When I was about five years old, I loved watching cartoons and movies; one movie in particular that I loved the most was Toy Story. Almost every morning I would come downstairs in my pajamas with my stuffed Elmo and be chanting, "Toy Story, Toy Story!" My mom would get me a mug with hot chocolate, my favorite drink when I was a kid, and she would put Toy Story in the VCR and let me watch it. No matter how many times I watched it I never got sick of it, in fact, I think that my love for the movie actually grew each time I watched it. At times, my mom would get tired of having to hear the same lines day after day, but she still let me watch it because it made me happy and it gave her time to do other things around the house without having to pay to close of attention to me. This was, and still is, my favorite movie for several reasons. As a kid, I felt as if I could connect with Andy, now, it is my favorite movie because I see that it taught me a valuable lesson.
As a kid, I had a lot of toys. My toys ranged from stuffed animals that I had since I was born, all the way to rescue ranger action figures that I had begged my mom for and said that I needed. My plethora of toys had a large influence on my need to regularly watch Toy Story. I felt as if Andy and I had something in common; we both had an abundance of toys, and both of us enjoyed playing with them and pretending as if they were real people. When I was a kid, I was made fun of for having so many toys and for constantly playing with them, but watching Toy Story and seeing that Andy did this as well allowed me to connect with him and overcome the ridicule by knowing that I wasn't the only one who did this. Even though I knew that Andy was a fictional character, I still feel that watching Toy Story gave me a sense of assurance because I saw that I wasn't alone in what I did.
Now that I'm older, I look back at Toy Story and see that it had a much more significant meaning. I used to think that it was just a funny movie with a character that I could relate to, now I see that it actually conveyed a message of friendship and tolerance. All of the different toys lived harmoniously in the toy box without prejudice. Despite each others differences, they were able to come together for a larger purpose. No matter what came between them, they were still willing to help Andy and be there when he needed them. This has a great application to real life as well; each of us is one of the toys in Andy's toy box, and although we may come from different places and not all be the same, we should be able to look past each others differences and live together in harmony. Racial prejudices have caused so many of the worlds problems such as the holocaust and the Rwandan genocide. If we had all looked past each others differences, we would've been able to avoid the death of millions of people.
Toy Story was a movie that helped me all throughout my childhood and helped form me into who I am today. It taught me to look past the differences of others and not judge people based on how they look or where they are from. Although I don't watch it now as much as I used to, it still is my favorite movie and I still love watching it just as much.
HB
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