The Wistfully Whacked Out World of Disney

Saturday mornings I don't usually watch cartoons. But I turned on the TV Saturday morning (another thing I don't normally do) and found myself watching the Disney cartoon The Replacements. I'm not familiar with the show, but it was a scene about baseball, so I indulged for a few minutes and found myself critiquing everything I saw, which I usually DO do.

Here's the setup. The family: mom is Agent K, a beautiful blonde cartoon with a slim figure and British accent who "insists on trying to adapt her super-spy skills to parenting, with little success." Dad is Dick, an overstuffed stuntman and "Like Special Agent K, he has no experience parenting, but a total lack of knowledge has never stopped him from doing anything." Todd and Riley are the two stereotypical kids.

The situation: down by a run (or maybe they are tied), the kids have to score a run to win the game. I think Todd was at bat and I found myself intrigued by point 1.) The kids used a satellite contraption to steal the signs from the catcher as an advantage in hitting. The scene passed by so quickly without so much as a nod to the cheating, Disney must assume all teams have access to such technology and that they were in fact, playing by the rules.

With Todd cheating his way to first base, the plot thickened. Shelton, the potential winning run, a scrawny nerdy kid, made his way to the plate, terrified and knock-kneed. A couple of pitches went by and 'blam!' he was beaned by a fastball. The crowd went nuts as Shelton's beaning forced home the winning run. Ah yes! The little nerd wins it by taking one for the team.

The entire scene was less than 3 minutes but notice what I got from that short segment: 1.) Dad and Mom are less than adequate to parent (but look good), 2.) kids cheat to win and are celebrated and 3.) the little stick of a scapegoat kid gets nailed for the good of the team. I'm not a parent yet, but I'd have to worry about my kids watching this seemingly innocent little show that depicts parents who are inept but attractive, kids cheating and pre-pubescent boys getting hit by fastballs so the cool kids can win a game. Hmm...

Call me over-the-top analytical, but this miniscule act on the stage of unprecedented media intake should warn us that we need to question the value of what we watch. Are we ingesting TV, movies, games, etc that align with our values, beliefs and faith? Or are we settling for a digital babysitting box to breathe our society's flawed systems into us?