TOY STORY "Disney Insanity"

The "Toy Story" video has sold millions of copies and has made megabucks for Disney. The title would suggest that Disney still has a heart and soul for children. Disney has been an American enterprise whose name is as authentic to our values as "motherhood." But something overwhelming has happened and "Toy Story" helps tell the story.

Let me list for you a few of the subtleties that saturate this film:

Jealousy is the main emotion of the story.

One of the two primary characters is totally sadistic.

One of the two leading toys calls the other toy "Lightbeer."

The only theme to emerge is "To Infinity And Beyond,' which is clearly a New Age statement.

An alien tells the two main toy characters, 'Nirvana is coming, the mystic portal awaits." Nirvana means: "the cessation of individual existence; the state to which Buddhist aspires as the best obtainable; (loosely) a blissful state." (Chambers English Dictionary'. W& R Chambers, LTD, Edinburgh, p.971)

One toy inquires of a mystical eight ball (crystal reading) for in-formation.

A toy gets drunk; two others gamble; the main toy character tells lies again and again.

Little Bo Peep seductively invites a male toy to spend the night with her.

There is much violence and vindictiveness.

The music is written and sung by a totally immoral composer.

Elton John, a radical homosexual, is credited with one musical piece.

The mental health of children was certainly of no concern in the production of this feature film.

Randy Newman: Composer And Singer

When Disney employed Randy Newman to do the music for this video, you would presume they researched his preparedness to entertain children. Would parents be happy to have this man in their homes as a guest to sing and teach their children his songs? The songs were called "mood pieces m a report that was printed January 27, 1996, and mood affecting they certainly achieve. You cannot separate the person and his moral/immoral lifestyle from his songs and music.

Randy Newman is everything but the defender of moral values. The Economist stated, "When Walt Disney Studios was searching for a composer to make the music for "Toy Story", its latest block-buster, it passed up names like Elton John and Tim Rice. Instead it chose a pop troubadour whose best-known lyrics mock short people and tout the arguable virtues of Los Angeles" (The Economist. January 27, 1996, v.338, n. 7950, p.80)

Entertainment Weekly did a story on Mr. Newman 5 version of Goethe's Faust in 1995, well before the release of the "Toy Story". They began the report with the words, "Hide The Kids". Here is the lull first paragraph. "Hide the kids and lock up the homeys. Just out in stores is a pop album proudly dramatizing enough deadly sins to make Snoop Doggy Dogg rabid with envy and Bob Dole drunk with indignation. An account of its verse-by-verse venalities would stretch to include, in order of app~arance, the S-word, the denial of God, teenage alcohol abuse, vivid cop-killing fantasies, satanic pacts, armed robbery, the F-word, a crude comparison of women's breast sizes, the Lord's name taken in vain, double murder, baby killing, suicide, and, finally, oral sex involving Las Vegas showgirls." (Entertainment Weekly. Inc., 1995)

Randy Newman himself stated, as quoted in the same report,

"Before gangsta rap, I was the roughest stuff there was, in terms of language and what I was dealing with." (Th~id). Mr. Newman was certainly not chosen because of his great interest in training children to be healthy individuals.

The two main voices behind the toy characters and really the main voices of the entire feature are also questionable choices to entertain children. They represent everything, except the traditional values of our nation. These two men are Tim Allen and Tom Hanks. A Ladies Home Journal report tells the story of Disney's approach to Tim Allen. Here are their words: "It all happened at the Improv, on West Hollywood's Melrose Avenue, where a junior executive at Disney put his career on the line by dragging the two moguls to this smoky comedy club where they would hear Allen's sexist, profane, and seemingly very un-Disney 'Men Are Pigs' ac~ 'I learned they were coming, so I was under tremendous pressure.' Allen says, recalling his anticipatory dread at the arrival of the kingmakers. 'After waiting for a break for eight or nine years, working your I~ off, trying to figure out how, here it was.' Allen admits to toning his act that fateful night. 'I'm not stupid,' he says, grinning. After the show, Eisner made the royal pronouncement: "You'll talk to my people tomorrow."(Ladies Home Journal April 1997, v.114, n.4, p.46) This was when Michael Eisner was a junior executive at Disney. Now, he is Disney's chairman.

Cosmopolitan did a story before the release of "Toy Story" in which they quote Mr. Allen as following: "'I love Camille Paglia,' Allen says of the feminist-baiting pop scholar. 'She's smart and she annoys women, saying stuff I couldn't say in a million years. She's a lesbian, so she and I have the same view of women. She loves women, and so do I. I see a nice woman's behind, and I go crazy. Camille told me she does too."' (Cosmopolitan. Sept 1995, v.219, n.3, p. 242)

Tom Hanks does not appear to have morals any better than Randy Newman or Tim Allen. People Weeklv stated of Mr. Hanks, "Then, with his Oscar-winning turn as a gay lawyer with AIDS in Philadelphia, he championed the cause of tolerance towards homosexuals." (People Weekly. Feb. 12, 1996, v.45, n.6, p.167) Newsweek said the following, "Hanks has always been accepting of gay people, and he does not care whether his children turn out gay or straigh~" (Newsweek Feb. 14, 1994, v.123, n. 7, p.46) If the actors and the music composers tell us anything about the "Toy Story" it certainly is not encouraging.

