On every message board I belong to, Disney’s “Meet the Robinsons” is the all the buzz. I haven’t seen it yet and probably won’t until it hits our dollar theater. My three year old doesn’t sit well through movies in general and this one doesn’t sound like one that would keep his attention. However, I have found everyone’s comments to be fascinating.
I do not like movies that make fun of adoption. I remember that there was a specific quote in the movie, Dodge Ball, that annoyed me and I’m hearing that the new movie, Blades of Glory, has one of the characters being “un-adopted” which I think is terrible. It worries me that these things are in movies and that I have no way of knowing it until after I’ve seen it.
On the other hand, I’ve never had a problem with most “adoption” movies. “Annie” was one of my favorite movies when I was a child. I even had a red dress that I thought looked like Annie’s dress, though there was nothing I could do to make my straight black hair curl. From what I’ve read over at the Transracial Adoption blog, “Meet the Robinsons” seems to be a pretty mild movie, but I’ve been hearing a lot of negative responses too. In fact, some of the posts have been rabid in their dislike, which perhaps is what prompted the post on the International Adoption blog (which I enjoyed).
In the group that I belong to, someone wrote a scathing review of the movie. Her child cried when they got home because it made her think of her birth mother and abandonment. Another parent responded that his child had seen the movie as well and that his child hadn’t had a problem with it at all. Once again, I think this illustrates that not all Korean adoptees are the same. We react to each situation differently – depending on our own individual personalities.
Perhaps it’s not such a bad thing if a child has a negative reaction to an adoption movie. It would seem to me that this would open up a whole line of conversation between parent and child. A startling reaction from a child to the movie may be a sign that there are deeper problems that need to be looked into. There is absolutely nothing wrong (in my opinion) with my son remembering his birth mother, but there would be something wrong if it reduced my son to tears. No one wants to see our children distressed. When my son is upset, I often find myself fighting back tears of sympathy, but sometimes this upset can help lead us to important information.
If you would like to comment, but not on this site, please e-mail me at adoptkoreablog@adoptionmail.com.
I don’t watch many children’s movies at the movie theater, but my wife and I happened to go see it, because of the lack of alternatives.
It never occured to me of the old feeling I once had in my youth. The urge to remember anything about my birth mother, and know what she thought of me. What were the circumstances that made her decide it was better to let me go? The boy in the movie battled the same feelings, and soon found (after seeing his future) that he didn’t need to know. It struck a chord with me, and I left the theater feeling rather guilty. My guilt was because I felt I had some-how forgotten my mother through the journey of my life, but the problem is that I don’t have a memory of her. Most of my memories from Korea are forgotten or blocked. My earliest account is the day I left Korea with my foster parents. My mother reminded me a few years back that when I was a child, I told her that my mother was killed. I certainly don’t remember ever saying it, but what do you belive?
Personally, these types of issues are part of life. I don’t think it should be ignored or stopped because of a few disgruntled parents, who feel they are doing what is best for their children. I don’t believe in shielding a child, because to me it is avoiding an issue that may need resolving. If not now, when? If you believe it should be later, it may already be too late.
I thought the movie wasn’t half-bad.