Post 2, Group A - Toy Story and God, By: Brandon Ince

        In the early nineties, a small but talented Californian animation studio begins work on an ambitious new project. Having gone through rewrite after rewrite and operating on a budget of nickles, lint, and shoe strings, development was tumultuous to say the least. Expertly navigating many major roadblocks and facing the ever present threat of production shut down, the project fearlessly found its way to the silver screen on November 22nd, 1995. The movie in question? None other than Toy Story from Pixar studios. A charming buddy-comedy film set in a world in which toys come to life - just so long as no one is looking. Being primarily a movie for kids, the film leans on the lighthearted side - no swearing, straight forward narrative, bad guys and good guys, etc. But this is not to say this is a dumb movie by any means, it treats the audience with respect and does not feign to stoop in order to try and cast a wider net. The narrative may be straight forward, but the characters are interesting, layered and flawed. the tone may be lighthearted but some of the themes are downright terrifying. It's one of these themes that I am interested in discussing in this blog post, Toy Story does a great job at tackling many different aspects of the human condition, fear, jealousy, arrogance, episteme, perhaps even a little existentialism, but the theme that most intrigues me is the concept of theism, god, and how it manifests itself within this world.

           Before we go about discussing the idea of god(s) it is pertinent that we first clearly define what qualifies a god. This is highly vane and I would advise doing everything in your power to avoid doing this yourself. For the purpose of this post, let's define a god as one of perceived supreme dominion over a subject(s). Or in other words, any named individual that has the power to intervene with another in a way that leaves the subject helpless to resist.

         In this case, the first god in which the Toys are in contact with is Andy. Andy is an example of a prototypical benevolent god. Andy literally (and lovingly) creates worlds for the Toys to live in and within which the Toys flourish. Andy's room is a heaven in which a Toys simple love for Andy drives every decision. Whether the Toys realize it or not life as they live it in Andy's room resembles that of a religion devoted to a known deity in which they strive to stay in the good graces. Even the meeting Woody holds at the beginning of the movie has a sermon-y feel to it, from the poor sound quality of the mic, to the mostly inconsequential list of topics on the docket, feels like the first ten minutes of a sermon when most of the "housekeeping" items are discussed. 

           The next god the Toys would encounter would be The Claw at Pizza Planet. The Claw is an example of the aloof god, one who has no discernible habits, likes, or dislikes. The subjects of which, the Little Green Men, are both most ostensibly fanatic and driven by the need to appease their god. The Little Green Men  are the closest one for one representation we have for a true theocracy. Where the other groups will be mostly subtext and speculation, the relationship between The Claw and the Little Green Men is all but directly stated to be god and subject. What drives the Little Green Men to behave the way they do is inscrutable. On one hand they could be acting out of love for The Claw, as they see it as their only ticket out of limbo and into the great beyond, while on the other hand they could be acting out of fear as they see it as the thing that separates them from their home and condemns them to the great beyond. It's a toss up.

 

         The final and most interesting god in which the Toys encounter is Sid, the wrathful god. With a distinct knack for destruction and seemingly needing only a whim to catalyze his ruinous inklings, Sid rules (though unknowingly) through fear. All actions taken by the Toys are in direct reaction to the fear they experience whilst being in his presence. Even his room is a depiction of what hell must be like for toys, the decent into which even mirrors the decent into the underworld from Greek mythology. Ferried from Pizza Planet (living world/limbo) to Sid's house (the underworld) guarded by Sid's nasty dog Spot (Cerberus). In any case, Sid is interesting because he is to only god to "die". Not literally, obviously, this is a G-Rated flick. More so "die" in the Nietzschesque interpretation, meaning that the subject loses it's bond or reliance on the deity in a way that leaves the subject independent of the deity's dominion, for better or worse. Sid's calamitous nature was too much, it basically forced Buzz and Woody's hand to commit a taboo and confront him. The end result of this confrontation leaves Sid demystified and a sad, scared kid, while Buzz and Woody simultaneously achieve their Independence. 

          Toy Story is a film with exceptional depth that is simply hard to come by in children's movies today. It presents itself with a sense of poise and charm that is rare even among the most artsy of indie movies. The ability to pack in lots of challenging themes while also being entertaining is tall order, indeed. However, Toy Story seems to pull it off effortlessly.