Pixar, Dreamworks, and the Spiritual Evolution of Humankind

My wife and I have been to a number of animated movies from Pixar and Dreamworks lately: WALL-E, Bolt, and The Tale of Despereaux. We really enjoy movies from these studios--partly because they're wholesome and fun, but mostly because they reflect some positive spiritual progress that we're beginning to see in humankind, especially among the younger generations.

The Tale of Despereaux is an especially striking example. Never in the past would such a non-conformist "child" have been praised so highly in a children's movie. Yes, there have been non-conformist children in children's cinema for a few decades, but they're typically presented in a slapstick comedy style, which blunts any sense that a young viewer might want to emulate them.

Desperaux is a mouse who defies his cultural convention of living in fear to bring salvation to a community. Even at the human level, this community had reverted to living in fear due to a tragic event, and the result had been no sunshine, no rain, and general despair in the kingdom. (I think the story's creators aere right on target, by the way, when they attributed changes in weather, the success of crops, etc., to the spiritual condition of the community.) The change agent turned out to be a mouse who was shunned by his community because he had courage.

Of course, an easy parallel can be drawn to the outgoing Bush administration. Ever since the tragic events of 9/11, the administration's only tool for achieving critical mass for its policies has been to stoke fear, and fear of terrorism has been its excuse for maintaining its fascist policies even after that critical mass evaporated. The McCain campaign made a long list of political mistakes in a year that was already bad for Republicans, but arguably its worst mistake was its "fear and smear" campaign tactics, which began early and intensified as the campaign got desperate.

A look at the election results shows that McCain won the "fear" vote by a landslide, but that the percentage of the electorate who voted out of fear declined tremendously. People began to realize that, as in Despereaux's community, living in fear has produced dreadful results--less freedom, less prosperity, a less fulfilling society--and a more dangerous world, despite claims to the contrary. People began to seek out hope over fear.

Our younger generation is leading the charge in this regard. Despereaux is an excellent rendition of what aura readers are calling "indigo children," and sociologists are using the term
"Millennial Generation" to describe the generational group that most of the indigos belong to. A large body of data--from the woo-woo community and the scientific community alike--indicates that the next few years will be very difficult and that this generation will make a significant contribution to leading us on a path to recovery. That path will be environmentally sustainable, more oriented to peace than to war, and geared toward local communities over globalization.

My wife has been reading a study on spiritual messages in cinema, and it's very revealing. I do believe that global consciousness is on the rise, and creative types are catching the wave and putting out some very good cinema. I'm glad to see that "children's movies" are included in this trend, and indeed are leading the charge in some ways. That's the generation that will most benefit from an "expanded spiritual toolbox."

And this is a whole 'nother post, but there are a number of very interesting parallels between WALL-E and City of Ember.