Sunday, November 14, 2010

Toy Story- i think about this way too much

So... As a result of having a kid, i've watched the Toy Story movies Quite a lot lately. They hold up suprisingly well to repeated viewings. Most questions are answered, story-wise. But there are a few...

Questions That Remain Unanswered at the Close of the Toy Story trilogy:

1. What happened to Andy's dad?
We never hear about him. We've never heard anything about him. You always only see Andy's Mom.
Even if he's not important to the story, it's possible to drop hints in the dialogue or the visuals somewhere .Bonnie has a dad-you can see him gardening in the last scene. You barely see Bonnie's mom. (Hey, did you notice that? In Toy Story 3, Whenever you see Bonnie in the frame, Bonnie's mom's head is cut off, cut off by very deliberate framing to focus on the kids and the toys.)

As far as i can tell, there aren't any hints about Andy's Dad. The fact that there aren't any photos anywhere argues strongly for divorce. But he could be dead. He's not even in his son's graduation photo, which we see in the movie. Bonnie has a dad- we see him gardening with his wife in the last scene of Toy Story 3. I think it's cool, actually- it reflect a lot of kid's real experience, and, in terms of story, it kind of enhances the idea that the toys are parents to the children. Anyway, we never found out what happened to Andy's dad. It;s interesting.

2.Who made "The Rules"? Where do they come from?
In the Toy Story movies, there's one basic rule that all toys must follow. Good toys, evil toys, even toys that think they are real... all obey this rule. Do you know what it is yet? Woody mentions it once in the first Toy Story: "We'll have to break a few rules, but if it works, it'll help us all out." The rule is: All toys must not come alive around humans. We know that they can-it's not some sort of magic spell or anything like that. Woody came alive to scare Sid.at the end of the first Toy Story. But they must at all costs maintain the pretense. It's kinda weird if you think about it. Too much.


3. What's the story with Woody's empty holster?
Woody never uses a gun, even though it's a big part of cowboy lore. He uses lassos and the like, he has all the other cowboy accoutrements, but no gun. He has a holster, but it's always been empty. They even drew attention to the empty holster in Toy Story 1 by having Sid put a match in it. No gun. Why?
You could say that Andy lost Woody's gun- i think that's very realistic. But remember that Woody was stolen by a rare toy collector in Toy Story 2. Al McWhiggin seemed to believe that Woody was 'complete'.
But i think it's a conscious choice: to make Woody a character who solves problems with cleverness instead of force. Maybe.

That's all i got for now.

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