The Oscars

Per a debate going on over at the Facebook page, I decided I should take a second to fully explain my thoughts on Toy Story 3 and the Oscars over here. First of all, let me say that over on the Huffington Post, Michael Barrier made a similar argument not to long ago, and articulated these ideas far better than me.

Let me also say that I do not think that Toy Story 3 or ANY Pixar work is bad, except--to quote Lisa Simpson--Cars. I think Pixar is terrific, and if you give me the opportunity to go see a Pixar movie or any other piece of work from Studio X that's out at the same time, I'm going to go see the Pixar movie, and I will enjoy it. I have pals that work at Pixar. I have Monsters Inc., Ratatouille, and Finding Nemo toys on my desk where I'm writing this. So this is not about me not liking Pixar movies. I don't even take the hard-line stance that Barrier does. I just don't go into Pixar movies with the blind do-no-wrong attitude with which a lot of fans see these films.

The fact of the matter is, though, that the reason people like Pixar movies is largely an emotional trick. It's like people sit down at these movies and say, "All right, here we fuckin' go. It's cryin' time." The films use music, lighting, and a series of story-telling tricks to manipulate audiences and their emotions.

"But other movies do that!" I can hear you yelling at me as I decry Woody and Buzz. Yes, you're exactly right; other movies do that. These are time honored tricks of story-telling. But people don't seem to see them as that. For some reason, when people see a Pixar movie they think that Pixar has achieved some magic story-telling feat. Praising Pixar for their truly original story-telling. The fact is, if I read you the story for Toy Story 3 or Wall-E or Up they wouldn't seem that original. In fact they're kind of formulaic with toys, robots, or crank old guys and weird birds placed in the spots normally occupied by people. I could take them one by one and show you, but I don't want to. You're smart people, and you can figure it out.

Again, though, that does not mean that these movies are bad. Part of good movie making is hiding the tricks. And the tricks seem to be hidden pretty well from people who are fans. Partly because you're watching a story about a fish instead of a kid and partly because the audience has a knee-jerk response to like whatever Pixar puts out. "That's not true. I don't automatically like everything Pixar puts out. I didn't like Cars." Nobody liked Cars. That's not an argument.

Toy Story 3 is a good movie. Up is a good movie. They are not great movies. I think that Barrier say it best: "There's a sentimentality in most Pixar pictures that are [sic] very manipulative and completely unconvincing to me. They are congratulating their audience for feeling these synthetic emotions..."

Having said all that, enjoy the next Pixar film. I'll probably see you there. Until then you've got a friend in me.

CG