From what we can tell, Woody runs the room because he is Andy's favourite. This is almost like the "god given right" Kings and Queens were bestowed in order to run a country. At first glance we would assume Marx would label this a bad thing, like he does with god given rights etc. however, I don't believe that it is as simple as that.

Whilst it is entirely possible to consider Woody a "Kingly" figure and Andy the "god-like" figure, the fact that it is okay for the rest of the toys, who all seem equal in their ranking after Woody, it could be looked at as a near-communist society with one person in power. This is, obviously, something Karl Marx would be close to liking.

If we also take into consideration that Buzz finds his way to the top very quickly and all the other toys migrate to like him we could argue that it is the choice of the "lower class" and, therefore, it is more of a chosen leader, rather than assigned. Woody is no more likely to be in charge than, say, Mr Potato Head, or Hamm, it is all to do with how the other toys perceive Woody.

Woody has also, it is assumed, been around longer than the other toys, which makes him more experienced, now whilst I am not 100% sure on Marx's opinion of electing the smartest person to lead a group, I know that Gramsci, is definitely all for "counter-hegemonic blocs" which means a group of in the know "working class" people using their smarts to overrule the oppressive 1%.

However, the only time where is it 100% clear who the oppressive toy is, is in the third movie with Lotso. He is a dictator with a group that do all the work for him in oppressing all the toys who step out of line, using devices such as CCTV, Prison and even torture (the sandbox). This is, personally, one of the best aspects of Toy Story 3 and, of course we get the brilliant line from "Marxist Barbie"...

THE HUMANS

As I mentioned before, within Andy's Room the Toys appear to be happy to be ruled over by Andy, he is like a God to them, someone they look up to and rely on, even after he has thrown out a lot of the toys. Heck Woody loses the his love interest, Bo Peep all because Andy grew too old for her, but Woody looks up to Andy in a way that this doesn't deter him at all. This is something Marx hated. He hated religion, he called it "the opium of the people" because it was and is something that some people blindly follow even if they don't agree with everything they are doing. It is something, according to Marx, that wealthy people created to keep the poor subdued. Lenin called it "spiritual gin" and this seems to be the case for Woody and his friends. They all follow Andy or Bonnie (presumably) no matter what. Heck, Jessie was cast aside by Emily and even she eventually gave into another human.

What Woody does with Sid is a perfect example of a revolution from the "underclass" the toys all group together to prevent another injustice being done aka the killing of one of their kind. This, to me, is amazing, it is exactly what Marx wants from all the working class people in the world and it is exactly what I want to see in my favourite movie series of all time. 

Thanks Pixar for introducing adult themes into kids movies, they have influenced me so much in my interest in politics and other issues like pollution, bravery, and feminism. (See Wall.E, Monsters Inc, and Brave)

So yeah, there are a few thoughts I had about Toy Story, this was fun for me, I basically got to combine two of my favourite things.

I haven't decided on a topic for next week so let me know what you would like to see and I will give it a go.

Until next time,

Stephanie

PIXAR!!!

I have been a fan of Pixar for my entire life, they have made 15 major motion pictures and 15 consecutive blockbusters, no joke, these people know how to create a good movie. If I had access to a time machine I would, and this is no lie, I would go back to the time they were creating Toy Story (The original) just to be a part of that magic. Everything about Pixar movies makes me love them more and more.

Perhaps the only movies to come out of Pixar that I do not enjoy are all the sequels to Cars (I am including Planes etc. as sequels even if I know they aren't). But don't get me wrong the first Cars is a decent movie, it just didn't need a sequel.

In order my least favourite to favourite Pixar movies (based on the wikipedia list here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Pixar_films ) are:

15- Cars 2
14- Cars
13- Ratatouille
12- Brave (I know it's very pro-women, I just love the other Pixar movies too much, they're my childhood)
11- WALL-E
10- Monster's University
9- Up
8- Finding Nemo
7- Toy Story 3
6- Monster's Inc.
5- A Bug's Life
4- The Incredibles
3- Toy Story
2- Toy Story 2
1- Inside Out

I think Inside Out and Toy Story 2 are pretty interchangeable for me, but because Inside Out is so fresh in my mind, that one is going first.

Speaking of Inside Out, I saw it today and it was incredible, I recommend it highly to anyone who hasn't seen it yet. At the beginning, before the movie there is a short called "Lava" I cried from about halfway through that to the end of the movie. I was overwhelmed with the brilliantly creative storyline, the difference and similarities between all the emotions. Riley's life in parallel was just all done so well. And the ending was so good, so funny, so heartwarming, I can tell this will become a staple in Pixar's history.

As I've gotten older I've come around to the critical thinking of most bloggers (as I'm sure you can tell based on my posts) and when watching a movie I try to look at the positives because filmmaking must be bloody difficult, but I also enjoy looking at the negatives. Call me pessimistic or picky or whatever, but it's nice, as far as I am concerned, to be able to pick apart a movie and look at it from every perspective.

