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Pop culture media is propagandizing the children of today towards a moral stance on consumerism.
Now that I have your attention, I would love for you to read my essay.
I write this post because I saw a kid’s movie and was struck by the moral of the story. The 3d was dazzling, scary and awesome. Even my husband and I looked over at one another in delight of the fantastic special effects. When we got home I asked him, in a half joking way, if he caught the ‘propaganda’. ( By the way, I deleted and rewrote the word ‘propaganda’ several times before I decided to use it. Most people don’t get it but I am going to assume that my tribe does and won’t get totally hung up or require that I delve into a deep explanation of that complex word and its history .)
To recap, the premise of movie is silly and insignificant. Pet rodents are trained to be special US agents.
3 guinea pigs and a mole are trained by a brilliant and sweet, gentle, male scientist who knows that his rodent research is on the fringe of science but is about to be shut down by the Feds. Of course, the scientist is supported by a lovely female assistant. ( For some reason that persona of the secondary female persists in pop culture entertainment! Can we get over that, please? Its so boring.)
The antagonist is an elegant, white, gentleman of the Baby Boomer generation, a capitalist ( with a British accent, whats up with that?) who sets out to rule the world through his empire of ’smart’ electronic goods.
Woven into the plot is the presence of millions of tons of satellite trash floating in orbit. As viewers in our 3d glasses we are witness to this vast, dense, floating junk yard, circling the space around our planet. It is, of course, the junk that humans have sent there and is really no different from the litter on the planet. We just can’t see or smell the mess in outer space.
As the story unfolds, the electronic devices and the satellite trash self actualize through a soft ware system supposedly designed by the antagonist. Stylish coffee machines, toasters, microwaves and blenders are now weapons of mass destruction. These once benign luxury items suddenly produce mechanical arms, legs and heads. They surge with all the might of electrical voltage, off the counter tops and store shelves with blades slashing and wires exploding. People run into the streets in terror as pandemonium erupts. The appliances unite as one, forming a huge, destructive, electronic beast that emerges from the centre of the earth to destroy humanity.
In support of the crusade, the awakened abandoned space trash crash to the surface like fabled meteors to create massive explosions. People run in all directions as their efforts to defend themselves are futile. The stuff strikes back.
The heroes of the story, the US special agent-guinea pigs, are grief stricken by the supposed death of their comrade in arms, the mole, yet still conjure the courage to save the day…..and they do. The main guinea pig-protagonist discovers that the villain is not the capitalist whom they had suspected. The capitalist was innocent, a mere , unwitting participant of the Armageddon.
The bad guy was actually one of their own, the mole. ( Yes, the mole was the mole). Upon confrontation in the midst of pandemonium, the final battle between humans and their stuff, the mole confesses that he sought to destroy humans because humans destroyed his home and killed his family when they built a golf course on his habitat.
The day is won when the guinea pigs, the repentant mole and a couple of good humans work together to shut the ‘luxury appliance monster’ down.
Oh, the metaphor! First of all, the appliances are an obvious one. We have too much stuff yet we are starving for more. This addiction to stuff is a monster and we are creating a planetary crisis in terms of the ecology as well as the economy.
Secondly, the guinea pigs are a metaphor for the children of today. The small, choice-less, innocent and over looked members of our population will have to raised by the few, overlooked adults. Adults like the kind scientist and his sweet assistant, both brilliant, wise and courageous, prepared to defend the future that they believe in and will defend at all peril. They are the few who have the wisdom to see through our love of stuff and have the genius to raise children …. oops, I meant guinea pigs. To raise them with not only that wisdom but also the strength,courage and knowledge to make different choices.
The capitalist. During the climax of the film we are shown a different side of him. The plot conjures new feelings in us as we observe. We now understand that we must pity him! He (read we), did not know any better. He just wanted to make a coffee machine that could tell you when to buy more coffee….what a sweet intention, how convenient! Of course we need such things.
As it is Western consumerism that has driven the global crises we must take a compassionate view of this character because otherwise would be to take our own fair share of the blame which is pretty much all of it. On the propaganda premise, this lovely children’s movie gives us an out. The capitalist ( read us) honestly did not know that this would happen. He now wants to help turn the tide and go green! ? Hip hip hooray! All is forgiven! Lets tie a bow on this package and move our angry glare away from here and over to the actual beast that now must be stopped!
It strikes me how American movies always feature antagonists with foreign accents. Its never one of their own who is at fault. Always someone from a far away land. Whats with the British accents anyway? Is it just super subtle so they think we won’t notice the diversion?
Next, the mole, the mastermind whom no one suspected. As the story unfolds, it is the underground, smallest, most unseen whom we, the viewer in 3d glasses, feel is the victim most deeply wounded. It is he who will rise retaliate against the tide of our consumer culture to be the author of Armageddon.
The guinea pigs… well, that one is easy. They represent the children of today. They are the ones who were created to appeal to the primary viewer, the human children of the human world. Will these young ones go home terrified of the toaster? No. Not on the surface anyway because the imagery was carefully crafted for the audience to identify the monsters with toys and TV shows they see around everyday. Exciting visuals yet no real shock value.
This is where my controversial term of above pops up again….propaganda. It was a kids movie, for crying out loud! The main characters were talking guinea pigs, for pete’s sake! There were car chases, crashes, big explosions and no one actually got hurt, so what are you making such a big deal about? This movie packed a lot of punch because the 3d effects were TOTALLY WICKED, MAN!!!! And. And it was layered with a complex message targeted to children about the state of our consumer consciousness and the result of our addiction to buying more and more cool yet utterly useless stuff. Stuff that we will be desperate to ad to the local landfill when the new model comes out 6 months later.
The storyline takes the blame away from us the adult consumers and business people of consumer society and places it on, Well, no one. We are in this mess for no fault of anyone in particular however, certainly not the sweet and elegant old man who just wanted to make fancy coffee machines, nor do we blame the adults who bought all this stuff and drove the economy in that direction!! The mess is here and it is up to kids to clean it up because if they don’t, then one day that toaster is going to jump off the counter and ATTACK!
Pop culture media is propagandizing the children of today to understand the dangers of the consumer world . Is this foreshadowing a modern twist on the genre of Beatrix Potter where her stories include the like of the mummy rabbit warning her bunnies not to stray because if they do they will end up in the farmer’s dinner, like their Daddy did?
Have adults used the fear factor like this on children since the beginning of story telling? Is this a good thing? Is this propaganda the subtle, systematic and ongoing implantation of morals that will lead children to make their future choices ones that will be good for humanity? Or the cultivation of fear, judgment and disdain for the establishment- the seeds that will propagate the status quo?
Or was it really just a story about talking guinea pigs?
These are questions that we, the conscious leaders of our tribe, must ask ourselves with regards to the messages that we cultivate in all media outlets where we choose to voice our opinions.
Please share your thoughts with us in the comments section. And one last thing, I proof read this piece myself until I was crossed eyed so please forgive the typos.
CR
