With Toy Story 4 out in theaters, we decided to show Olivia Toy Story. She LOVED it and has been dancing with her daddy to “You’ve Got a Friend in Me” for days. So, in the spirit of fun toys that talk and play we decided to throw on “The Toy that Time Forgot”. I had never seen it before but it came free with our “Toy Story” purchase so I thought, why not! I’ve never been more disappointed in Disney than I was today…
Only 2 minutes into the movie, a scene plays out where the dinosaur is dressed up as a pretentious looking mother – pointy glasses and all. The dinosaur yells at the little girl playing the waitress that there is a bug in her sons ice cream and her son is “ALLERGIC TO BUGS”. So the little girl flicks the bug out of the ice cream and says “there you go sweetheart, enjoy”. And then the movie moves on.
In our world, food allergies are constantly seen as a burden and a joke. This scene does nothing but perpetuate this unfortunate view point. When a child watches this movie and sees this scene, they may learn that by simply removing an allergen from someones’ food, it is now safe. They may see food allergies as funny, simple and as a simple inconvenience. This scene in this movie does food allergies an extreme injustice – making a life threatening occurrence seem joke worthy and mundane. The mother who says her son has a bug allergy is shown as a know it all ‘helicopter’ parent and the waitress brushes off the allergy like the mom is simply being a pain.
At restaurants I am hit with constant dirty looks and hear whispers under their breath about how ridiculous I look wiping down the booths and chairs, bringing our full course meals into perfectly nice dinning rooms. I thought I never wanted to be that kind of parent – never wanted to be the ‘neurotic’ mom who keeps her kids in a bubble. That is until I became an allergy mom. My judgements are GONE. Now, I lock eyes with other moms who may be seen as ‘neurotic’ and give them a supportive nod. I want other people to know, that I am not being neurotic. I am taking care of my baby in the best possible way that I know how. Having food allergies in a world that uses them as the butt end of a joke is tough. When characters in movies laugh about something that could kill my daughter is heart breaking. But I know that Olivia is going to teach others about why this movie was wrong and educate others on how to keep her safe.
So, please talk to your kids about why this scene is so wrong. Simply removing an allergen from the food will NOT remove what makes kids like Olivia deathly ill. Removing that bug from her sundae would not get rid of the bug protein. I know – Im talking about bugs and pretend ice cream sundaes – but to kids, these stories are as real as they can be. And give that mom insistently wiping down the tables and chasing their kids around as much grace as you can, because you do not know what they are going through. So no, I’m not a helicopter parent – I’m just keeping my little girl safe.
In the meantime, just keep advocating!
A New Perspective Project 