New Scooby Doo movie defines being size 8 as a "curse"

[ShyViolet]

http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/5694539? ... mg00000046


Ugh! What kind of message is this sending to kids??

[EricJ]

http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/5694539? ... mg00000046
Ugh! What kind of message is this sending to kids??

Probably the one that Warner said they were: They were ALL "cursed", this was but one example.
Taken out, dried, and held up on a stick in public completely out of context in front of a lot of other gullible people who hadn't seen it yet either.

Also, as one reader pointed out, "our children" weren't meant to think it was terrible, Daphne thinks it's terrible....Because she would, being the one concerned with her appearance, get it?
Like the old "Susan's lipstick" complaint, it's not an author telling children to be superficial, it's portraying a character who is superficial.

(And seriously: A GUY complained?
Usually it's female "body issues" warriors who get upset over "The negative messages being deliberately sent to our children" if anyone so much as looks at a Size 6 askance.
Tom, you're giving the Good Men Project a bad name--We'd like to keep "men" in the name somewhere. )

[ShyViolet]

Probably the one that Warner said they were: They were ALL "cursed", this was but one example.
Taken out, dried, and held up on a stick in public completely out of context in front of a lot of other gullible people who hadn't seen it yet either.

Also, as one reader pointed out, "our children" weren't meant to think it was terrible, Daphne thinks it's terrible....Because she would, being the one concerned with her appearance, get it?
Like the old "Susan's lipstick" complaint, it's not an author telling children to be superficial, it's portraying a character who is superficial.

I'm sure there are many little girls who look up to Daphne. They're too young to understand "satire" or "exaggeration." They just take things the way they are presented, period. To them a cartoon reflects real values and beliefs; they're not able to just "shrug things off" the way we are.

[EricJ]

I'm sure there are many little girls who look up to Daphne. They're too young to understand "satire" or "exaggeration."

If she was in her trademark purple, maybe.
But here, they're dressing native in Frankenstein-Bavarian, and she's in a Frau Blucher dress, no less. I'd call that exaggeration, and certainly on a Scooby level.

(And for those jumping onto the thread who didn't read Warner's response:

The plot of the movie involves the Scooby gang becoming cursed and losing what means the most to each of them. Fred loses the Mystery Machine, Shaggy and Scooby lose their appetites, etc. Daphne loses her good looks (mainly her figure and her hair).
While Daphne is at first upset by the sudden change, there is a touching moment where Fred points out that he didn't even notice a change and that she always looks great to him.
At the end, when Velma explains how they figured out the mystery, she points out that the curse actually DIDN'T take away what means the most to each of them: their friendship.

[Randall]

Yeah, this looks to be a case of being too quick to judge.

Daphne learning that it's okay to be overweight doesn't sound like a terrible idea to me. Characters learn lessons all the time, often by having to face their own worst aspects--- in this case, vanity. This sounds like a positive lesson, and the story actually refutes the idea that "heavy is bad".

Of course, she looks waaaaaay bigger than a "size 8" in those pictures. If the movie actually describes her as a "size 8" when she is heavy, they are way off. THAT I'll hold them accountable for.

[Dacey]

I don't want to make a mountain out of what may be a mole hole here, but...

Anorexia is a HUGE deal in the states right now. It is at its absolute worst, and many cases of it are never even reported. I've met multiple women who have the problem, and what they go through is largely triggered by public and media perception. Furthermore, cases of this are starting at young and younger ages. So for Scooby-Doo to make a "size 8" crack and call it "fat" is something that children really might not get. Adults will, but not kids.

And, to clarify, my ONLY problem with the movie Tangled is Gothel accusing Rapunzel of being chubby. As an adult, I get it. But to a child....they really shouldn't be given the impression that someone who looks like Rapunzel is even remotely overweight.

[ShyViolet]

I agree Dacey...kids just don't have the cognitive tools to distinguish satire from reality or for that matter reality itself, to an extent. We can say: "oh, it's only a cartoon" or "it's not meant to be taken seriously" but children just don't have that power.
I do think that Fred loving Daphne despite her weight gain is a good lesson but young children would no doubt strongly identify with her and thus would carry over her obsession with her weight.
When I was ten I absolutely hated being a brunette (many more animated girls were blonde back then: Smurfette, Rainbow Brite, the list goes on) and watched the "blonde" song in Earth Girls Are Easy...I had no idea it was just a satire and truly thought it was mocking those with dark hair.
Like I said...children are extremely impressionable. Having Barbie and 99 percent of animated females have perfect bodies is bad enough. We don't need weight portrayed as a "curse" on a children's cartoon show even if it does supposedly "mock" Daphne's preoccupation.

[EricJ]

Of course, she looks waaaaaay bigger than a "size 8" in those pictures. If the movie actually describes her as a "size 8" when she is heavy, they are way off. THAT I'll hold them accountable for.

We don't need weight portrayed as a "curse" on a children's cartoon show even if it does supposedly "mock" Daphne's preoccupation.

But it IS a preoccupation, hence the line--The only way we specifically know it's a "Size 8" (especially when it doesn't look like one) is because she says it's one, and, well, she would comically isolate the complaint to micromanaged vanity issues that much...Like defeating a monster and then saying "OMG, he made me break a nail!"

Which, again, sounds like ONE line taken disingenuously out of context to promote other causes, and I'd expect it from any female group, but from a guy who wants to bend over backwards to female interests??
(C'mon, Tom, guys like us are usually the "sane" ones who do reality checks in story context every time girls beat up their personal issues on "symbolic" Disney or cartoon characters...I'm all for the Good Men project as much as anyone, but don't wuss out on us.)

[eddievalient]

My ONLY problem with the movie Tangled is Gothel accusing Rapunzel of being chubby. As an adult, I get it. But to a child....they really shouldn't be given the impression that someone who looks like Rapunzel is even remotely overweight.

I agree Dacey...kids just don't have the cognitive tools to distinguish satire from reality or for that matter reality itself, to an extent. We can say: "oh, it's only a cartoon" or "it's not meant to be taken seriously" but children just don't have that power.

So you're saying that animated films should ONLY be aimed at kids and should be dumbed down so that anything kids might be "confused" by is left out? I'm sorry, but I thought that in the year 2014, we'd finally gotten past this "think of the children!" moral guardian censorship nonsense. I guess not. Sigh.

[Dacey]

I don't think that's what I was saying at all.

[Mendoras]

The world which we see is an outward and visible dream of an inward and invisible reality."

[Ben]

Wait...are you trying to tell us that Scooby is..."The One"...!?

[Dacey]

"Roah..."

Hmmmmm. Not sure if that joke is going to land or not. But since Keanu Reeves is "the one," well...

[Ben]

No, Neo is The One. Keanu is just an actor.

[EricJ]

No, Neo is The One. Keanu is just an actor.

The Bots have taken to plagiarism, to assume human form...
They already cribbed one of my witticisms for their so-called "posts", but they should feel honored.