Surprisingly Controversial Themes in Children's Media

Some forms of children's media stay ridiculously saccharine, others like to flirt with that line of adult themes (the Harry Potter Series did it best) and still others bulldoze past the line without any regard, as they charge full steam ahead into the adult world while still staying geared towards kids. This list salutes some of the latter.

Animorphs

The Animorphs, by K.A. Applegate, was about a group of kids who are given special powers to turn into any animal for two hours. They must return to their regular form before the 2 hours are up unless they will be stuck in that form forever. They are given this power to stop the an antagonistic group of aliens, the "Yeerks", who can take control of any humans body, from invading Earth. Pretty basic stuff. Aliens bad and they must be stopped. And for the 1st half of the 50+ book series that is pretty much how it played out.  Nobody died, the Yeerks were cartoonishly evil but the children always managed to do just enough to survive.Then Applegate decided that she would rather things got real.

This started with the introduction of a new Animorph, David, who subsequently betrays the team and has the readers thinking he may have killed the team. Their solution to this problem, they force him to live his life trapped in the form of a mouse on an abandoned island. But he deserved it right? He was evil for no reason? Actually, the Yeerks had taken control of both of his parents and he was essentially "drafted" into a war against his choice. He was betraying the Animorphs in a chance to save his parents. Not exactly Lex Luthor over here.

Eventually the writers start to question the morality of the war. Is it okay to attack Yeerks who are defenseless? (They have to leave their host every three days to feed in a nutrition pool. Their natural forms are essentially blind slugs).  Is it okay to sacrifice team members for the good of the cause? How should they manage their need to win the war with their need to keep their humanity. Can they employ an "any means necessary" strategy just because the Yeerks attacked first? What made it worse was the team was split on these moral issues which really drove the point home. *Spoiler Alert* The series ended with the Animorphs recruiting more members from a disabled home (because they figured the Yeerks wouldn't be targeting disabled hosts). They were all slaughtered by the end of the series.  Also Jake, the de facto but reluctant leader, sends his cousin Rachel on a suicide mission to kill his brother (who was controlled by a Yeerk), and makes the decision to kill thousands of defenseless Yeerks by flushing them into space while they were feeding. Parallels could easily be drawn to the wars in Iraq and Afganistan and the series really stopped being about aliens and more of an analogy for the morality of human war. Oh and for fun, they also essentially created God and Devil analogies that were omniscient aliens playing "a game" with the universe of which the Yeerk invasion was just a small piece of.  Kinda deep for a 5th grade reading level.

Casper

Here, I'm specifically talking about the movie starring Christina Ricci. We all know the story. Ghost boy falls for this girl who moved into his house. He has three uncles who treat him like crap.  The movie is already kind of sad because Casper states that he died when he got sick from being out in the cold too long. We also find out that Ricci's mother also died and that her father has been researching ghosts to find a way to contact his deceased wife. Somehow, things get more depressing from here.

Yes, I just blew your mind. 

Later in the movie, in a drunken binge, Ricci's father kills himself. By falling in a ditch.  You read that right, he dies. Since he comes back as a ghost and parties with Casper's uncles it doesn't seem that traumatizing. But make no mistake, he is dead. Ricci becomes very emotional. Because of this Casper decides to use his one chance to become a living person again and find true love to instead bring her father back to life.  Let's recap, he died at a very young age, is forced to wait hand and foot on his uncles who pretty openly despise and mock him, he finally falls in love and has a chance to live again, but he has to give it up for the woman he loves. He is given the gift to be able to be alive for a night and has the most fun he's ever had, only to turn back into a ghost when he's about to get his first kiss.  Yep, Capser has no choice but to assume that life hates him.  To top it all off, the movie clearly states that ghosts are spirits with no unfinished business. Since Casper stays a ghost, he must have unfinished business and therefore will never be able to advance to the afterlife. What a picker upper movie.

His Dark Materials

Many might expect the Harry Potter series to be on here because that series got very serious in tone after the first book. Rowling started killing off characters left and right. Many Christian churches decreed the use of wizardry and witchcraft as being demonic and anti-Christian. While the HP series has gotten more negative publicitity, the His Dark Materials trilogy by Phillip Pullman goes way farther than Rowling ever did.  Simply put, Pullman actively portrays religion and the church as evil. Straight evil. Deadly experimenting on children evil. Kill those who disagree evil.  Sure, he's not the first to do that. What really makes his series controversial is that you learn the real goal of the protagonists father is to "kill The Authority", with the Authority being an Analogy for God.  Not only does he do that, he also changes the story of what/who God is. Instead of being The Creator, he says that he was just the first angel to come into existence, and then lied to all the other angels who came after him by saying he created them. The authority seems to age since when he is finally found he is old and weak and quickly passes away when taken off him "life support".  When they made the Golden Compass movie I was sure that the backlash would be monumental. Nope. There was some grumbling but nothing compared to what Harry Potter has gotten. Go figure. 

Why is it so hard to make a good Superman movie?

Superman is the most famous superhero ever created. There is no debating that. He was the pioneer for superheroes for many media outlets (comics, radio, TV).  He's the first superhero we learn about. Supes represents the best of humanity and what we should all aspire to be.  He's inspired songs (Superman by Lazlo Bane, Kryptonite by 3 Doors Down), clothing, nicknames and even NBA rivalries (Retired center Shaquille O'Neal actively hates Dwight Howard for "stealing" his Superman title.  Calling someone Superman is pretty much the ultimate compliment.  He's a cultural icon in America. But there's a problem...

