This Independence Day, Be A Transformer
i was born in 1980, so i was too young to be afraid of the Cold War or to enjoy brightly colored clothes, crazy hair, and the modern music of the time. but being a kid in the 80’s was a rich experience in other ways: during my school years i got to come home every afternoon to a few hours’ worth of the Disney Afternoon, a now-classic potpourri of cartoons like Duck Tales, Gummi Bears, Tale Spin, Rescue Rangers, and Darkwing Duck. i also got to be a kid at the height of such iconic adventures as those of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and the Transformers, the ever-warring cars-turned-robots who have spawned every kind of merchandise you can imagine, including a full-length animated movie in 1987.
On July 4, 2007, the Transformers will come to the big screen in a BIG way, in a live-action, CGI-laden feature by Steven Spielberg. the little kid inside me has been waiting for a VERY long time for the day when cinematic technology would finally allow cars to turn into robots right before my eyes. that day, of course, is Independence Day, and i intend to make it so in a personally significant way.
as the visual effects epitome of the visions of my childhood, this film will signify for me an end to that era. i declare Independence from the instant-gratification dreams of my youth, and rededicate myself to living in a way that is qualified by and mindful of the needs of future generations. as a natural extension, i declare Interdependence with the next generation in my own child, who will join us in late July. i enjoin my life with yours, little one...my books, my toys, my stories, my music, my town, my friends, my love....all yours as well. i devote my self to your childhood, to make it rich, healthy, engaging, stimulating, propelling, educational, laughter-inducing, safe, colorful, connected, insightful, exploratory, and nonviolent. you will Transform me in glorious ways.
the Transformers movie will be violent. the either/or, black-or-white mentality of the violence culture is already clear in the advertising: two kinds of robots, one thinks it’s here to protect us, the other to destroy us. they both go about it in the same ways: by destroying each other and our stuff. the Autobots are at war with the Decepticons...expect plenty of classic “if it’s a fight they want...” logic, amplified by eye-popping visuals of destruction. expect the Autobots to talk a lot about freedom and self-determination and even democracy and peace, in between the parts where they obliterate Decepticons. all else being equal, it’s the same war story we’ve seen a thousand times...and it’s the same tired not-logic that dooms us to act it out over and over in real life.
and so on 7.4.7, when the last scene fades to black and takes my childhood with it, i also declare Independence from violence. i declare my right to determine for myself what constitutes entertainment, and i choose not to be entertained by death and destruction. i am Independent from the notion that i must accept what is handed to me as my only options, and that someone else gets to decide what’s fun and acceptable and appropriate. i declare my responsibility - as an engaged Citizen who has an interest in leaving the world better than i found it – to explore healthy and safe ways to entertain my self and my family...ways that are life-affirming, socially constructive, consciousness-promoting.
society will not make this easy, because society loves violence. it is socially damaging to restrict oneself from certain consumptions. it’s difficult and sometimes uncomfortable to eat out when you’re the only one in the group who has a moral issue with McDonald’s. it takes more energy to find a local organic cup of coffee when you can run into a Starbucks with your eyes closed. there’s no social scene (yet) associated with buying earth-friendly clothing, because there are no natural stores in the corporate malls. a night with the guys becomes more complex when you have to think of something to do other than drink beer and play shoot-em-up video games. and with the vast majority of mainstream “entertainment” featuring physical violence, dinner-and-a-movie will really just be dinner.
but if it was EASY, it wouldn’t be worth doing. if it was EASY, it wouldn’t change anything. if it was EASY, it wouldn’t make a statement.
will you free yourself? will you declare your Independence? will you be a Transformer?
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Comments (6)
Nobly stated, Evan, with the fervor of the founding fathers themselves. You are definitely on the right track to good parenting. Now, speaking as a grandfather of 8, welcome to the real world. We humans are fascinated with Death, Destruction and Debauchery, especially Death, the Great Mystery. Of course we should be equally fascinated with Life, Creation and Virtue but they don't usually make for exciting theater with the good vs. evil conflicts that draw us to movies, plays and operas. Brother, I try to be a good non-violent person 24/7 but when I have a few bucks to blow on a movie theater with thundering surround sound, I'll go to Pirates of the Caribbean, not the latest Merchant/Ivory flick.
This doesn't mean we shouldn't select life-affirming, positive films for our children to watch -- we should-- but even some of the best of those have violent sharks or whales (Pinocchio) or witches. Are you opposed to cartoons like the The Simpsons, too? Plenty of violence there. But no real animals or people are actually being hurt. That's what theater is for, to provide the vicarious experience so we don't have to act everything out in "real life.". The Greeks knew it and it's still true today (like pretty much everyone else the Greeks came up with).
All that being said, I agree with you that the current appetite for brutality in sports and entertainment is much more reminiscent of the Romans than the Greeks. And we know what happened to the Roman Empire.
Comment #1 Posted by: Lanny | June 20, 2007 10:25 PM
Your post exhibits the maturation most sincere, soon to be parents go through. The advantage of being your present age is that you have had plenty of time for youthful biology to run it's course without the competing needs of a child. That is not to say your spent. But rather you are primed to the father you desire to be, making the heartfelt, thought out, reasoned choices for your offspring.
Having a son of my own, born in 1980, I had the fun, privilege, as a father, to watch him go through many stages of maturity. Stages that brought back my own experiences, where I could offer some direction or simply give a beware notice.
