Pixar’s shorts have ranged from the excellent (Gerry’s Game) to the less than memorable (One Man Band), at least in my opinion. This time, I was surprised at first at what seemed to be a piece of 2-D hand-drawn animation. But wait! These retro-ish characters served as frames for 3-D scenes – one with day scenes of day, another with night.
Night expounds on the merits of his nighttime world, Day promotes the merits of his. Like many of us, each clings fiercely to his own views, and cannot seem to recognize that the views of the other may have some validity.
Gradually, though, they begin to let go of their rigid ideas, and begin to meet in the middle. This is expressed creatively and beautifully. And then, a radio tower chimes in to announce a message – something about people who are afraid of the views of others, rigidity of views, and about embracing change, or something like that. I think the message in this short came across beautifully in the bulk of the short itself, and the radio tower was a bit of overkill, but overall, it had a powerful message about embracing differences and a message compatible with Buddhism in that it advocated not rigidly clinging to views, accepting differences, and embracing change.
How sad, then, that someone on Yahoo is already posting that the film is evidence of an “insidious” gay plot to impose their views upon the masses. I think he is proving the film’s point that there are many people out there who are so fixed in their ideas that they cannot see the perspective of others, and are afraid of differences. I wonder if the person posting this has ever taken the time to actually know any gay people. He might begin to see them as people, and realize that they don’t have an agenda, other than to be treated with respect and acceptance. The film’s message, though, while applicable to learning to accept others with a different sexual orientation, is equally as applicable to learning to accept others with different religious views, political views, or views of any kind.
Did you like this short?
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