# The most fucked-up movie ostensibly aimed at children **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 9, 2009, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-fucked-up-movie-ostensibly-aimed-at-children/505827 "2009-08-09T11:42:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-fucked-up-movie-ostensibly-aimed-at-children/505827/61 "2009-08-10T02:04:13Z")
The movie that scared me the most was the Witches. I still can’t watch THAT scene without feeling kind of creeped out. For years, even as an adult, I couldn’t, like AT ALL. It was too horrible. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-fucked-up-movie-ostensibly-aimed-at-children/505827/62 "2009-08-10T02:16:02Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > Sometimes a movie is just a movie. Not everything is a political statement. But _The Incredibles_ **is.** Remember, it starts out with all superheroes being driven underground by lawsuits. Unambiguous “tort reform” message. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-fucked-up-movie-ostensibly-aimed-at-children/505827/63 "2009-08-10T02:16:23Z")
North is terrible. Look, I’m usually anti-political correctness, I think it’s simply damaging in a different way after it gets to certain levels, but this movie it… Well, apparently all Eskimos send off their old to die by sending them out to sea on ice floes. And that’s not the least of it. I suppose it could have been intended to make fun of stereotypes by making them so over the top, but it’s so hard to tell I’m calling it as actual simpering stupidity. For a more… illustrated approach, here’s the obligatory Nostalgia Critic review: [http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/videolinks/thatguywiththeglasses/nostalgia-critic/7838-north](http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/videolinks/thatguywiththeglasses/nostalgia-critic/7838-north) ETA: It was aimed at kids, it may not be popular or memorable, but I’m guessing it fits the criteria. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-fucked-up-movie-ostensibly-aimed-at-children/505827/64 "2009-08-10T02:19:54Z")
> [@stpauler](#): > > Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory’s chicken decapitation scene was quite unfortunate. I have read that [that movie](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willy_Wonka_and_the_Chocolate_Factory) gave a lot of kids nightmares. The Oompa Loompas, in particular, were nightmare fuel. (Loved the SNL parody with Al Gore as Willy Wonka’s more down-to-Earth accountant brother! “. . . And a million dollars to develop that ray gun that turns a giant chocolate bar into a tiny chocolate bar . . . What was the thinking behind that, anyway?!”) ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-fucked-up-movie-ostensibly-aimed-at-children/505827/65 "2009-08-10T02:30:22Z")
The Neverending Story has such and Oedipal complex that it could keep a whole team of psychiatrists busy for years. Dumbo is pretty horrific. You have his mother unjustly jailed. That pack of other elephants are pretty mean. Scary clowns. The Pink Elephant sequence. Really the crows are one of the better things about the movie. (even if people complain that they are a racist caricature) The bit at the end when he does freaking fly is terrifying if you don’t understand that the feather is not in fact magic. And after all the hell the circus put Dumbo and his mother though, they stay with the circus and let them exploit his unique talent. Sure he and mom get a nice new train car but you bet your sweet ass that circus is making 100 times that much. It even enriches the lives of those bitches! Still, one of my favorite movies. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-fucked-up-movie-ostensibly-aimed-at-children/505827/66 "2009-08-10T02:33:00Z")
Isn’t it scarier if you DO realize it’s not magic? Because he has to do it by himself and if he doesn’t…he’s screwed. ETA: When I got older, I thought Rudolph was pretty screwed up. Not the character, but the situation. He’s also exploited and the moral is don’t laugh at someone for being different–you might be able to use them later. In my dream ending Rudolph ends up doing the Charleston on Santa’s face. Ho! ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-fucked-up-movie-ostensibly-aimed-at-children/505827/67 "2009-08-10T04:02:08Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > A movie that I think had a bad message for kids was _The Polar Express_, in which the protagonist is mocked and berated for not being a “believer.” The message was that it’s not ok to ask questions or be skeptical about obvious baloney. It was subliminally anti-atheist and anti-intellectual. What I can’t figure out is, just WHO’S supposed to watch this movie? Kids old enough to know there’s no Santa Claus? Too late! They’re NOT going to watch this movie and start believing again. Kids little enough to believe in Santa? The movie would only start planting ideas in their heads (“Why don’t his parents believe in Santa? What do they know that I don’t?”). A story can either uphold a fantasy or debunk it. What it CAN’T do is debunk it and then try to tell the kiddies to keep believing in the debunked fantasy anyway. One last thing… didn’t the kid’s parents ever wonder where the extra presents were magically coming from every Christmas? ---
**Author:** ![Lobot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ce7236/32.png) [@Lobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobot)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-fucked-up-movie-ostensibly-aimed-at-children/505827/68 "2009-08-10T04:04:34Z")
_Nutcracker Fantasy_ has to be up there. I saw this at the movies when I was maybe three, and the whole cinema was full of kids crying from the horrors on display. For evidence, I submit the [intro](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUc-6GM4PDg). If that’s not enough, Wikipedia [spells it out](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nutcracker_Fantasy). A sample: > [@](#): > > The movie begins with the narrator (voiced by Michelle Lee) talking about the Ragman, a creepy and mysterious old man who turns children into mice if they don’t go to bed on time. The Ragman roams around the city looking through windows of people’s houses, spying on sleeping children. A little boy is up past his bedtime reading, whereupon the Ragman turns the boy into a mouse. ---
