The Hidden Meanings in Kids' Movies - Colin Stokes at TEDxBeaconStreet

Watching "The Wizard of Oz" and "Star Wars" with his son and daughter made communications expert Colin Stokes wonder about the stories we celebrate. Thanks to a growing awareness of gender representation, the world is now safe for girls in armor - but is the hero journey we've gotten used to inherently limiting? This funny and thought-provoking talk from TEDxBeaconStreet will make you look twice at your favorite films.

You know, my favorite part of being a dad

is the movies I get to watch.

I love sharing my favorite movies with my kids

and when my daughter was four,
we got to watch "The Wizard of Oz" together.

Totally dominated her imagination for months.

Her favorite character was Glinda, of course.

Gave a great excuse to wear
a sparkly dress and carry a wand.

You know, you watch a movie enough times

and you start to realize how unusual it is.

Now, we live today and are raising our children

in a kind of children's fantasy
spectacular industrial complex.

But "The Wizard of Oz" stood alone,
it did not start that trend.

Forty years later was
when the trend really caught on

with, interestingly, another movie
that featured a metal guy and a furry guy

rescuing a girl by dressing up
as the enemy's guards.

(Laughter)

Do you know what I'm talking about? (Laughter)

Now, there's a big difference
between these two movies,

a couple of really big differences
between "The Wizard of Oz"

and all the movies we watch today.

One is there's very little violence
in "The Wizard of Oz".

The monkeys are rather aggressive
as are the apple trees.

But I think if "The Wizard of Oz"
were made today, the wizard would say,

"Dorothy, you are the savior of Oz
that the prophecy foretold.

Use your magic slippers to defeat

the computer-generated armies
of the Wicked Witch."

That's not how it happens.

Another thing that is really unique
about "The Wizard of Oz" to me is that

all of the most heroic and wise
and even villainous characters are female.

Now, I started to notice this

when I actually showed "Star Wars"
to my daughter,

which was years later
and the situation was different.

At that point, I also had a son.

He was only 3 at the time.

He was not invited to the screening.
He's too young for that.

But he was a second child and the level
of supervision had plummeted.

(Laughter)

So, he wandered in and it imprinted on him
like a mommy duck does to its duckling.

Is he picking up on the fact that
there are only boys in the universe,

except for Aunt Beru and, of course,
this princess who is really cool

but who kind of waits around
through most of the movie

so that she can award the hero with a medal

and a wink to thank him
for saving the universe,

which he does by the magic
that he was born with.

Compare this to 1939 with "The Wizard of Oz".

How does Dorothy win her movie?

By making friends with everybody
and being a leader.

That's kind of the world
I'd rather raise my kids in.

Why is there so much force,
capital F Force,

in the movies we have for our kids

and so little Yellow Brick Road?

I know from my own experience
that Princess Leia did not provide

the adequate context that I could've used

in navigating the adult world that is co-ed.

(Laughter)

You know, there was
a kind of first-kiss moment

when I really expected
the credits to start rolling

because that's the end of the movie, right?

I finished my quest, I got the girl,
why are you still standing there? (Laughter)

The movies are very, very focused
on defeating the villain

and getting your reward
and there's not a lot of room

for other relationships and other journeys.

It's almost as though if you're a boy,
you are a dopey animal

and if you are a girl,
you should bring your warrior costume.

I mean, there are plenty of exceptions

and I will defend the Disney princesses
in front of any of you.

But they do send a message to boys.
The boys are not really the target audience.

They're doing a phenomenal job of teaching girls

how to defend against the patriarchy,

but they're not necessarily showing boys

how they're supposed to defend
against the patriarchy.

There are no models for them.

And we also have some terrific women
who are writing new stories for our kids.

And as three-dimensional and delightful
as Hermione and Katniss are,

these are still war movies.

And, of course, the most
successful studio of all time

continues to crank out
classic after classic,

every single one of them about
the journey of a boy, or a man,

or two men who are friends,
or a man and his son

or two men who are raising a little girl.

Until, as many of you are thinking, this year,

when they finally came out with Brave.

I recommend it to all of you.
It's on demand now. (Laughter)

You remember what the critics said
when Brave came out?

"Ahh, I can't believe Pixar
made a princess movie".

Now, almost none of these movies
passed the Bechdel test.

Alison Bechdel is a comic book artist
and back in the mid '80s

she recorded this conversation
she'd had with a friend,

about assessing the movies that they saw.

It's very simple.
It's just three questions you should ask,

Is there more than one character
in the movie that is female who has lines?

So, try to meet that bar.
(Laughter)

And do these women talk to each other
at any point in the movie? (Laughter)

And is their conversation about
something other than

the guy that they both like?

(Laughter)

Right? Thank you.

(Applause)

Thank you very much.

Two women who exist and talk
to each other about stuff.

It does happen. I've seen it.

So, let's look at the numbers.

2011, the hundred most popular movies.

How many of them do you think
actually have female protagonists?

Eleven.

But there is a number
that is greater than this,

that's going to bring this room down.

Last year, the New York Times published
a study that the government had done.

Here's what it said.

One out of five women in America say

that they have been sexually assaulted
sometime in their lives.

Now, I don't think that's the fault
of popular entertainment.

I don't think kids' movies
have anything to do with that,

but something is going wrong

and when I hear that statistic,

one of the things I think of is,
that's a lot of sexual assailants.

Who are these guys?
What are they learning?

What are they failing to learn?

Are they absorbing the story
that a male hero's job

is to defeat the villain with violence
and then collect the reward,

which is a woman who has no friends
and doesn't speak?

Are we soaking up that story?

You know, as a parent with the privilege
of raising a daughter,

like all of you who are doing the same thing,

we find this world
and this statistic very alarming

and we want to prepare them.

We have tools at our disposal like girl power
and we hope that that will help.

But I got to wonder, is girl power going
to protect them if at the same time,

actively or passively, we are training
our sons to maintain their boy power?

And I'm talking mainly to the dads here.

I think we have got to show our sons
a new definition of manhood.

Now, the definition of manhood
is already turning upside down.

I mean, you've read about
how the new economy

is changing the roles of
caregiver and wage earner.

They are throwing it up in the air.

So, our sons are going to have
to find some way of adapting

to this new relationship with each other.

And I think we really have
to show them and model for them

how a real man is someone who trusts
his sisters and respects them,

and wants to be on their team,
and stands up against the real bad guys,

who are the men who want
to abuse the women.

And I think our job in the Netflix queue
is to look out for those movies

that passed the Bechdel test,
if we can find them,

and to seek out the heroines,
who are there, who show real courage,

who bring people together and nudge
our sons to identify with those heroines,

and to say, "I want to be on their team",

because they're going to be on their team.

When I asked my daughter who her favorite
character was in "Star Wars",

you know what she said?

Obi-Wan.

Obi-Wan Kenobi and Glinda.

What do these two have in common?

I think these are the two people in the movie
who know more than anybody else

and they love sharing their knowledge

with other people to help them
reach their potential.

They're leaders.

I like that kind of quest for my daughter,

and I like that kind of quest for my son.

I want more quests like that.

I want fewer quests where my son is told,
"Go out and fight it alone"

and more quests where he sees
that it's his job to join a team,

maybe a team led by women,

to help other people become better
and be better people,

like "The Wizard of Oz".

Thank you.

(Applause)