To my utter delight, someone on the Disney wiki I use for occasional research for the column has commented on the two videos technically part of what we’re discussing for Year of the Month today (there are three more videos, but they’re all from 1970), explaining what they think the characters should do. Now, I’ve got my feelings, too. But the whole point of this is that you’re supposed to make decisions; the short doesn’t tell kids what the right answer is because kids are supposed to think for themselves. I like to hope this guy’s hoping to spark group discussion, but he’s just stated his opinion and left it at that.
Each short shows us three children in a situation where all of them have to make a decision about their future actions. The ones from 1969 are “The Fight” and “The Game.” In “The Fight,” one kid trips another, starting a fight, while a third kid looks on. In “The Game,” one of the kids from “The Fight” is told that he’s gotten three strikes and is out; the onlooker from “The Fight” is an onlooker here, and a new kid is the umpire. There are three other shorts in the series, only two of which are available on YouTube that I found. One as a recording of a filmstrip.
Wow these kids are worried about everyone else’s opinions. To a certain extent I get that, but wow. One of the 1970 ones is “The New Girl,” wherein a girl who is new to the school is rejected by “the president of the girls’ club” for looking like a mess and wearing a dress no one else at the school would wear. All three girls think about everyone else’s reactions if anything more than what’s right. Or even what feels best to them. It’s not “I agree with what she’s doing,” it’s “if I stand up to the bully, no one will come to my birthday party.” It’s not “I like my outfit,” it’s “my parents will shame me for wanting new clothes.” It’s weird.
When the theme song—which isn’t terrible—started up, I had a sudden visceral memory of having seen at least one of these shorts before. I don’t know if it was on The Disney Channel or in school, but I’ve definitely seen at least one of them and probably more. I don’t know if anyone else has had this hit, but I suppose it proves in a way the effects of education. It’s all in there somewhere, even if I hadn’t seen the short in literally thirty years or more.
It’s a better educational short than a lot of the ones I’ve seen over the years—and no aficionado of “movies with puppets in the corner” can go without familiarity with a lot of educational shorts. Because it’s not, at least overtly, forcing kids into conformity, it doesn’t have that unsettling ‘50s stiffness to it. The animation is somewhat minimalist, presumably because this was a project Disney was doing on the cheap to keep money coming in while they figured out what they were doing post-Walt. Still, reminding kids to stop and think before acting is timeless.
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