Toy Story

Jack Gannon

Dr. Waggoner

Writing as Inquiry

7 November 2016

You’ve Got a Friend in Me

              Every young kid has their personal favorite movie. I think that we all can admit when we look back at our life, that nothing at times mattered more than going to see Mickey Mouse or Buzz Lightyear. As children, we look up to the characters in our favorite films as someone we strive to be to like later in life. The characters seem larger than life and do everything perfectly. However, what we sometimes do not pick up on as kids are the messages these characters actually send. I will discuss the Toy Story movie and the positive and negative messages it sends.

              Looking back now at what were some of my favorite movies, I cannot believe some of the hidden crude symbols that are shown in these films. I am also surprised at some of the much deeper positive messages there are in these films. Toy Story is a film that has both good and bad messages.

The most positive aspect of this film is the overarching theme of friendship and positivity. I cannot think of one movie that is more positive than this one and displays how to develop a positive relationship. Woody the Cowboy is the head of all the toys. He is the sheriff who always saves the day. In the beginning, he is a terrific leader when talking to the entire toy group. Since Andy is moving in a week, Woody has to arrange moving buddies because he wants no toys left behind. During Woody’s speech, he makes a comment about how there is nothing to worry about in this process, but some of the other toys don’t feel the same and start to panic. The Slinky Dog soon reminds them how there is nothing to worry about saying Woody has never steered them wrong. The group calms down and they peacefully then solve things together. However, not everything goes as smooth: such as when Buzz Lightyear shows up there’s a little bit of a controversy between him and Woody on who is the head guy. Buzz wows everyone at first with his wings and flashy lights. This makes Woody believe that he does not have the same show factor as Buzz. This leads to jealousy and arguments between the two. As their journey goes on together, they move past their differences and become friends. In the ending scenes when Andy and his family are moving, Buzz is stuck outside of the moving truck. Woody sees this and sends out an RC car to help retrieve him to Andy’s car so they can be together. In the end, the two become great friends. As a whole, there are many different toys, but they are all friends, everyone one is supportive of each other. An excellent example of this is Rex the dinosaur’s famous quote, “You just have to believe in yourself.”

              However, not all movies are perfect, and this one has some negative messages. Earlier I mentioned how Woody was jealous of Buzz at first, but they then became friends. However, I see no reason for this much jealousy to be in a children’s movie in the first place. It makes it seem like it’s okay to talk down about someone just because you like what they have. When Buzz arrives, everyone is looking at him and Woody says, “You think they’ve never seen a new toy before.” This clearly shows his envy over Buzz. When Woody calls Buzz a toy, Buzz corrects him by saying, “I think the word you are looking for is space ranger.” Woody replies by saying, “The word I’m searching for I cannot say because there’s preschool toys present.” This shows messages implies that just because someone has cool stuff, it is okay to call them crude names. In one scene Woody also pushes Buzz out of a window to get rid of him then lies by saying it wasn’t him. Lying and jealous are both terrible things and this movie makes them seem okay.

              In conclusion, this movie has good messages about being a positive friend, as well as negative messages on jealous and lying.