I’ll try to be as POLITE AS POSSIBLE here, but its so hard.
…This is a horrible, horrible, horrible book.
Yes, there are some intriguing pages. But the real flaw is when it tries to describe the different aspects of Pixar movies.
Is love an aspect of Pixar films? Some. Not all. Why the heck are you trying to make it seem like BuzzxJessie plays a big part in Toy Story 2!
Is friendship an aspect of all Pixar films? Yes, but you don’t have to go into cruel, aganizing detail on the page. I agree that a page on friendship belonged in a book, but NOT a page that basically says “Everyone needs a friend. If you don’t have a friend, you should work harder. If you can’t make a friend, just kill yourself because friends are the most important thing in life”.
As someone with aspurgers syndrome, that ONE page was the most ignorant, offensive thing in the whole book. Any 10/10 book with that page would automatically become a 2/10.
Ah, I was trying to remember the name of the big “coffee table” book that I saw last Winter in a Barnes & Noble, with all the Pixar movies all the way through Up in it. I disliked it because it was so biased towards certain character, with not-so-accurate assessments of others. I won’t go into details but I’m sure most people can figure it out.
I haven’t read it…I want to, and since I’m a big pairing junkie, your rant on the focus of the love stories has actually made me more tempted. HOWEVER, you’re right, BuzzXJessie was pretty much an afterthought in TS2 (TS3, though, that’s a different story ) Still, was the thing about friendship really that heavy? Plus, I admittedly would probably hate life if I didn’t have my best friends. shrugs
The main reason I’m not getting it is because its forty dollars or something.
Chicken Man, I have Asperger’s too!! You guys and the band kids are my only friends. I hate to get really personal, but do you have a point of focus? Mine is Pixar(wow).
I can tell you are upset. Is this line an actual quote from the book?
You sound pretty hurt about how one character was depicted, as well as some misinterpretations for a few others. It doesn’t seem fair. I, too, don’t like it when writers don’t show one-sided viewpoints of characters.
To be honest, when I see negative-oriented threads like this, it makes me feel uncomfortable. Granted, it is fun to take a dig or be critical of something if you don’t like it, but to actively vindicate it with the sole intent of listing the bad points without mentioning the good is not being fair to the creators. This is my opinion, what do you think, guys?
I’ve leafed through a copy of the book without reading it from front to back, and from what I could see it is, as pitbulllady pointed out, a ‘coffee table’ book, i.e. one that is designed to be leafed through every so often, as opposed to being technically and factually correct in every way. I see such books as decoration rather than a source of information- for something more accurate, a book like The Pixar Touch would be more appropriate.
So, due to the style of the book, I’d never expect it to be a fountain of wisdom, and though some of the pages sound irritating (like that friend thing, bleugh) it sounds as though it was a different book to the one that you were expecting and perhaps would find more interesting.
I completely agree with thedriveintheater. I didn’t see any problems with the book, if you don’t like it or find it offensive, just don’t read it.
I have the book. I didnt’ really find anything wrong with it. If I had to pick something out, I’d say it was really expensive. But then again are the majority of coffee table books are expensive.
I personally don’t think the "Friendship Page’ was saying if you don’t have friends you should kill yourself. I just re read it. it’s just says who’s friends with who in the movies. It’s not that big of a deal to me. Hating a book is a bit extreme, it’s just a book to be honest. If you don’t like it, just don’t like it, whatever. But start a whole thread about it? But to each their own, right?
Have seen it in a book shop, naturally went to check up a few things and movies like Monsters Inc and wasn’t impressed or in agreement with it.
It’s not worth the money really at all.
Expensive and didn’t give an objective viewpoint really. More trying to make people think things their way than encouraging real thinking. It’s not a book for deep thinking and doesn’t show much of it itself. But then perhaps that’s expecting a bit much? I don’t know.
But I think people can hate books and start threads on them in any case. Discussion can be good. There’s something to be learned from books whether they’re terrible, brilliant or simply mediocre even. You can ask WHY this book caused you to think or feel a certain way whether it’s positive or negative.
Books and other media (as well as just other general opinions especially surrounding fiction) in my view should be used as SPRINGBOARDS for ideas at best and shouldn’t be used to do all your thinking for you anyway. Which unfortunatly I got the distinct impression of from the book.
