5 Cartoons with the Biggest Political Messages

I’ve mentioned previously that one of the guaranteed ways to make millions in Hollywood is to make a CG animated film that is “zany” enough for the younglings but also winks to the adults at the same time. It doesn’t even need to be smart enough for adults. Just so long as its colorful and will babysit the kids for an hour and a half, it will make at least 200 million at the box office. This week Dr Seuss’s The Lorax is out on video. This movie is an unapologetic green-friendly, message-heavy cartoon. I forgive it for its heavy-handed message because it was actually based on the well-known book of the same name. Anyone going to this movie knows what to expect. But what about some other movies that subtly and/or overwhelmingly throw a message into our children’s faces?

5 – Wall-E

Male pattern baldness and matching jumpsuits! Sign me up!

Ah Wall-E, the adorable robot left on an abandoned Earth. His job is to clean and take care of the junkyard that once was our planet. The movie really is a sweet tale about two robots who become star-crossed lovers. That would be all right if only the movie didn’t show what terrible beings humans are. Humans in this future have become lazy beyond all reason. Saying their bodies are rotund would be an understatement. They can hardly move their limbs and care for nothing more than watching their screens 2 feet in front of their faces. So, not only will we destroy the Earth with garbage and eventually have to leave because of our consumerism and destructive tendencies, but kids have to watch this and think to themselves, “Aren’t we stupid?” Pixar claims there was no intention of any hidden message and even stand behind their claims that they didn’t model the idiotic presidential character after George W. Bush with his “Stay the course!” line. This movie is often attacked and called hypocritical. Yes, it warns of a future filled with useless garbage, but at the same time it is released by Disney and Pixar. Yes, the biggest toy/junk manufacturer out there.

4 – Cars 2

The beginning of the end

Another Pixar flick. This one is arguably the weak spot in Pixar’s armor. Out of all their movies, the Cars series is made specifically for children. The first Cars movie is pretty harmless, and joke-less to boot. It was a little creepy to see their utopia where not a single human soul exists. Well, now that Pixar has run out of ideas they are making sequels to all of their previous hits. Lightning and Mater are back in the second flick, but the movie sadly follows Mater as he is confused for a spy. So basically a new car is trying to introduce a great alternative fuel to the world called Allinol. The villain of the movie, Professor Z, wants to destroy it and only have the world rely on “Big Oil.”
The following paragraph is taken from Imdb.com.

“With Professor Z having found out about Allinol’s explosive connotations, they intend to sabotage the World Grand Prix, and destroy Miles Axelrod’s plans to create a clean energy source. Once Allinol is finished, the lemons will have the last laugh on the world’s energy woes, as their leader has found a large source of oil in the Atlantic Ocean, and intends to sell their stock at inflated prices.”

Wow. Thank goodness we have Mater to save us from Big Oil!

3 – Iron Giant

Strangely, this is Vin Diesel’s best acting role

The only one of these films that I actually like. It probably doesn’t hurt that it’s very old-school animation. The Iron Giant came out in 1999 to little fanfare. The movie follows a boy named Hogarth as he discovers the impressive robot on his land and befriends it. It doesn’t take long for things to go wrong and the robot awakens as the killing machine it was designed to be. The overall message of the Iron Giant is pacifism, that war can only breed war. Many critics see it as being anti-gun as it consistently states “Guns kill.” It also jumps to the other side and critiques the military as it shows them as incredibly paranoid with a shoot first attitude. Granted the movie does take place during the Cold War, where fear and paranoia was at a high.

2 – Happy Feet

Finally, the Free Willy/Happy Feet crossover we’ve been waiting for

Apparently Emperor Penguins express themselves through singing pop remakes. Mumble is the only penguin who has never had a great voice. So the herd, which appears to be Christian in nature, blame the fish shortage on Mumble for being such an individual (i.e. different) and oust him. The rigid Elders are foolish, hunchback penguins who are quickly disregarded as old fools. Mumble is finally recognized for the great tap dancer he is. Finally he is able to explain the reason behind the fish shortage. The humans ate them all. Then, of course, Mumble is caught by the men and taken into captivity. He becomes a depressed captive penguin, like all others behind the glass. Don’t worry, dancing saves the day and he is taken back home. And for movies that wanted to be seen showing tolerance, there are a lot of racial stereotypes in play.

The sequel gets into global warming, but that gets a little obvious. I don’t think these movies made any kid happy.

1 – FernGully: The Last Rainforest

Spot the animated movie

The propaganda movie to end all propaganda movies. Fern Gully: The Last Rainforest is manipulation at its best. I say that, because when I saw this movie as a youth, I personally wanted to march down to the rainforests in South America and jump in front of the clean-sweepers. How dare they destroy the magical land filled with fairies, magic, and bats that sound an awful lot like Robin Williams. Not only do I blame this movie for my forced childhood activism, but it is the source and original story (besides Dances with Wolves and Pocahontas) behind Avatar. Shame on you Fern Gully.

The plot follows Zak as he is about to cut down a rainforest and is shrunk down to pixie-size. He befriends all of the animals and basically falls in love with a fairy named Crysta. The human levelers cut down an enchanted tree which awakens the enemy to the fairies named Hexxus, who conveniently gains his powers from pollution….

I’m annoyed even writing this. But I will say, as a kid, I bought it hook, line, and sinker. I’m just wondering how James Cameron managed to turn an unoriginal idea into the biggest movie of all time. If nothing irks you on this list, at least see how big of a hack Cameron is.