When all of your playthings someday disappear

[vovat]

I'd been meaning to say something about The 40-Year-Old Virgin, which I'd watched last week, but I didn't get around to it until now. The movie wasn't terrible, but like bethje mentioned, I didn't care for Steve Carell's character selling his toys as a metaphor for growing up. Sure, if you play with toys instead of working, that's one thing, but this character did his job, even getting a few promotions during the course of the film. So why can't he indulge his youthful side while at home? I have to say I'm a fan of C.S. Lewis' take on 1 Corinthians 13:11: "When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up." I know a lot of adults who play with toys and video games, and they're hardly all irresponsible. I was also reminded of this by a recent episode of Real Time, in which Bill Maher said something about American society being immature because we consider Harry Potter to be literature, and Batman movies to be...well, I forget his wording, but the gist was that we think they're deeply philosophical. But really, why ISN'T Harry Potter literature? No, they're not the greatest books in existence, but that's largely subjective anyway. Just because the main characters are kids and they're written so kids can understand them doesn't mean only kids can read them. Besides, Danielle Steele novels and Farrelly Brothers movies are allegedly made for adults, but are they really more sophisticated than J.K. Rowling or DC Comics? Hey, the previous episode of Real Time had Maher chatting with Ron Howard about Angels and Demons, and telling Cameron Diaz that he liked her in The Mask. Not to mention that, as my wife mentioned, he's a guy in his fifties who still identifies himself as a pothead. But, you know, he's too mature to enjoy superhero movies. I guess that, just like everyone, Maher has his own blind and hypocritical spots. And getting back to the movie industry, if they're selling the idea that adults being interested in toys and games is incompatible with growing up and having serious relationships, then why do they keep cranking out films based on stuff like the Transformers and G.I. Joe?

Speaking of stuff made for children that adults have also enjoyed, we also watched Monsters, Inc. for the first time. I think it was still relatively recent when we put it on the Netflix queue, but there are a LOT of items on there. Anyway, I enjoyed it. I thought it did a good job of creating the monster world in an hour-and-a-half movie, complete with complex but cute designs and an explanation as to WHY monsters would hang out in closets and scare children.

All right, I guess that's all for now.

Comments

[alicornmoon.livejournal.com]

It's sad how every show with an episode about a childish person 'growing up' always does the 'throw out the toys/stuffed animals scene' ALWAYS O.O Nevermind having a 'stay true to and love yourself' message or a 'being an adult is different for each person' one, they always have the One True Way To Be An Adult Is To Turn Into This Stereotype of What One Is Because That is What 'Normal' People Do vibe..and it drives me crazy :P!

[vovat.livejournal.com]

It's sort of a ridiculously overused metaphor. Not only does it not really match up with real life, but it's totally clichéd at this point.

[suegypt.livejournal.com]

"When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up."

I love this post, because i totally agree. I like toys and children's books and films, as long as they are imaginative and well-done, or at least passionate.

And i loved Monsters, Inc., too.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

Thanks! It's nice to know I'm far from the only one.

[rockinlibrarian.livejournal.com]

Besides, Danielle Steele novels and Farrelly Brothers movies are allegedly made for adults, but are they really more sophisticated than J.K. Rowling or DC Comics?

Exact exact exactly the point I keep trying to make to the I-don't-read-kidlit snobs!

I love C.S. Lewis.

[ozma914.livejournal.com]

So this means I can keep my toy soldiers, Matchbox fire trucks and comic book collection?

None of my completed novel manuscripts are as layered and complicated as Rowlings' later Harry Potter books -- and they're all "adult" stories. I see no reason to think her books don't count as "literature".

[vovat.livejournal.com]

I'm not totally sure how "literature" came to be a term denoting quality, anyway.

[ozma914.livejournal.com]

You got me on that one. I know that I've read many "literary" novels, and never found them particularly better written than the best of the genre stuff. In addition, they weren't usually nearly as interesting.