But any amount of time spent with an english student will tell you that sort of thinking is just setting yourself up for failure. Interpretations are things you can reference yes but you have to show your own thinking too. You also have to show WHY you think that, and you can’t just simply say it as if its indespuitable fact and leave it like that. That is not how it works. Just because ‘X’ says something about a piece of fiction doesn’t mean it actually is true or even makes sense in context. Opinions can be valuable, but only when informed or showing critical thinking skills when it comes to interpretations. And the only true canon is what is in the movies anyway.
But yeah it probably is a ‘coffee table book’ nothing deep or anything like that about, pretty superficial all and all and they could do better. It’s not a reliable form of reference.
You should probably still look at it before writing it off. People exaggerate things when they’re complaining, so you should probably check to see what it was actually saying. It could have just been stressing that friends can be extremely important, which I agree with.
I agree. I respect The Chicken Man’s opinion, but I think he’s exaggerating a big.
I have the book on my lap right now, opened to the friendship page
“Best friends come in all kinds of crazy shapes and sizes in the world of Disney*Pixar, bt one thing they all have in common is that t hey look out for each other and can always be counted on in times of need”
Where in that paragraph does it imply if you have no friends you mind as well should kill yourself? All it’s saying is that In Pixar movies, the characters have friends that are they count on. Not in the real life people have to have friends.
Then the next page says Carl and Russell are friends and they learn from each other, and that Linguini and Remy’s friendship stirs up the Culinary World. And so on and so forth. It’s not that big of a deal if you ask me.
I agree with you on encouraging discussion, especially on literature which are deemed as ‘bad’ by the general community. However, it seems that the thread-starter deliberately wrote a ‘hate thread’ (as is implied in the title) listing the bad points only, which not only smacks of one-sided biases, but of narrow-minded ignorance as well. Maybe it would’ve been less offensive if the title was simply ‘Opinions on Pixarpedia’.
I do agree with you on the bit about it being expensive, though.
I know you don’t mean to come off this way, but this is not a very logical argument. It’s like reading a page from a book advising against smoking, and I happen to be a smoker, and because of that, I feel vindicated and say that I hate this book. Or I see a page of a super-ripped bodybuilder, and I’m thin and scrawny (which I am ), and because of that, I feel insulted and say they don’t understand my situation and shouldn’t show pictures of healthy, strong people.
That’s what I suspected. Thanks for confirming, ellie-jessie-eve.
I didn’t mean to be ignorant. All I’m saying is that if TCM is like me, he probably gets easily worked up about what others see as nothing. For example, when someone says they don’t like Elastigirl, most people just take it as their opinion. For me, I lash out at the person. I’m working on that, but my point is that “we” get very irritated over very “silly” things, and I can see why TCM specifically would have been offended. However, yes, I suppose a two-sided thread could garner a more healthy, less negative discussion.
I agree with thedriveintheatre on this; I feel uncomfortable with threads like these, on really any forum.
I got Pixarpedia for my birthday, and I fully enjoyed it. Fine if you dislike it, but I got a lot out of it, and it looks awesome on my shelf. People are hard to please…
Okay, here’s what I think about this book: I love it. It is a very well-written book and it is packed with info. But we forget, DK wrote this book FOR KIDS. The intended age group is about 5-9. While it is a great book, it, in essence, is a children’s book. So lay off it.
To be completely honest, I quite like PixarPedia, which I even gave as a gift to a friend because I liked it that much! It’s meant to be for light reading, and it wss never intended to be an in-depth analysis of the films.
I personally recommend it, and I think it’s worth the money.
I’ve changed the title of the thread to a more neutral stance. Feel free to debate on why you hate or love the book, but don’t get antagonistic, peeps!
I just got the book today, and I love it so far. I just have a question though. Is there really a page that tells you to go kill yourself if you don’t have any friends?
HOWEVER, you’re right, BuzzXJessie was pretty much an afterthought in TS2 (TS3, though, that’s a different story 
) Still, was the thing about friendship really that heavy? Plus, I admittedly would probably hate life if I didn’t have my best friends. shrugs
), and because of that, I feel insulted and say they don’t understand my situation and shouldn’t show pictures of healthy, strong people.