Greetings, and welcome to Earthling Cinema. I am your host, Garyx Wormuloid.
This week’s artifact is Toy Story 3, brought to you by corporate powerhouse Disney,
which as you all know, survived its planet of origin and now owns a 51% share of the known universe.
Toy Story 3 is a story about toys, a race of living, breathing creatures that were enslaved
by the humans for their own amusement. In Earth’s heyday, toys such as Woody, Female Woody,
Buzz Aldrin, and all these different horses were considered second class citizens
in a materialistic society that judged beings based only on their pragmatic usefulness.
"Let's see how much we're going for on Ebay"
When the film begins, the toys are owned by Andy, a ruthless overlord who labels them with his name
effectively smothering their individual will. He keeps his subjects suspended
in a perpetual state of oppression, ignoring them to heed the beck and call of his master: the cell phone.
A Samsung Galaxy Note from the looks of it.
Andy must further cement control over his dominion by going to college,
and since his toys don’t have the test scores to go with him, he sentences them to the attic.
The toys undergo an existential crisis, uncertain about the sort of “afterlife” that awaits them up there.
"Oh I hate all this uncertainty." "Woah, woah, woah..."
And their anxiety is justified. Three words: spi-der- webs.
That's why I always make my wife get the Galaxmas decorations.
Ever the die-hard loyalist, Woody preaches eternal devotion to Andy.
A classic case of Sherlock Holmes Syndrome.
"This job isn't about getting played with. It's about..." "Being there for Andy we know."
But it's no use
The other toys escape to a daycare facility called Sunnyside, a name that makes sense
if you remember that Earth had only one sun. Sunnyside seems nice at first,
but turns out to be a socialist nightmare. Here the toys are no longer private property.
Lots-O-Huggin’ Bear takes it upon himself
to rule this socialist utopia with a fuzzy fist, for as he says, the toys are “without owners".
"No owners means no heartbreak."
But he is a malevolent dictator, subjecting his citizens to torture at the
hands of ruthless toddlers in order to crush their spirits. He maintains power with a secret
police force, brainwashing, and a monkey who is clearly on meth.
Lotso’s walking stick doubles as a gavel, a symbol of order, and his strawberry scent strikes fear
into the batteries of all who cross him. The toys try to sneak out unnoticed,
but when Lotso confronts them, they figure why not stage a libertarian coup.
"Authority should be derived from the consent of the governed. Not from the threat of force."
It works, and the big baby throws Lotso in the trash-- the very place he said toys were destined to go.
He drops his gavel-walking stick, suggesting his reign of tyranny is over.
But that ending would be too easy, so Lotso drags everyone else into the trash with him,
and they are hauled off to a volcano. Here salvation comes in the form of a giant claw,
operated by a trio of racist caricatures.
"The clllaaawwww"
This is what’s known as “deus ex machina,” an Ancient Greek term for a machine
that descends from the sky to put Gods on the stage, and I don’t just mean god of
the stage Neil Patrick Harris. In 21st century parlance, the expression was used to indicate
a plot device that immediately and conveniently solves an unsolvable problem.
Toy Story 3’s deus ex machina is both a literal machine descending from the sky and a plot device
that conveniently saves the day. Despite being critically and commercially successful,
the boys at Pixar could always find time for an obscure inside joke.
At the end of the film, Ken and Barbie usher in a “groovy” utopia, perhaps indicating
that a time will come when the toy race will no longer be oppressed, and can exist in harmony
with all the Earth’s creatures. In the meantime, Woody and his friends are content to live
under Bonnie’s benevolent rule. That is, until she goes to college too
and they have to do the whole thing over again.
For Earthling Cinema, I'm Garyx Wormuloid. Thanks for watching
Hey folks, thank you for watching Earthling Cinema, I'm Mark Schroeder, aka Garyx Wormuloid.
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and if you want a recommendation, Creativity, Inc. By Ed Catmull. He's the president of PIxar
and the book is basically...do you ever wonder how Pixar just cranks out amazing thing after amazing thing
after amazing thing? This book is going to be the key. So if you want to get into their
heads and figure out how they do it, check out Creativity, Inc. It's pretty good.
Also if you liked this episode and want to try another, we recommend the Mean Girls episode.
Check it out guys, and thanks for watching Earthling Cinema.
So Earth enthusiasts, it's time to employ the democratic method again.
If you'd like to see me break down The Matrix next, vote by clicking on this eyebrow.
If you'd like to see me break down Star Wars, click this eyebrow. Now I leave you with a musical number.