Classically animated movies are one of my favorite things in the whole world.
There are so many experiences that individually define our childhoods. Some are things we all share, like dancing in makeshift gowns in our bedroom or pretending to be mermaids at the pool. Others are more crafted to our individual tastes, like needing “A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes” to calm you down when you’re feeling just a bit too lonely or a bit too much. Whether it’s a battle of nostalgia, or our refusal to let things go, these things will always be there when we need them.
I’ve always found a certain solace in classically animated films. I think a lot of us have, which is why we keep going back to them. The stories, the music, the characters: these movies create hopeless romantics while maintaining a certain innocence. There’s a softness to these movies that live-action movies don’t share, and that’s fine; they’re two different art forms with two completely different types of storytelling. Animated films are safe, beautiful, and unreal for a reason. They were drawn to not be replicated in the real world because they’re meant to capture fantasies.
Time has been on my mind quite a lot lately. It goes by so quickly that it’s hard to catch your breath sometimes. Stories can live forever, but it’s hard to make them last. To make them matter is a different thing entirely. I don’t know what exactly led to this existential crisis. Perhaps it’s just growing and being more aware of the impossible standards that our society tends to push on us while the earth feels like it’s breaking apart. Or perhaps it was watching the Barbie movie again, becoming aware of girlhood, and feeling sad that not all of us take complete advantage of that time.
It’s easier to romanticize a time and place that doesn’t exist. Wanting to desperately leave everything behind and step foot in a fairytale where most things are morally black and white with pretty aesthetics is the whole point of escapism. In theory, witches and evil pirates are easier to deal with than a daily dose of anxiety and depression that never goes away. Of course, we can’t do that, so we settle for watching these movies in our beds when we need some time to ourselves to foster our own imaginations and happiness.