**Author:** ![BluePitbull](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9bcb4/32.png) [@BluePitbull](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BluePitbull)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-fucked-up-movie-ostensibly-aimed-at-children/505827/69 "2009-08-10T04:06:31Z")
> [@Zebra](#): > > The Neverending Story has such and Oedipal complex that it could keep a whole team of psychiatrists busy for years. What maded you think that? I haven’t seen it for a while, so I might have forgotten most of the story. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-fucked-up-movie-ostensibly-aimed-at-children/505827/70 "2009-08-10T04:07:29Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > One last thing… didn’t the kid’s parents ever wonder where the extra presents were magically coming from every Christmas? But isn’t that the biggest plot hole in like a quarter of all “haha no really, Santa actually exists” Christmas movies ever? Explanation - memory altering, he changes their memories to think they had the exact cost of the items in their bank before and then forges receipts and plants them after he’s done giving the gifts. Jolly old soul my ass, greatest con-man in history I tells ya. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-fucked-up-movie-ostensibly-aimed-at-children/505827/71 "2009-08-10T04:08:23Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > One last thing… didn’t the kid’s parents ever wonder where the extra presents were magically coming from every Christmas? In stories/movies where Santa is real but no one believes but the kids, I always wondered. Who are these presents coming from? Pervy Uncle Moe who sneaks in and out of the house every Xmas? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-fucked-up-movie-ostensibly-aimed-at-children/505827/72 "2009-08-10T04:14:04Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > What I can’t figure out is, just WHO’S supposed to watch this movie? Kids old enough to know there’s no Santa Claus? Too late! They’re NOT going to watch this movie and start believing again. The ‘don’t be skeptical!’ message is really present in almost every holiday story and a ton of kids movies. I guess The Polar Express is one of the least subtle about it, but it’s not unique. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-fucked-up-movie-ostensibly-aimed-at-children/505827/73 "2009-08-10T04:31:58Z")
_Toy Story_. Toys aren’t really coming to life. I keed, I keed. ---
**Author:** ![Chicken\_Fingers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Chicken\_Fingers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chicken_Fingers)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-fucked-up-movie-ostensibly-aimed-at-children/505827/74 "2009-08-10T04:34:35Z")
Disney’s “Sleeping Beauty” gave me nightmares I still vividly recall more than 40 years later. Between the horror of Maleficent and the overwhelming message that women are to lie passively, doomed to their fates until a prince comes along and saves them. Ugh. It’s a well-done movie, but too much for young kids. ---
**Author:** ![SmashTheState](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@SmashTheState](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmashTheState)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-fucked-up-movie-ostensibly-aimed-at-children/505827/75 "2009-08-10T04:54:41Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > [We’ve discussed whether or not the movie had a conservative or Objectivist agenda before.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=291491&highlight=incredibles+Rand)Nobody said he’s pulling it from nowhere - they said it’s mistaken. The Groupmind of SD has spoken. Nothing is political, unless it can be possibly construed as anti-science (such as Polar Express), in which case it is _heresy_. I understand now. You are holding up **five** fingers! I see it! ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-fucked-up-movie-ostensibly-aimed-at-children/505827/76 "2009-08-10T05:02:12Z")
If anyone in ‘The Incredibles’ is John Galt, it’s Syndrome. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-fucked-up-movie-ostensibly-aimed-at-children/505827/77 "2009-08-10T05:06:14Z")
I am surprised there is no mention of Labyrinth. Girl wishes that her little brother would just disappear, so he’s stolen by Goblin’s whose king played by an uber-sexy David Bowie wants nothing more than to fuck her brains out for eternity. Nothing is featured more prominently than her breasts and his package, both of which are mighty desirable if I do say so myself. In the meantime she must travel through a bog of shit (literally) in order to get her brother back from the Goblin King and her own selfishness. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-fucked-up-movie-ostensibly-aimed-at-children/505827/78 "2009-08-10T05:43:18Z")
I barely remember going to see this when it first came out, but when you wrote “The 5,000 fingers of Dr. T”, I said “Ooh, Dr. Terwilliger…” and got a little shiver down my back. Now I’ll have to find it, and see if it’s as creepy as my gut reaction was. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-fucked-up-movie-ostensibly-aimed-at-children/505827/79 "2009-08-10T05:43:47Z")
> [@SmashTheState](#): > > The Groupmind of SD has spoken. Nothing is political, unless it can be possibly construed as anti-science (such as Polar Express), in which case it is _heresy_. I agree that _The Incredibles_ is political. I just think your reading is superficial and contradicted by the text. Rather than an endorsement of Objectivism, _The Incredibles_ is the story of Bob Parr’s flirtation with and ultimate \*rejection \*of it. The essence of Objectivist thought is the refusal to live one’s life for another (or to demand that another live their life for you). Mr. Incredible’s entire character arc culminates with his realization that his life only has meaning through the his ties to his family, friends, and community. He has the superhuman abilities of a Randian hero, and yet rejects the path of John Galt, instead choosing to subordinate his individual wants and needs to the common good. ---
**Author:** ![SmashTheState](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@SmashTheState](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmashTheState)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-fucked-up-movie-ostensibly-aimed-at-children/505827/80 "2009-08-10T06:11:33Z")
> [@The\_Hamster\_King](#): > > Mr. Incredible’s entire character arc culminates with his realization that his life only has meaning through the his ties to his family, friends, and community. He has the superhuman abilities of a Randian hero, and yet rejects the path of John Galt, instead choosing to subordinate his individual wants and needs to the common good. And the bit about the ungrateful masses clawing down Atlas from his pedestal, causing the Earth to tumble from his glorious shoulders? About the ungrateful masses not knowing what’s best for them, being easily misled by the collectivist Syndrome and his promises of sharing the power? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-fucked-up-movie-ostensibly-aimed-at-children/505827.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-fucked-up-movie-ostensibly-aimed-at-children/505827.md?page=5)