childcare

I have never felt less creative than I do in this moment... which I'm only mentioning to qualify the below blog and whatever else follows it while I'm in the funk of an early lifetime.

Just read an article in the Orange County Register --yes, I'm back in The OC and I'm feeling as estranged from my innermost as ever-- in which Adam Shankman, the force behind such spurious studio farces as Bringing Down The House, The Pacifier, Cheaper by the Dozen 2 & Hairspray, is lamely politicking for his upcoming Sandler-starring Bedtime Stories over his weekend competitor the David Frankel directed (Devil Wears Prada) & Owen Wilson-Jennifer Aniston starring Marley & Me.

Like the altruist he is, Shankman deems Marley & Me unfit for family audiences, and his stale, extra-butter popcorn flick the proper choice for crowds seeking safe, wholesome, family fun. This irresponsibility, of course, is infuriating on so many levels, but truly saddening at the most basic level -- the one involving the education of our children, and how that reflects on us.

Shankman calls Bedtime Stories "totally traditionally Disney." That statement and its sentence construction itself speaks semantic volumes. But, more concisely, it mirrors what Disney (along with the majority of manipulative mass-appeal products aimed at our unassuming future) has turned into in these sterilizing days of hyper-capitalism. Fortunately, we have Harry Potter and Pixar, and Zach Helm.

What is this idea of "harmless"? Is it the exercises in sentimentality and farce that have given way to the expression "stupid-funny"? Is harmless not only glossing over sex, violence and death, but many times completely avoiding it? Or worse, constructing a false reality that has its inhabitants devoid of any reason whatsoever?

Entertainment is a tool of education and should be handled with care and responsibility.