Characterization or Caricaturization

Last December, I went to Oakland Museum for Pixar exhibit and was quite impressed thus I got hold of a copy of Finding Nemo, and put a hold on the library copy of A Bug's Life. 

However, my viewing of Finding Nemo left me a very unpleasant feeling, mostly triggered by the characterization of Dory, who was obviously cast as a Wal-Mart shopper.  I also found some jokes quite forced.

It seems that humorous or funny moments are prerequisite in animated films nowadays.  I have heard people talked about how funny Toy Story 3 is. However, after Findng Nemo, I will stay away from those humors.

Even for movies made for children, it is not necessarily to have these moments.  Insisting having them, movie makers fall into mannerism.  Children can be trained to be sophisticate and appreciate a good story told straightforward.

I remember that I attended a forum when I was in fourth or fifth grade and gave the visiting local children theater people a lecture on the sophistication of children.  I told them that we didn't not need to be cued to laugh or cry.  Caricaturization would be all right if it was a farce.  Otherwise, we children could appreciate real characterization and good storyline just fine.

I might be too harsh to them but I still believe that adults tend to patronize children and forgot how smart we were when we were little and how annoying it was when we were treated as idiots.

Perhaps, time changed.  Perhaps, Chinese and American children are different.  "A sense of humor" is an accolade in the US but suspicious in China.

Culture gulf hard to bridge, it seems.