Toy Story's Message for Young Children

Toy Story is an animated movie that was released in 1995 by director John Lasseter. This blockbuster film is about a group of toys who seem to be well alive but pretend to be lifeless when actual humans are around. The main characters in this movie are Woody (played by Tom Hanks), Buzz Lightyear (played by Tim Allen), Mr. Potato Head, Slinky Dog, and Rex.

The movie starts off with Woody getting jealous of Buzz because he knows that he will no longer be the favorite toy as Andy gets a new toy every year for his birthday. So when Buzz arrives in his spaceship Woody gets jealous because not only does he think he is being replaced by Buzz but with the other toys as well as they begin to love Buzz. Buzz and Woody then get into a fight which leads Buzz to falling out the window. The toys begin to blame Woody for this since he was so jealous of Buzz, but what the toys don’t know is that this was not at all Woody’s fault. So now the toys and Woody must come together to retrieve Buzz back before Andy can notice. While on their mission to get Buzz back Woody and the toys get into all types of trouble. Following all this the toys are also preparing for a move the following week and are also worried that they will no longer be played with but instead thrown into the storage attic of the new home.

As they begin to act upon getting Buzz back Andy takes Woody and leaves for Pizza at “Pizza Planet”. Upon leaving Pizza Planet Andy’s mom stops for gas and that’s when Woody learns that Buzz has actually tried to hitch a ride but they end up having another fight then learns that the family has left without them. So now they must find a way to get back to Andy. Upon getting back to the pizza restaurant both Woody and Buzz find themselves inside a toy machine and later taken by Andy’s evil toy detacher neighbor Sid. Now this is where they must work as a team and put their jealous ways aside to get themselves back to Andy’s house before he figures out they are gone. After finally escaping Andy’s evil toy neighbor Sid’s house the toys find themselves back at home with Andy. They have learned to get along with one another and also develop a toyship (friendship) that they both thought would never happen. Moving forward till the end of the movie the toys find out on Christmas day that Andy now has a new gift under the tree that is a small dog, now Woody and Buzz worry all over again in fear that they will be replaced.

In the film Toy Story it uses a three dimensional constructed text in order to air across the two characters having to work together despite their small issues of not liking each other to reach the one common goal of getting back home to Andy and the rest of the toys. According to (Goodykoontz & Jacobs, 2014), “ high key Lighting style of lighting is typi¬cal of comedies, happy scenes, institutional and office scenes, and the like. A low-key lighting design looks dark overall by com¬parison.” This film has low and high key lighting styles to show the realism of the toys. The film used high lighting to show the happiness of its characters and the low lighting showed when the toys were in danger. For example, when the toys made it back home to Andy, they was happy and excited to see all the other toys but then the lighting changed and was dark when the toys were in danger with Sid. The editing in this movie was great as well being that this is an animation film the conventions were things that appear as moving images or state of being alive. The illusion of both Buzz and Woody have a fantasy convention being that fantasy in relation to film is described as unreal magical or impossible situation and settings. Its fantasy because these are toys that are talking and moving around as if they are human.

Toy Story was marketed towards children and pre-teen-based audience film, but the film is genuinely funny for adults as well. There were so many great life messages in this film that had a impact on society that not only children but adults can learn from as well. Jealousy, and team work are two of the many. Both Woody and Buzz had to work together to get back home to Andy even though Woody was jealous of Buzz he put his pride to the side to help. This is a movie I will defiantly have my daughters sit down to watch not only for enjoyment but to gain some type of learning as well when it comes to treating others and working together. From analyzing film you will be able to differentiate how the film looks from the lighting down to the characters and different angles. There are so many ways different that analyzing a film cam make someone better understand the movie they are watching. Knowing the defining of what film theory is and the meaning of criticism can always help one find the main storyline in a film.

Looking back on this course I can defiantly say that each film made has a secret message in it that its trying to teach the audience. In this film the message was all about teamwork and putting pride to the side. Film speaks to our emotions, there are films that will make us cry, happy, inspire, laugh or even get angry each film has a motive. When watching different films, I am now paying attention to the message and the different techniques used in the film. Some of the different skills I developed while taking this course is my critical thinking skills it allowed me to challenge myself when it comes to the discussion post. In the real world I will use this by understanding how to respond to different situations to gain a better outcome. My degree of choice is in the human service field to become a social worker. Using critical thinking will allow me to think fast and rational.