This is your only warning. Disney fans, get away from this column if you are easily offended. If you plan to see Big Hero 6 or haven’t seen all of the latest flicks, leave. After this paragraph, I will launch into a series of spoilers that may be upsetting to you.
Disney has given me trust issues. I can’t watch a puppy in a Pixar short without wondering if it’s dead when the meat ball rolls past its sleeping form. When the fire starts, or the barracuda swims by, my heart sinks immediately.
Maybe it’s adulthood, but now I anticipate everything I love in a Disney movie dying. Nemo’s mom is ousted in the first five minutes. Elsa and Anna’s parents die at sea. Tarzan’s parents are killed by a jaguar. Mufasa is murdered by his brother. The list goes on.
The latest addition to the string of beloved character deaths is Tadashi, the perfect older brother in Big Hero 6, who dies in a fire in the first 15 minutes, but only after the audience has become emotionally attached. We’re introduced to the protagonist brothers, Hiro and Tadashi, as orphans early in the film. It wasn’t enough for Hiro to grow up without parents- now he’s brotherless.
Since when do we have to extinguish every familial connection for a protagonist in order for a hero to be born on screen? Some families shape each other during times of trouble and strengthen each other, even if the everyday life isn’t always as pleasant.
It’s important to teach children that in life there’s also loss. That’s why character deaths are important- they ease us into understanding death.
But watching Disney films as an adult has shaped me to have a contrary reaction. I miss stronger family values that have been projected on screen before- how amazing was it to see Mulan join the Chinese army on behalf of her father? What about Rapunzel’s fight to see the world and find her true identity, back at home with her true parents? What about the bonds of family showing true strength in the Incredibles?
As much as we want our children to be independent and strong, it’s family that can carry us through the most challenging chapters of our lives. It’s hard enough when we lose the people we love in our own lives. We don’t want to become desensitized, or worse, traumatized, by frequent fictitious or actual loss.
