Me and my main man Kev went to see it today, it's day of release. Although the movie was my idea, I found myself with the 1st scene wondering if I made a mistake. However, this quickly passed as the movie keeps you laughing,
The reason for my initial 2nd thoughts is it occurred to me-do I really want to watch a movie with a stuffed teddy bear as the main actor? My initial impression from the previews was that his buddy John-Mark Walhberg- was the one who was married.
I have nothing against stuffed bears but I wondered if I'd get bored. Turns out there was nothing to worry about. Again, it keeps you laughing but in retrospect, that movie was deep-which for me is always most important anyway. Let's get started with the bevy of deep issues and subjects.
1. Talking animals. This is something that traditional Christianity considers a blasphemy. The Bible is very stern about the fact that animals can't talk.
" In 2006, some parents in a Kansas school district decided that talking animals are blasphemous and unnatural; passages about the spider dying were also criticized as being “inappropriate subject matter for a children’s book.”
http://bannedbooks.world.edu/2011/04/03/banned-books-awareness-charlottes-web-eb-white/
On the other hand, Zarathustra's relationship with his animals is a key part of Thus Spoke Zarathustra.
http://www.amazon.com/Nietzschean-Bestiary-Becoming-Animal-Beyond-ebook/dp/B00EGJAWSQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1435356218&sr=1-1&keywords=nietzsche+bestiary
In this movie, however, Ted is supposed to be a human even if he looks like a stuffed bear who happens to talk. The one scene where John's lawyer girlfriend who is handling Ted's case sings is very interesting as well as all the animals in the forest are roused it. Again, though Ted is supposed to be human.
2. Seth McFarlane. It's fitting that he directed the movie-and does the talking for Ted as he is the voice in Family Guy as well-he does the talking for Brian the talking dog. He's just really good at this. Another interesting connection-there was a Family Guy episode where Brian tries to get the state to recognize him as a human as he can talk.
3. Civil Rights. Ted demands that the government recognize him as a human. This strikes me as having a number of implications.
When the lawyer for the Massachusetts government comes on and points out that of course he was not human as John's parents bought him in the store-and then in a really painful moment forces him to push a button on him that triggers the same voices for children that come on any doll it seems cruel but maybe having some truth in it.
Yet ultimately I guess it's like what Zizek says about gender. Gender is real but any attempt of us to define what it is and what it isn't fails. The movie kind of makes the same argument regarding humanity. The fact that Ted is a stuffed bear who was born in a store doesn't make him less human-it instead points to the fact that humanity is more varied than we realized. Turns out there is at least one human that has this unlikely biography and opinion.
It also strikes me as touching on some of the real life civil rights developments we've seen lately with the large acceptance now of gay marriage. The government lawyer that argued Ted was property in his opening argument said that Ted can't be human because this would devalue real humans and make them less special.
It seems to me that this is in many ways what's behind of the resistance to gay marriage: if we expand what we consider marriage then we in some way devalue heterosexual marriage.
Now we have transgender people which seems to redefine what it means even to be male or female. You might say that whenever there is a new push to expand the circle of what you could call the human family, those who are already admitted feel uneasy as if admitting them subtracts from their own specialness.
P.S. Much as I'm not a Tiki Barber fan he wrote an interesting book about his life as a twin and how that gives a twin a different view of the phenomenon of human individuality and the natural desire of us all to feel special
http://www.amazon.com/My-Brothers-Side-Tiki-Barber-ebook/dp/B0069C2RVI/ref=sr_1_10?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1435357667&sr=1-10&keywords=tiki+barber+twins&pebp=1435357678818&perid=1Q8QTHH3PJX9A6YSTKQD
UPDATE: Here is Amanda Seyfriend's version of Mean Ole Moon. Just breathtaking. Also check the swing version by Walter Murphy. I can listen to it all day.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nWA8iZ7vjg
The reason for my initial 2nd thoughts is it occurred to me-do I really want to watch a movie with a stuffed teddy bear as the main actor? My initial impression from the previews was that his buddy John-Mark Walhberg- was the one who was married.
I have nothing against stuffed bears but I wondered if I'd get bored. Turns out there was nothing to worry about. Again, it keeps you laughing but in retrospect, that movie was deep-which for me is always most important anyway. Let's get started with the bevy of deep issues and subjects.
1. Talking animals. This is something that traditional Christianity considers a blasphemy. The Bible is very stern about the fact that animals can't talk.
" In 2006, some parents in a Kansas school district decided that talking animals are blasphemous and unnatural; passages about the spider dying were also criticized as being “inappropriate subject matter for a children’s book.”
http://bannedbooks.world.edu/2011/04/03/banned-books-awareness-charlottes-web-eb-white/
On the other hand, Zarathustra's relationship with his animals is a key part of Thus Spoke Zarathustra.
http://www.amazon.com/Nietzschean-Bestiary-Becoming-Animal-Beyond-ebook/dp/B00EGJAWSQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1435356218&sr=1-1&keywords=nietzsche+bestiary
In this movie, however, Ted is supposed to be a human even if he looks like a stuffed bear who happens to talk. The one scene where John's lawyer girlfriend who is handling Ted's case sings is very interesting as well as all the animals in the forest are roused it. Again, though Ted is supposed to be human.
2. Seth McFarlane. It's fitting that he directed the movie-and does the talking for Ted as he is the voice in Family Guy as well-he does the talking for Brian the talking dog. He's just really good at this. Another interesting connection-there was a Family Guy episode where Brian tries to get the state to recognize him as a human as he can talk.
3. Civil Rights. Ted demands that the government recognize him as a human. This strikes me as having a number of implications.
When the lawyer for the Massachusetts government comes on and points out that of course he was not human as John's parents bought him in the store-and then in a really painful moment forces him to push a button on him that triggers the same voices for children that come on any doll it seems cruel but maybe having some truth in it.
Yet ultimately I guess it's like what Zizek says about gender. Gender is real but any attempt of us to define what it is and what it isn't fails. The movie kind of makes the same argument regarding humanity. The fact that Ted is a stuffed bear who was born in a store doesn't make him less human-it instead points to the fact that humanity is more varied than we realized. Turns out there is at least one human that has this unlikely biography and opinion.
It also strikes me as touching on some of the real life civil rights developments we've seen lately with the large acceptance now of gay marriage. The government lawyer that argued Ted was property in his opening argument said that Ted can't be human because this would devalue real humans and make them less special.
It seems to me that this is in many ways what's behind of the resistance to gay marriage: if we expand what we consider marriage then we in some way devalue heterosexual marriage.
Now we have transgender people which seems to redefine what it means even to be male or female. You might say that whenever there is a new push to expand the circle of what you could call the human family, those who are already admitted feel uneasy as if admitting them subtracts from their own specialness.
P.S. Much as I'm not a Tiki Barber fan he wrote an interesting book about his life as a twin and how that gives a twin a different view of the phenomenon of human individuality and the natural desire of us all to feel special
http://www.amazon.com/My-Brothers-Side-Tiki-Barber-ebook/dp/B0069C2RVI/ref=sr_1_10?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1435357667&sr=1-10&keywords=tiki+barber+twins&pebp=1435357678818&perid=1Q8QTHH3PJX9A6YSTKQD
UPDATE: Here is Amanda Seyfriend's version of Mean Ole Moon. Just breathtaking. Also check the swing version by Walter Murphy. I can listen to it all day.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nWA8iZ7vjg
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