The World Of Animation: "The Lunatics Will Be Running The Asylum"

Animated films appear to be headed into a fresh golden period, but what can we expect. From the news coming out of Hollywood, it does not look good. Forbes Magazine recently reported on the "World Animation Celebration" in Pasadena, California. This statement captures the mood. "In his conservative suit and tie, septuagenarian Viacom Chief Sumner Redstone took to the podium before a crowd of twentysomethings, who were sporting goatees, sideburns and pierced eyebrows. 'We may be on the verge of the second Golden Age in animation,' he crowed at the World Animation Celebration in Pasadena, Calif., two months ago. And at Viacom, he promised, 'the lunatics will be running the asylum' 'Yeah!' shouted one young woman clad all in black as the audience broke into energetic applause." (Forbes May 5, 1997, v.159, n.9, p.46) Even Forbes labeled the event "animadness."

The "Toy Story": Disney Insanity

Millions of Americans agree that Disney has lost their compass. What is more disturbing is the subtle ways this new philosophy is being marketed. When you hide the rot in the pot and then serve it to little lives as entertainment, it indeed is a kind of madness unknown in past America. Children deserve our best even when the adults are allowed uncensored garbage. They are innocent and their minds are incredibly sharp and consuming. They absolutely absorb every idea that encompasses their fun and frolic. They cannot rise above what fills their minds. Let's work through this animated film and see what has actually been hidden beneath the fun.

There are two main children characters, Andy and Sid, from two different households. Sid is a sadistic toy molester. The parents are never seen in Sid's home and only the mother is seen in Andy's. There are also two main characters that are t6ys, Woody and Buzz. The main emotion that characterizes the entire episode is jealousy. The scene begins with a meeting of Andy's toys, led by Woody, to discuss Andy's birthday party and the fear of a new toy or toys that might replace one of them. One toy even anticipates being sold at the next yard sale.

At the very beginning, as Woody organizes the meeting of the toys, he is coerced by "Little Bo Peep." She sweetly converses with him and suggests seductively her interest. Her words are, "What you say, I get someone else to watch the sheep tonight?" This was clearly a sexual innuendo and the embarrassed face of Woody confirms the same.

Woody was emphatic that no one had anything to worry about, but it was Woody himself that lost his place as Andy's special toy. Woody is devastated and filled with jealous rage. In the first scene with Buzz, his replacement, Woody calls him "Lightbeer", rather than his name, "Lightyear." The contest begins with Buzz proudly ruling the other toys and Andy plotting ways to recapture his former dominance. Woody is reduced to schemes and lying.

A theme that is introduced by Buzz Lightyear is repeated dramatically all through the film. The words are clearly a New Age term, "To infinity and beyond." This is a very catchy theme and is often repeated by children that watch this film. The words have no real connection to the overall scheme and certainly carry a subtle message. This message is anti-Biblical and suggests a kind of God-idea similar to pantheism.

As Andy prepares for a pizza outing, his mother tells him to get only one toy to take with him. Woody quickly inquires of a magical eight ball (a type of crystal ball, used by fortune tellers) if he will be chosen. The answer increases his rage and vindictiveness and drives him to try to eliminate Buzz. Buzz is knocked out the window and Woody is reluctantly chosen by Andy. Not to be outdone, Buzz, now outside the house, jumps on the bumper and crawls in the car.

After a fist fight at the gas station, they get left, but hitch a ride on a pizza delivery truck. Woody is now driven by the need to get Buzz back to Andy's house because the other toys are planning to hang him for his evil. Finally, in the pizza playroom, Buzz jumps in a toy rocket having been led by Woody to believe it's a ride back to his planet. Woody goes after him, but both wind up among a group of UFO aliens. Sid, the evil boy next door to Andy, shows up. The rocket is a game where the children choose an alien toy and Sid chooses an alien and then chooses Buzz Lightyear. Woody tries to save Buzz (to save his own hide back at Andy's house), but ends up in Sid's hands also.

As Sid takes them to his house, he is filled with excitement, because he has new toys to mutilate and abuse. Sid is dressed in black with a skull on his T-shirt. Woody and Buzz are filled with fear and anticipate their coming molestation. The alien toy added to their fear by saying, "''Nirvana is coming, the mystic portal awaits." This is raw Hinduism and modern New Age. Nirvana means: "the cessation of individual existence; the state to which Buddhist aspires as the best obtainable; (loosely) a blissful state." (Chambers English Dictionary W & R Chambers, LTD, Edinburgh, p. 971)

In Sid's home Woody and Buzz find an array of to~s that have been molested and abused. Some have been decapitated, eyes punched out, heads in formaldehyde, half-bodies walking around and all of them ready to molest other toys themselves. Buzz calls them cannibals, and he and Woody are left to defend their own lives. Buzz goes into a room where a Buzz Lightyear advertisement is playing. He finally realizes he is a toy, not a space ranger, becomes highly depressed, and gets drunk in a party with Sid's sister.

After Sid abuses Woody and Buzz, he tapes Buzz to a rocket and prepares to launch him into oblivion. Woody organizes the molested toys and saves Buzz. They escape and after great effort are reunited with Andy. Woody appears to be a kind of savior in the end and all appears to end in peace.

Subtle Messages For Small Children

I believe it is abundantly clear that someone had an agenda. When you connect the life of the two actors ('did not try to research all additional actors.), Randy Newman, who wrote and produced the three main songs, and the messages tucked all throughout this production; the immoral implications are overwhelming. Disney is no longer committed to simply entertaining our children.

More To Follow

The world of Disney and other "so-called" children's entertainment enterprises are clearly committed. Disney is said to be preparing a sequel to the "Toy Story" video. Forbes announced on May 5, 1997, that 34,000 jobs were open for computer animation alone in 1996. The success of "Toy Story" has turned the entertainment world green with dollar signs.

Parents that have their own dream to raise spiritual and emotionally healthy children had their task cut out for them. If we will rediscover the Biblical family, we can guarantee our children will grow up to serve the Lord.