So with Inside Out for instance, whilst there was a female protagonist who was able to express every emotion, not just the typically "feminine" ones, and relationships with parents and her relationship with herself were explored thoroughly, there were no primary POC in Riley's life and no real look into sexuality (although she is only 11 and was only just beginning to think about boys and such). That being said Mindy Kaling, who voiced disgust is a POC and she was freaking awesome in this movie. There was equal representation of men and women within Riley's emotions and overall I would say I have no real complaints about the movie at all. (Except my mascara ran something rotten)

But yeah, the next Pixar movie is called "The Good Dinosaur" and the first trailer has been released... I have no comment on whether it looks good or not yet as the trailer doesn't appear to give anything away yet, but it will be really interesting to see more. (Also Toy Story 4 has been confirmed so fucking get in with that one, although they are hinting it won't be about Buzz and Woody so I will be sad because Tom Hanks is my favourite actor and Tim Allen slays all my faves as Buzz Lightyear)

So to summarise, Pixar is my favourite film making company, if anyone wants to get me to the Pixar Studios I will love you forever, and if Pete Docter or John Lasseter, or any Pixar employee wants to tell me if the rumours about Toy Story 4 are true or not then feel free.

As always feel free to leave a comment below about your Pixar opinions, whether you disagree with my top 15 list or not.

Until next time,

Stephanie

The Sociologist Series: Feminism and Disney's "The Little Mermaid"

So this is like a new thing I am trying out where I analyse a popular piece of film, literature, or even a song, from the perspective of a group of sociologists. Today I have picked a classic Disney film, The Little Mermaid, and in the most obvious way possible, it will be about feminism.


Disclaimer: As I consider myself to be a feminist these are my opinions on feminism applied to this movie, but feminism is an umbrella term for many individuals who may disagree with me on this movie's positives and negatives.

Firstly it's worth noting that this movie does pass the Bechdel Test... sort of. Ariel's story does appear to focus on Eric and her mindless love for him, but she does actually discuss becoming a human with Ursula (of course one of the reasons for her wanting to become human is Eric anyway, but the discussion is not directly about him so it passes)

The Bechdel Test, of course, is not the be all and end all of a feminist movie, or at least a female positive one anyway.

The main argument for this movie not being a step forward for women is that she falls in love with a man she doesn't know, and he rescues her, she gives up her voice for him and leaves her whole family and life as she knows it under the sea for him. He dictates her every move and they get married after three days of knowing each other (of course with some set backs)

However, it is worth mentioning that Ariel was in love with the "human world" first, she always wanted to be part of our world, but she never had a real plan. How would she cope on land without a home or food or anything. So she got clever, she found a hot guy with a shit tonne of money (a prince no less!) and she got him to love her back. By providing herself with this safety net she wouldn't be homeless when she got her legs.

Well that's how I would like to see it anyway, but that's very idealistic of me. The truth is The Little Mermaid is a good female empowering film in the sense that it does give girl's the idea that it is good to chase your dreams no matter what your father or a talking crab says (and yes, Sebastian is a crab not a lobster) and it teaches girls that it is okay to be different and want different things.

On the other hand, it teaches girls to put men first, and to put all your hopes into one man and not into yourself. It teaches girls that to look pretty you have to have a tiny waist and flowing locks of hair and receive the praise of a man to feel good about yourself.

But for me there is one thing about The Little Mermaid that really makes it good in the eyes of a feminist and that is King Triton.

I know it's odd to see a man as the ultimate feminist icon (very Parks and Recreation's Ron receiving Woman of the Year) but here's the thing. Feminism isn't about hating men it's about hating the Patriarchy and one of the things that comes out of the patriarchy is toxic masculinity. And toxic masculinity is the very thing Triton, in my eyes, helps to destroy.

At the beginning of the movie, King Triton is angry and masculine almost all the time in front
of Ariel, he never seems to care about feelings or emotions or love (and rightly so in the case of  Eric, like she never met the guy and wanted to spend the rest of her life with him? Kay Ariel), but when her back was turned you could see that he was stressed, he had no idea what he was doing, it's clear the mother is no longer there (presumably death I don't know if that's in the original story or not) and Triton has been left with the responsibility of SEVEN DAUGHTERS! I would find that difficult enough let alone also being King of the Sea.

Anyway getting off track.

Triton sees Ariel putting herself in danger, going above sea to watch the human world, who would definitely catch her, run tests on her, maybe kill her (almost definitely kill her) and he panics and shouts, he becomes a typical "manly man" which drives her away.

Now we compare this to the man we see at the end. He sacrifices himself for his daughter so that she can go on with her life, he doesn't tell her "I'll do this if you stay under the sea" he just does it, because that's what a good parent does. And at the very end he goes to her wedding and gives his (presumed) blessing for her to do something he perceived as dangerous. (In the Little Mermaid 2, lord help us all, he does the same for Melody, he does whatever he can to make his girls happy and he becomes a more kind-hearted person by the end of it)

So yeah, my opinion is that Ariel has her moments and of course having the woman as a main character is great (same with most popular Disney movies) and passing the bechdel test is grand too, but in this movie, Triton, for me, does the best job in dismantling a barrier put in the way by the patriarchy.

I am aware many feminists will see this as a problem as I have named a man the feminist character in this story, but meh, I think men can suffer from the hands of the patriarchy too so... yay for smashing toxic masculinity Triton!

At the end of the day though this movie has not revolutionised the way the world sees women or men, so in times like this we turn to Sebastian for words of wisdom about this place we call home...

Truer words were never spoken.

As always feel free to leave me your opinions in the comments below,

Until next time,

Stephanie