# Is there a good reason Disney Movies go out of their way to make kids BAWL CRYING? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 4, 2006, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-good-reason-disney-movies-go-out-of-their-way-to-make-kids-bawl-crying/379109 "2006-11-04T19:11:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Lucky\_13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucky_13/32/13209_2.png) [@Lucky\_13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucky_13)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2006, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-good-reason-disney-movies-go-out-of-their-way-to-make-kids-bawl-crying/379109/61 "2006-11-07T03:34:12Z")
[QUOTE=bubastis] Two awful cats, both racist stereotypes, would show up and sing a catchy, if racist, song, and I would hum it in an innapropriate setting, such as a chinese restaurant, and get dagger-looks from the staff. Actually, that did happen. [/QUOTE] Thank you! I knew there was a reason I hated those damn cats. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2006, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-good-reason-disney-movies-go-out-of-their-way-to-make-kids-bawl-crying/379109/62 "2006-11-07T03:49:50Z")
I cried at Bambi and Charlotte’s Web. Those were movies. I don’t recall ever being frightened by a book. If I were really young my mom read them to me and she was right there with her arms around me explaining it’s just a book and there are probably some morals they’re trying to get across. When I was old enough to read on my own one of the first books I remember was _Where the Wild Things Are_ and I loved it. Mom read us all _A Wrinkle in Time_ and that’s one of the first books I jumped to when I learned to read. I skipped a lot of the fairly tale stuff, but I doubt it would have scared me anyway. Nothing in books has ever really scared me. Even as an adult Stephen King only manages to make a bit sick to my stomach, but not scare me. ---
**Author:** ![pbbth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f9ae1b/32.png) [@pbbth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pbbth)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2006, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-good-reason-disney-movies-go-out-of-their-way-to-make-kids-bawl-crying/379109/63 "2006-11-07T06:00:07Z")
Each child is different and will be able to handle different things at different times. As a parent one should be diligent about monitoring what your children are watching, reading, being exposed to, etc. Disney stuff is made for kids, and a lot of it is very appropriate for young children and a lot of it isn’t appropriate until they are a little older. This is why as a parent you have a choice as to whether or not your child will watch Bambi right now or will wait until they are older. There are loads and loads of stories without violence or sex or drugs that your children could be entertained by without ever knowing the name Disney. Disney doesn’t set out to send your children away screaming in terror and sadness, they set out to tell a touching story that can help people of all ages learn something. (FWIW I think a lot of parents could learn something from Finding Nemo) Disney is no more terrifying than the tellytubbies are god-awful boring. They are just designed for slightly different age groups. ---
**Author:** ![Flutterby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Flutterby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flutterby)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2006, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-good-reason-disney-movies-go-out-of-their-way-to-make-kids-bawl-crying/379109/64 "2006-11-07T06:30:14Z")
[QUOTE=Zsofia] So, I take it you never saw **The Fox and the Hound** , eh? [/QUOTE] I did.. I don’t recall crying over it though. Not to say that I didn’t, just that I don’t recall truly crying over any but Lilo and Stitch, and I was bawling over that one. Being pregnant when I watched it for the first time may have had something to do with that though. I never did watch Old Yeller and I generally despise movies that deliberately tug at the heartstrings. It’s why I avoid certain chick flicks. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2006, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-good-reason-disney-movies-go-out-of-their-way-to-make-kids-bawl-crying/379109/65 "2006-11-07T06:31:36Z")
[QUOTE=lizardling] And that marching elephant series from Dumbo, where the pink elephants are marching along from left to right on the screen. “GAH! It’s the Rise of the Elephants! Flee for your lives, you fools!” [/QUOTE] [This link’s](http://youtube.com/watch?v=QTvu95PySH4) for you. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2006, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-good-reason-disney-movies-go-out-of-their-way-to-make-kids-bawl-crying/379109/66 "2006-11-07T08:06:57Z")
[QUOTE=WhyNot] Anyone here read Bruno Bettleheim, or am I hopelessly dating myself here? His theory was that folk tales (which is what Disney movies are today) need to be scary so kids learn to master their own inner ugliness and demons. Kids feel anger, jealousy, fear and even hate - we just kid ourselves that childhood is completely innocent and sweet. Scary stories, even those with main characters who do stupid, selfish things (Jack steals and murders in that whole beanstalk story) teach kids that it’s normal to feel those things sometimes. They also teach them that they can face and overcome the big scary monsters that they face: daycare, school, drugs, parents dying, war as well as the ones they imagine: monsters in the closet, going to school naked, killer clowns. While his theories on autism have been correctly cast aside, his work on fairy tales hasn’t, as far as I know. [/QUOTE] You saved me having to mention him. Someone recommended his books to me after a debate in which I’d pretty much defended his thesis… only, they happened to be simply my own opinions, I’d never heard of the guy. I used to love Disney’s Peter Pan when I was a kid. Then I ran into a pre-Disney-movie edition… GAWD! That guy’s an absolute ASSHOLE! ---
**Author:** ![toadbriar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bb73d2/32.png) [@toadbriar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadbriar)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2006, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-good-reason-disney-movies-go-out-of-their-way-to-make-kids-bawl-crying/379109/67 "2006-11-07T11:19:09Z")
[QUOTE=Diddledog] But as his father I know that it wouldn’t be funny to jump out of the closet in a monster mask and scream, because _he’s three years old_ [/QUOTE] I really really shouldn’t have children ever. ---
**Author:** ![cbawlmer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@cbawlmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cbawlmer)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2006, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-good-reason-disney-movies-go-out-of-their-way-to-make-kids-bawl-crying/379109/68 "2006-11-07T15:46:03Z")
The Fox and the Hound was my favorite movie when I was four and five years old. I saw it at the theater, I had the storybook, the works. The movie is a giant downer in the end, but I was okay with it. No real problem with Bambi either. It was sad, but I grew up in West Texas where deer hunting is the most popular religion after high school football. Maybe I was prepared for darker subjects and more violence because from the time I was a baby, my parents told me stories involving this very nice man who loved everyone and got brutally murdered for his trouble. And of course I was surrounded by images of the murder in paintings, statues, and jewelry. Ever been to a Catholic bookstore? They always have a large display of saint statues, so you can see St. Stephen shot full of arrows and other various depictions of martyrdom. I guess when you’ve seen all that and sat through the Stations of the Cross a few times, suddenly dead dogs and deer can’t compete on that level of horror. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-good-reason-disney-movies-go-out-of-their-way-to-make-kids-bawl-crying/379109.md?page=3)