BWW Blog: Natalie Toro - The Power of Animation

Ever wonder what the message is after the lights come back up after an 85 minute animated feature? I LOVE anything animated, especially films from Disney/Pixar. But besides the fact that they make me feel good, I usually leave the theater with an ache in my stomach. No, not from the buttered popcorn I just inhaled, but a different kind of ache. Anyone leaving the theater with me knows I'm pretty silent as we exit and for me, and for whoever I'm with, that's a rare occurrence. (My Word program on my computer wants me to change that word, "whoever" to "whomever"...whatever!

There are animated features that have such a profound message. What I find is that most people just say, "yeah, that was good", or "oh, good movie" or "I didn't really get it."

I don't know... maybe I'm just a freak and can connect to that wonderful world of fantasy, that other dimension. Thru all that fantasy though, is a deep message. If you are conscience enough and enlightened enough, open up all your senses including the ones you think you don't have, you just might get it. Get it?

For instance, WALL-E, just about killed me. I've asked people if they've seen it. I got back that it was boring and that they fell asleep. Then there's AVATAR. Hello?????? Did ya sleep through that one? What about UP and THE LORAX and THE BEE MOVIE. Yeah, the cutesy ones with the little animals talking are usually the ones that have the deepest message. Yet, we pay for the $12 ticket and we are okay with them talking and being almost human.

Do you consider yourself a conscience person, one that is aware of the planet; it's Beings on it? As Human Beings, we are the sh*t right? We have Free Will and so that means we rule, we are The Kings Of our jungle. Absolutely! But how many times do you think of others that could be The Kings Of their jungle? We watch these funny animated stories of animals living their own life, feeling and loving like we do. They walk and talk. We laugh at their jokes, cry at their loss. Yet, it's just entertainment. It's not real right? Humans write them brilliantly. The ideas for these movies come from somewhere. Did they dream it? Or is it something that is hidden deep inside of all of us, something we already know and need to be reminded of?

You know what makes me laugh? I get appalled when we make excuses for ourselves. When I hear things like a dog doesn't really feel a lot of pain, or that their pain threshold is very different from ours. I mean, does anyone actually talk dog? Did they ask, "Hey? Does this hurt? How much?" OR when I see a dog that had their vocal chords ripped out cause they bark too much. If you speak "dog" then you might be quick to understand that they live, breath and feel just like us. Is it alright for us to declaw a cat's nails because they are going to scratch up our beautiful, precious, expensive, leather furniture? No, but it doesn't hurt that much, I'm sure. JESUS! My nails would hurt if they were ripped off!!!! Pain is pain. There is so much cruelty but I won't get into that. Where is the consciousness, people?

My point is that these movies usually have animals living like WE do. The difference is that they have a renowned respect for their pack and their earth. Movies like "THE LORAX", which I watched the other night On Demand. Profoundly, it shows what greed and ignorance do to the humans. But humans do it to themselves. There is no one to blame BUT himself or herself. . And WALL-E. Yeah...it might have been boring for some, but for me...I was captivated by the silence. There is so much information in silence. If we keep doing what we are doing and keep wanting and wanting and taking and keep taking the resources from the only planet that we know of, then we are all in for rude awakening. As far as we know...there isn't another planet. So why destroy the only one we have? Isn't the Earth a living and breathing entity, one that might feel pain? Maybe that could be the next animated film.

Did you feel the frequency of AVATAR? Now there is a beautiful film. That message just hits you in the face. You have these peaceful blue Beings that have such a respect for nature, one that most of us would never have. If you didn't get affected when that beautiful tree got cut, then you're dead. We feel entitled. We get what we want even at the mercy of others. Like the movie, might you believe that when we go to sleep, we go to another dimension and live there? Is that too much for your brain to handle? I am riveted by that idea. How cool to go somewhere else and live on a Parallel Universe? Our own scientists have proved Quantum Physics and that there is proof of a Parallel Universe. But you won't see that in the news.