Though he is not yet a father, he is clearly ready, he will make a great father.
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The break from entertainment that is violent is a difficult one. It is so pervasive. Your generation has it harder than mine I believe. Because I've seen the escalation of the marketing of all this crud long before you were born, that I think your generation has had little other to compare it to, so it seems to be the norm to most of your generation, thus accepted as such. But I was there to filter and bring in choice made by me for my little ones. That is what you are about to do. We as parents are the tether to all what life has to offer, we must choose smartly.
Comment #2 Posted by: Dana and Alyeska | June 21, 2007 05:03 AM
The more things change, the more they stay the same. I was born in 1939 when Hitler started to go full bore. I would lay by the big radio console and listen to the Shadow, Lone Ranger and Green Hornet. To you young 'uns that's ancient history. Those were much more innocent days but the dynamics were the same; witness Hitler. When I was 10, I'd watch the map of Korea from day to day to see how our forces were doing. My son was born in 1993. I remember Pooh Bear and then the robot toys. Fortunately, we did not have a TV but there were videos whose reason for being was violence with subliminal sex thrown in to bring in the bucks (pun intended).
I'm going to segue this from "The Colors of Sex" thread which has just twisted inself into a knot. Good luck unravelling that one. The colors of sex are red and blue, not pink and blue. Did I read that here where some person was shocked by Ojai's pink moment, until told what it meant in Ojai? Here's the point I'm leading up to: the root of violence is in sex. I blame the patriarchy which turned sex into violence against womem and the earth. We're always going to have this insane violence until we restore the natural order: womem and children first and men second. 7000 years ago men violently attacked that order and put themselves first. Today you can see that agenda being played out in international politics and entertainment like the Transformers. We've got to realize that this violent culture did not just drop out of the blue. It is purposely engineered by a few Omega/Alpha males who want to rule the world. The battle of one transformer against another is a false flag dichotomy, like the Republicrats. It's all manipulation by the patriarchal value system, running under the cover of the "banality of evil." You will never see the "real world" in any of the mainstream propaganda outlets like these movies. Our culture is bought and sold many times over. For lack of a better label to describe the evil we operate under, I prefer patriarchy. It draws to me the wrath of that whereof I speak but if I'm going to play with fire, I have to take the heat.
I'm seriously considering boycotting all activities having to do with the 4th of July. Our country has been hijacked and is now an embarrassment to any freedom loving soul. I just can't support the red, white and blue, under these conditions. I have started the Red Brown and Blue Party to take up where the red white and blues have failed. And believe me if you dare, we are sliding quickly into the darkness of fascism. Hitler has returned in another form. It's like being back in '39, only now it's happening right here in the good ol US of A. I hope I'm wrong but I'm preparing for the worst. I really fear for my son. He's 14. Fortunately perhaps, he has dual citizenship in the EU so he may be able to escape, unless the US protectors take that away. I know, I know, you think I'm just a fringe element extremist with narcissistic attention needs. Like I say, I hope I'm wrong. Miracles do happen, and sometimes they don't.
Movies like this highlight an important reality, the violence of males. Unfortunately, the other balancing side is completely ignored and marginalized. Males are just as wounded by the patriarchy, if not more. They are shamed into silence, or worse, threatened. Love is the only thing that can save us now, especially womem's love for the earth and children. I shouldn't have to keep saying this but it seems to be necessary: I speak of consciousness, not physical bodies. Womam consciousness is the force that can deal with patriarchy but it has to be resurrected from the ashes like a phoenix.
I recommend to my son that he read Shakespeare who has plenty of violence but it is balanced with love and comedy, and a structured value system of virtue and its rewards. My son, of course, does not follow my advice, but someday perhaps he will remember that I said it. He and other kids today need some structure that has meaning. Patriarchal religionists and warriors are only too willing to provide it but it's hell on earth, despite the phony smiles and hand shakes. Here in Ojai we're pretty well insulated for now by layers and layers of schemes and scams, but that could change.
I may see the movie just to see how bad it can get. Thanks for putting this information forward; it's something we really need to think about and confront.
Happy summer solstice. May sister sun shine her light on us and melt every gun. Make my day; throw them away.
Comment #3 Posted by: Dennis Leary | June 21, 2007 03:03 PM
I just noticed that the picture above of the Transformers uses "the colors of sex": red and blue. What did I tell you? Sex underlies everything, especially patriarchal values. Now we just have to turn the tables with real sex based on true understanding.
Comment #4 Posted by: Dennis Leary | June 21, 2007 03:58 PM
In Dennis's post, he mentions how he listened to the radio for entertainment as a kid. That form of entertainment is known now as otr, no, not that, it stands for old time radio. This is one of the forms of entertainment that my daughter and I like, at night, when you don't have to watch a screen, you can lie back and use your imagination as the story line develops. There is allot of good entertainment there, clean by todays standards. There are tonnes of sites, some are continuous feed while others like the one below, which has one of the biggest selections available, has individual selections. For me, it is one of those choices I allow in the home. To introduce kids to this, I recommend bedtime, when they are more receptive to relaxing and listening. It puts my daughter to sleep in no time. Hope you have fun with this site.
http://www.otr.net/
Comment #5 Posted by: Dana and Alyeska | June 21, 2007 07:37 PM
D & A, thanks for the link.
Comment #6 Posted by: Dennis Leary | June 23, 2007 09:47 AM