A typical type of adult humor used in many Disney films is when a character’s line is interrupted to convince the adults the intentions of using an inappropriate cuss word. For instance, in the movie Lion King, when Nala is chasing afte
r Pumba and Timon, planning to kill and eat them, Timon is forced to help Pumba out and exclaims, “Why do I always have to save your…Ahhh!” Of course, to the kids in the audience, this line means nothing to them as Timon is only screaming out of terror, but to the adults in the audience, this scream can be interpreted as the unfinished word “ass.” Another example can be seen in the more recent 2003 Disney film, Finding Nemo. While swimming around in the aquarium, the Germaphobe fish, Gurgle, disgustingly cries, “Don’t you people realize we are swimming in our own…” only to get interrupted by Pearl’s “Shh! Here he comes!” Again, the kids think nothing of this line, but the adults may chuckle a bit at the idea of the fish realizing he’s swimming around in “shit.”Another type of adult humor seen in Disney movies revolves around sexual references, which most kids overlook due to confusion. For example, in The Incredibles, the a
rch-nemesis, Syndrome, discovers Mr. Incredible and Elastigirl had kids, and slyly comments that they “got busy.” Getting busy is never an appropriate topic for a five-year-old, but these five-year-olds would pay no attention to it as they are completely hypnotized by the action on the screen. Another sexual reference instance can be seen in Toy Story 2 as Buzz Lightyear’s first reaction to the cowgirl, Jessie, causes his wings to spring erect. Buzz plays it off as he tucks his wings back in and coughs a bit, but this toy’s love reaction can be compared to the sexual arousal of a full-grown man.Of course, this blog only gives a taste of adult humor in children’s movies. Adult humor can be seen in even more Disney films and other G rated films not associated with Disney. However, the main purpose of adult humor inclusion, Disney and non-Disney alike, is to create some humor for adults, while avoiding awkward situations for the children. It’s just an extra level of spice to children’s movies to add to the comedic routine and attract a bigger audience. Never a bad thing.
2 comments:
Kayla, I think this is a very interesting subject. Cleaver writers must place sexual innuendos and inappropriate jokes in their storylines or you just get bland, cheesy movies.
But on the contrary to this discussion, are animated TV shows that are full of inappropriate jokes and are directed to a strictly older audience. Shows such as Family Guy, The Simpsons, and South Park are animated TV shows that look like they should appeal to children because of their cartoon animations but when the content is heard, they are clearly not appropriate. These shows are hilarious if you understand the underlying sexual and political references but for a child, all one sees is a yellow cartoon person yelling “Eat my Shorts”, and to a child this is appealing.
One of my best memories as a kid is watching The Simpsons with my sister, brother, and dad. We started this routine when I was about 6 or 7. Every Thursday night we would order Gumby’s pizza and sit in our living room and watch, as far as I was concerned a cartoon show. I would find myself laughing when Homer would strangle Bart or when Bart would moon Mr. Skinner. But I also found myself laughing at jokes that I didn’t understand but only because my dad laughed, so of course it must have been funny.
Today I still watch The Simpsons (and could probably tell you every detail about the show) and now I understand all of the pop culture and sexual references. One episode in particular was a Halloween episode. Marge was calling different greek gods and the list of names were different condom brands; “Trojan, Kimono, Lifestyle, Crown, Elexa…” her smoky voice croaked. I was cracking up. One writing detail, where a writer could have put “Zeus, Aires, Hades…” instead added a little adult comedy that only an older person would know. And that makes a good show, movie, and writer.
This is a great post and very interesting, i have gone through disney movies my self just to look for things like these because i find it completely amuzing. Its just funny to think that i used to love watching disney movies as a kid not knowing that they could ever have anything bad in them. I also think its a great idea from dinsney because lets face it parents have to watch these movies over and over again for their kids, so why not make the movies interesting and funny for them too. Instead of being bored watching these movies why not make it fun looking for little things like sexual references and such. As long as they dont take it too far and they make sure kids remain clueless of it then they should keep it going, its just funny.
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