Some conservatives are arguing that the Pixar film Cars 2 is a “leftist” film that tries to brainwash kids into hating oil companies. Cenk Uygur and Ana Kasparian discuss.
Thoughts?
My thoughts? People are insane to take this movie seriously. 
^Well said. 
I seriously doubt there’s any serious politics in Cars 2.
This is like the “fattists” who hated WALL-E all over again…
[spoil]TBH, I did feel the big oil message was kinda preachy. That was like, the one thing I really hated about the film. It was annoying and the logic wasn’t very sound. I felt like Fillmore was yelling “IT’S A CONSPIRACY MAN!” in my ear.
I don’t think that makes the entire film propaganda though, and it personally did not ruin my enjoyment of it.[/spoil]
I’ve heard that Pixar is actually a fairly conservative company (if anything, I feel WALL-E is in support of a free market, Cars 1 is in support of smaller town virtues, and Toy Story 3 is an Animal Farm-esque anti-Communism fable). Even though I haven’t seen Cars 2 yet, I doubt I’m going to be very offended.
I’m going to be honest, I have no idea what anyone is talking about.
All I know is I don’t think anyone should take it that seriously. 
I think we have the right to be annoyed when children’s films are propaganda (for example, Happy Feet is clearly pro-environmentalist and anti-organized religion), but I think that some people go out of their way to get offended.
When I saw Happy Feet, I saw dancing penguins. 
Having seen the film I will admit that some of the messages it was trying to get across at times felt sort of ham-fisted, but to be honest, the Allinol vs. Standard Oil part of it was the least of my problem. Not to get too heavy into politics, but I tend to lean more conservative than liberal, I’m by no means “right wing” but I tend to agree more with the conservative side of issues. That being said, anyone who has filled up their car anytime in the last decade knows that the oil industry is totally corrupt. There’s no reason why gas prices should be as high as they are, yet they keep going up. That’s not “Liberal Propaganda,” it’s simple realistic observation.
So now, I was neither offended or bother by the whole oil subplot, it was slightly ham-fisted and not nearly as elegant as the way similar issues were raised in Monsters, Inc. or WALL•E, but it wasn’t liberal indoctrination by any stretch of the imagination.
To be honest, I was more annoyed that I was beat over the head with the kid’s movie “be yourself” cliché. Not that it’s a bad message, but it’s so played out in every bad kids movie out there, and this didn’t have the same class that usually accompanies the message of a Pixar film.
The penguin society is lead by a bunch of bigoted, aging penguins that reject anything new or different (they often call Mumble’s dancing blasphemous or wicked or something along those lines). They tell the others that the fish population is controlled by a metaphysical penguin god that doesn’t really control anything at all, whom they must sing noticeably hymn-like songs to. A penguin “prophet” is revealed to be a fake. All of these people are proven wrong by the plucky protagonist who finds the real, “earthly” cause of all their problems, with the penguins stopping their singing and joining him. Now, I often think people look to far into these things, but this one was quite blatant.
I actually agree entirely with Rac on the HF thing. Now, I kind of like that movie, but if I think of the politics, I just get mad. Now, as for Pixar, I also agree that if anything they are fairly conservative(which I must guiltily admit, makes me love them even more). If Cars 2 is really anti oil, then so what? Who isn’t? Honestly, I hate the prices, but more than that, I hate that our livelihood and culture depends on this oil. I’m all or some go green stuff, as long as it’s not terribly preachy or annoying.
Thanks, Virginia. 
There’s definitely some truth to the concept, at least from the American right’s perspective.
Cars was definitely an ‘American’ film. NASCAR, old rock and roll, some country and western, DINOCO as the coveted endorsement and oh, by the way, Tex their exec is a good man. The Route 66 and lost Americana themes. All of these things are definitely old school America, and no doubt what attracted political conservatives who look at these things with fond memories as a ‘better’ life.
Cars 2 repudiated these concepts. Big Oil is the enemy of all cars everywhere. To the point that anyone associated with Big Oil, even if they appear to be the epitome of the current green movement, isn’t to be trusted. Small town America and Detroit are out - it’s now all about the international. The quiet charm of Radiator Springs replaced with the glam and glitz of high society in Tokyo, Paris and London. The new green fuel is the centerpiece of the pic, even if it doesn’t play out as expected.
It’s one thing to change themes and tones. It’s another thing to repudiate them. That’s one of the major ways this film failed.
I prefer to leave the politics out of my kid’s movies. And I certainly don’t want to be sermonized because my kid really digs the action figures. LOL. Pixar in general doesn’t do that, but in this case they did.
Overall I’m definitly on the liberal end of the scale politically than conservative at all but despite having problems believing the world they live in the first movie was overall good and had a decent plot and message. I’m pretty sure the idea of money not buying you true happiness is something most people would agree with anyway. You may be able to be miserable in comfort but there are some things money just can’t get you. Lightenings whole story arc was also a form of redemption for him. Him changing as a person to someone better and more caring for others other than himself. To someone not judging people outright based on appearances among other things (like say the rusted Cars etc.). To not being obsessed with glory at the cost of being a good person and doing the right thing.
So while the first Cars may have some of the idea of ‘good old Americana’ (as well as NASCAR racing) there are also things the other end of the scale can gleam from it as well anyway morally speaking and those who are not American such as myself. There are things yes even in the setting which fit both sides of the political spectrum in any case- it’s just that with a world containing only talking cars and Doc Hollywood similarities it is often criticised.
I admit that all the negative reception with the sequel is starting to make me even more curious to see for myself now though. Granted I’m kind of hoping that perhaps while ‘technically’ more on my political spectrum it won’t be say too close to a 1.0 on the Captain Planet Scale in any case.
(For the curious- well do you ever have that one piece of media which is technically SUPPOSED to be on your side but kind of wish it wasn’t because it’s… terrible? Ham-fisted? Overly Preachy? Just plain… stupid? Or paints the other side in a manner which is so rediculous it can’t be taken seriously? That’s Captain Planet to me- I think the environment is important and all but… oh god. I mean I’m pretty sure when people pollute the environment they are not wringing their hands and twirling moustaches and are actually gleeful just for the sake of polluting somewhere. At worst most people do it because they are lazy or careless or don’t believe they are having that large of an effect- or whatever. The fact that the villians of Captain Planet and the overall idea of Captain Planet is just so out and rediculous its hard to imagine it actually encouraged children to recycle at all. Captain Planet gets some slack since well it’s old but I think it’s a nice representation of what I mean.)
“kid’s movies”
“because my kid really digs the action figure”
Ugh.
Please don’t mistake marketing’s target audiences as the only audience or the animator’s intention. Pixar doesn’t make Kid’s Films. They make everybody films. If you hang out on this site referring to Pixar films like they are kid-fodder only, you’re extremely likely to hit backlash sooner or later. This is a forum filled with adult fans of the movies who consider them as credible cinema as any if not better. 
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