But I absolutely come unglued if a fictional child or animal is threatened or harmed in any way.
I know it's all just make believe. As you might explain to a child, no one is really hurt in the TV show, it's just actors pretending.
I take them at their word when they say no animals were harmed during production. I know no actual actor of any species or any age is hurt when something pretend happens on the screen.
Yet, I just can't stand to think of even a fictional child or animal getting hurt. I teared up just researching web sites for movies where the dog dies.
I trace my sensitivity back to Old Yeller, a Disney movie from 1957. Featuring a boy and his dog on the frontier of Texas, Yeller is the boy's best friend and protector of the family. As a very young child, I watched enraptured by the whole movie, identifying with the boy (I too had a dog best friend), following the ups and downs of their lives.
Until the part where the boy has to shoot Old Yeller.
I was so shocked and upset that I never really got over it.
In all fairness, Yeller had rabies and in the context of the story, shooting him was the right thing to do. But I never got over it. I wouldn't have cared, in fact I would have cheered, if the overly strict father had been shot instead.
It seems like every Disney movie from that era involved animals that died. One need not look beyond the classic Bambi, to know what I'm talking about. Everyone who's seen it remembers vividly the moment when Bambi's mother is shot by a hunter. It was enough to put me off Disney, which severely limited the movies I was able to watch as a child.
If I had children, I wouldn't let them watch Old Yeller until they were well into adulthood. Even then, not without warning them.
Marley and Me? Forget it. Never saw it.
The only exception I'll make is The Lion King. Even though Mufasa dies, it's such a great story that I'll overlook it this one time.
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