There hasn't been a good Superman movie in over 30 years, (not since Superman II with Christopher Reeves).  In this time, Batman, Spiderman, Ironman, the X-men and even Captain America and the Hulk have produced movies that were critically accepted.  Superman's attempt in 2006, "Superman Returns", was widely panned. To make matters worse, most people can't even think of a Superman plot line that would make them rush to the theaters.  In an era where Superhero movies have captured our imaginations and gained mainstream appeal, we can't even THINK of a good Superman story line.  There's a reason for that...

Weirdly, the answer isn't Superman III although that was a great guess.

Superman is an inherently boring character. He's too "goody two-shoes" for our liking.  He's the guy in class who would remind the teacher that he/she forgot to collect the homework.  He's the guy who walks to the end of the sidewalk on an empty road because jaywalking is illegal. He doesn't kiss on the first date. He doesn't let himself get angry. The Wire was too edgy for him. He's boring.  We get it, truth, justice, blah, blah, blah. There's only so much we can take of someone who is that pure, that nice, and that good. We live in a cynical society, and that's why we have overwhelmingly chosen Batman and Marvel characters like Iron Man over Superman. They have flaws. They make mistakes.  They let their emotions get the better of them.  Movie writers are afraid to tarnish the legacy of Superman by showing anything less that perfection.  Therein lies the problem.

The Solution: Tell the Superman story that has been written before but never brought to the big screen. The story that you would expect if someone gave you a character who wanted the world to be good and was immeasurably powerful.

This Guy. Give this guy a movie.

There is a comic called Superman: Red Son.  It is set in an alternate universe where Superman landed somewhere in Soviet Russia as a baby instead of Smallville, Kansas.  He is raised with communist ideals and eventually emerges during the Cold War with the US.  They could have easily made this a "Russia =bad, US = good" story but they didn't. Superman still wanted to help people, regardless of where they were from. But because he was raised in a system where the government was more comfortable exerting their will for the "good of the people", he was, reluctantly at first but then more willingly, able to compromise some personal liberties to help achieve his ultimate goal of paradise. He was able to get most of the world to go along with him, except the United States of course.  This was a different Superman willing to use methods that the more known Superman would never consider. The fact that he is so controlling becomes a major theme of the story.

Another comic is called Superman: Speeding Bullets.  It also takes place in an alternate universe where Superman landed in Gotham City. He was found by Thomas and Martha Wayne, otherwise known as Batman's parents.  They decided to adopt him, and as a result he was named Bruce Wayne and the Bruce we all know was never born.  In this storyline, his parents still die but unlike our Batman who used the moment as motivation to become strong enough to be able to protect the innocent, Superman later finds out he was strong enough all along and has added guilt because of that.  As a result, this Superman, who goes by the name Batman, uses levels of violence not even our Batman could condone.

A third is called Kingdom Come and is set as a possible future where Superman has retired because the people as a whole celebrated when a new superhero killed the Joker eventhough he had been found innocent by reason of insanity.  He later comes out of retirement when he sees how violent and reckless this new generation of superheroes are. He himself becomes much more violent, to the point that Batman actively opposes him as well saying neither side is provides an adequate solution.

I am in no way suggesting an alternate universe Superman where his origin is drastically changed. I think that would play very gimmicky as a movie. The reason I gave a synopsis of the three books above is because they ignore the boy scout most movies portray Superman as and they instead tackle an often ignored but very interesting theme:  Superman is the most powerful person on Earth yet he can't seem to make the people of Earth as good as he would like. He grew up on a small farm in a small town where people seemed inherently good. He comes to a big city and realizes people are corrupt and no matter what he does there is still violence, and innocents still suffer.  Instead of portraying him as having infinite patience, they portray him as an angry diety who has decided to take matters into his own hands.  This is a story that we have never seen on the bigscreen.  It is gritty, cynical, and really gets to the heart of humanity. "Absolute power corrupts absolutely".

This is the Superman we need to see. Angry, frustrated, but still wanting to do the right thing. A movie of this ilk would bring Supes back to the forefront of superhero folklore. Instead of just making a movie with a strong opponent, let us question his morality. Superman isn't human, add a little bit of alien coldness and you strike cinematic gold. Or kill Jimmy Olsen...he's been asking for it.

Best of Taiwanese/ US pop culture parody videos

The NWA (New Media Animation) is a Taiwan based company that creates CGI animated spoofs/parodies of popular news stories. What makes the animations great is the over-the-top nature of the humor and the analogies. They are narrated in Mandarin but later videos were subtitled in English and eventually narrated English versions became available.   Below are 5 of the best that I have seen.

5. Jeremy Lin's debut vs the Nets

Best Part: Lin getting thrown off the Golden State Warriors Bus
Most WTF Part: The signs of the protesters as Lin is trying to get his scholarship.

4. Nicholas Cage arrested for domestic Violence

Best Part: Where he dared police to arrest him...and they did
Most WTF Part: Cage turning into the Ghost Rider

3. Saints being caught in Bounty Gate

Best Part: Where the Saints cut Brett Favre in Half
Most WTF Part: Where a Bears player is caught injecting steroids into another Bears player's butt.

2. 2012 Giants vs Pats Superbowl

Best Part: Tie between the Statue of Liberty helping the Giants beat the Pats the first time and the line "God clearly favors the Giants, or like most people, he just hates the Patriots".
Most WTF part: Mario Manningham catching his pass with a basket

1. Feud with Conan

When Conan O'Brien first moved to TBS he made his own version of these videos as a parody of their video of him. NMA became (mock) upset and made this rebuttal video which is the best of the three.

Best Part: The alleged use of American child labor
Most WTF Part: The Neverland ranch/Michael Jackson cameo