Freudian Slip? Taking a Freudian view on Disney

Disney movies are the greatest right? I could go all day talking about the movie marathon ABC Family had recently just because I can't think of a childhood without Disney, but really the reason a lot of children like the movies is because it fulfills a lot of the Freudian theories about life and relationships.

Take the idea that most girls want to marry their father. In a lot of the Disney movies, there are the evil step-mothers, and because the step-mothers generally sweep in and take that position away from the daughters, we want to see that the step-mothers are defeated. This is accomplished in Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and then there are variations with movies such as the Little Mermaid, 101 Dalmatians and more. Most little girls don't like the movies solely because there are princesses and magic, but because the movies portray something all little girls are relatively programmed to want.

Along with just being satisfied with the step-mother being killed or overthrown, it is essential that the step-mother is evil, because why would anyone want a perfectly suitable person taking over their role in life. But along with overthrowing the step-mother, the saying "every girl marries her father" comes into play. This phrase essentially means that most girls end up marrying a boy similar in characteristics to her father. This probably comes from the idea I stated earlier, but this is when the handsome Prince comes in. In the princess movies, there is always a trusty prince who comes to save her life. This feeds into our programmed minds because the princess' father is a king, general handsome, and has a lot of power over people and situations. The rescue driven princes usually have a patriarchal way of thinking because they are the person to be saving the princess, and she generally follows along with out a fuss, thus feeding into the idea of power.

Disney knew right where to write our deepest desires, and it helped them sell movies. I don't want to see evil lose, I want to see the poop who took my spot in life taken away so that I metaphorically can marry my father. That's what Disney movies give us.

GIRL SCOUT COOKIES!

Now readers, let's be honest here. Girl Scout Cookies are by far the best cookies out there. Today, we got one of our orders of cookies. We ordered from 3 different little girls, because 1) you can't say no to a little girl, 2) who doesn't love them peanut butter patties. Unfortunately we have already finished one of the boxes of cookies. But other than hearing about my family's eating habits, I'd like to share a little rumor/fact I heard about the girl scout cookie industry. I heard that a very marginal profit goes to the actual Girl Scout company or organization or whatever. I thought the point of the cookies were to fund for the benefit of the little girls participating in Girl Scouts.

I know I could never give up buying these savory treats, but I did start thinking about the ethics of this news. Girl Scout cookies probably bring in the most profits during the year than any fundraiser, and the definitely sell more than the Boy Scout Popcorn, but if they don't even get a nice chunk of the profit, is it worth those girls selling the cookies? Those little girls go from house to house, knocking on doors and trying to be as sweet as they can to sell boxes. Some girls even have their older sisters bring the order form to class to hoax their classmates to buy some.

I understand that this relatively teaches girls how to be better salesmen/saleswomen, but at the end of the day you just get an exhausted little girl. Are the companies just so smart to realize that they can get the most money off of little girls willing to sell sell sell for the satisfaction of selling enough boxes for a t-shirt? Plus, if they're barely getting any money off of it, why do the girls keep selling the cookies?

Personally, it'd be weird calling these cookies anything other than "Girl Scout Cookies", but if those hardworking kids aren't getting any money off of these sales, I'd rather you save them and their parents from walking all around the neighborhood.

Crayons or iPads?

Lately, everywhere I look I see phones out and usually that phone is a smart phone. But I'd like to say that I was a proud owner of the Motorola Razor up until June 2011 and now I have a Sony Ericsson (it's a basic flip phone). I wish I could say I get annoyed when I can't just pull up Twitter when I'm bored in class, but I actually love my phone.

For one, there are two circles on the phone that light up in different colors when someone calls or texts you. For different contacts, you can set different colors and more. Two, text messages are in "conversation" format. So like the iPhone and Droids, I can see my conversation with people in chronological order as opposed to sifting through many other texts. Three, if fits perfectly in my back pocket without ever worrying that it'll fall out or i'll butt dial people. After that, it's just a regular phone that calls and takes crappy pictures.

But I guess the more intellectual reason why I love my phone, is because of something I stated before...I can't pull up Twitter when I'm bored in class. My basic, generic phone helps me stay focused on tasks and people with ease. People around me constantly have an electronic device out in front of them. Whenever I am with friends or family, I can easily put my phone down and not worry that I'll want to look at it the rest of the night.

I've done retreats and had vacations where I wasn't allowed to have my phone or there was no telephone service and the feeling is great. I have to find my own way of entertainment and go back to what I did when I was a kid. When we 90's kiddies were growing up, we played outside all the time and had crayons and coloring books when we went to restaurants. Now, children have iPads to color with and phones to communicate. My 3rd grade cousin has a phone to text and call her friends, and she knows about more iPhone games than I do. Maybe it's because I was still growing up when cell phones were becoming more public, but 3rd grade just seems so early. I don't know how often she goes outside and plays ghost in the graveyard with her neighbors. I don't know how polite she'll be around her friends when they hang out.

So although I don't have the fanciest of phones on the block, mine is better in the long-run. I still have to create my own entertainment. I can be polite and appreciative of the people around me. And lastly, people can't expect me to see some stupid urgent email they sent me on the way over. Call or text me, but really I prefer getting snail mail.