No admittance without kids:
Maloney, Daniel J
THE LAST WORD No admittance without children DANIEL J.MALONEY I force myself to admit it here, but I am a "toonhead," a fan of animated films. In particular, I am a fan of Disney's recent...
...Nor do they vote for the Academy Awards or the Grammies...
...They sport good scripts and field fine voices...
...Their visual and auditory presentation is so powerful it can bring an audience to the point of awe...
...Unlike my brother, Brian, who freely admits to spending his Saturday mornings watching cartoons (he tells me it's because of his kids), I have always been more circumspect and discreet in my cartoon-watching...
...They tell a story in both dollars and popular interest...
...Another staff member told me she had taken her children to see it four or five times last summer, "so they could enjoy the air conditioning...
...Carl Jung wrote of the anima-the soul-as that which enlivens us...
...Kids reported being bribed or "borrowed" to attend the films with grandparents, aunts, neighbors, and family friends...
...One co-worker told me that she had escorted her niece to see The Lion King, but that it also required the companionship of several other adult friends...
...After all, it is not the most adult activity...
...In these films there is little gratuitous violence, no foul language, no discomforting sex, no overt politics, and no religious controversy-staples of our daily life and most of our cinematic entertainment...
...Finally, a third member of the staff had to go to see the same film because his girlfriend made him...
...The recent Disney animations have grossed hundreds of millions of dollars and generated multiple nominations for film and music awards...
...I can hardly wait to see Pocahontas...
...So just what is the appeal of animated films for so many adults...
...That way I could slide into my seat unobtrusively, after the previews had already begun...
...It's the adults, stupid...
...Girls like those kinds of movies," he reported...
...And so it happened...
...In a word, these films give us hope...
...Since I was an adult going alone, I thought it might be better if I bought my ticket two minutes before the movie was scheduled to begin...
...In particular, I am a fan of Disney's recent animated classics: Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and The Lion King...
...Still, my admission is prompted by a sense-experienced and verifiable- that I am not the only adult who becomes mesmerized at the sight of such characters as Simba, Beast, Jasmine, or the Genie...
...But after settling down in my seat and overcoming a significant bout of self-consciousness, I made a sudden and startling discovery: the theater was packed, but there were no children in the audience...
...This is no mere kiddie phenomenon: Kids don't have $740 million {The Lion King's box-office take) in discretionary recreational funds...
...My first clue that adults might be enjoying these Disney films, perhaps relishing them more than even the kids, came on the afternoon I went to see The Lion King by myself...
...Even more important, the viewer of these films can be fairly confident that good will prevail, that by the time the final credits roll, the transformative power of love will have been affirmed...
...But it is not only their objective qualities that make these films so wildly successful...
...There is a soulfulness in these animated films that replenishes us, that, in the words of The Lion King, makes both "kings and vagabonds believe the very best...
...But beyond these indirect admissions of adult enthusiasm there are bottom-line, objective criteria...
...On a purely objective level, the films are works of technical and artistic genius...
...Daniel J. Maloney is the dean of the graduate division of lmmaculata College, Immaculata, Pennsylvania., Pennsylvania...
...After attending that matinee, I started asking around...
...It's too bad no one in my office had gone to see the movie of his or her own free will, or couldn't spontaneously admit to having enjoyed it...
...Then I started to hear tales from younger people...
...I mean the box-office receipts, and the nominations for movie and music awards...
...And for chaperoning these adults, the kids were cleaning up in both treats and payoffs...
...I believe the most compelling element of these animated films is that they tap into the heart of the human struggle: our day-to-day relationships with one another and our tattered but unshakable belief in goodness...
...They present excellent music and lyrics, and incorporate elements of comedy, drama, and suspense...
Vol. 122 • July 1995 • No. 13
