KidLit Forum

Pay It Forward

The one suffering from insecurity and low self-esteem dues to a mutilated body is the boy's teacher (played by the great Kevin Spacey). The boy's mother suffers from less visible scars. And it is the the most improbable character that will offer them a solution: the solitary boy.

Edward Scissorhands

The ultimate "freak", Edward was born with a gift that is also his curse: instead of hands he has some huge scissors. This great classic by Tim Burton shows what happens when one's talent lands in a conservative American little town... Gothic art meets American-Pie suburbia.

La vita e bella / Life is beautiful

Benini's Oscar-winning "La vita e bella", taking the viewer from the peaceful inter-war Italy, with Mussolini's fascist rule still looking like just a bombastic joke, to the German concentration camps, maigh invite us to consider how is "diference" constructed in the eyes of the rascist ideologies, and why it remains unpenetrable to the mind of a child...

Freedom Writers

The integration programme has ruined the school, great students were replaced with many who will be lucky to graduate or even be literate. Despite all of this a young teacher, Erin Gruwell, has to teach her at-risk students to learn tolerance and pursue education beyond high school. What she doens't know is that many are in gangs and almost all know somebody that has been killed by gang violence. The Latinos hate the Cambodians who hate the blacks and so on. The only person the students hate more is Ms. Gruwell. Will she manage to face them all?

Remember the Titans

It's the true story of a newly appointed African-American coach and his high school team on their first season as a racially integrated unit. One Black and one White high school are closed and the students sent to T.C. Williams High School under federal mandate to integrate. The year is seen through the eyes of the football team where the man hired to coach the Black school is made head coach over the highly successful white coach. Will the team become a symbol of unity and trust?

(body image, dysfunctional family, race)

Yeah, everybody loves Shrek. I always thought that Shrek had a problem, but whatever he had, donkey managed to solve it, for he said "that's what friends do. THEY FORGIVE EACHOTHER!" His "race" (being a fat and horrifing ogre), was a major issue throughout the movie. And we felt pitty for him because he was so lonely. Actually, he liked it. He used the same old excuse that everybody hates him without knowing him. He lacks self esteem and trust. Even when donkey arrived... Shrek tried to scare him away. So, where's the "nobody gets me" idea here? Nevermind on that...

When Fiona comes in his life, we focus more on her. Why? Because she is a minority too, a fat and ugly princess who was locked away in a tower by her father, only to be "protected" from the world. "Protected" meaning "not seen", a normal princess shouldn't look like that. Worse things can happen, Shrek's father wanted to eat him...

But it's interesting that both Shrek and Fiona always wanted to get away from their looks and be "normal", and in the end, when they had THAT chance, she says "you are the ogre I fell in love with!" So, of course, it doesn't matter the looks, but the quality of the man. A "be you" kind of thing.

In the second movie, we find out that her family doesn't like Shrek at all because he is an ogre, a brute, while their daughter only "looks" like one, but doesn't act like one (even though she burps at the table). Her father keeps criticizing Shrek, while he knows better that he used to be a frog. The prejudice against different types of creatures is very clear here. He wants prince charming for her daughter because "that's how things suppose to be." After he realizes that he's done a mistake, he makes it right, but it's too late.

From body image, isolation, difference, race, dysfunctional families to friendship, trust, caring and true love it's only one tiny step...

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas

(race)

Set during World War II, a story seen through the innocent eyes of Bruno, the eight-year-old son of the commandant at a concentration camp, whose forbidden friendship with a Jewish boy on the other side of the camp fence has unexpected consequences...

Robots

Robots is the story of Rodney Copperbottom, an idealistic robot who wants to convince his electronic brethren to come together and work toward making the world a better place. As the story unfolds, Rodney faces opposition from an evil corporation and finds some unlikely allies in a group of misfit robots called the "Rusties". Ratchet steals the company from Bigweld and redefines the slogan Why be you when you can be new? . He embodies the "robo-racist", even though he was one of the robots who had "poor" conditions to live. The Rusties are considered the lowest level of the robo-society and they must be "sweeped-out". They seem to have all the fun and games, while Ratchet and his firm, get back to the business of sucking every last penny for those who sell parts. He actually wants all the parts and destroy every rusty piece. Rodney knows how to fix everything and he kind of becomes the geek. But only a genius can save the world from the tyranny of a stupid and "gorgeous" leader.

Harry Potter

It is the tale of Harry Potter, an ordinary 11-year-old boy serving as a sort of slave for his aunt and uncle who learns that he is actually a wizard and has been invited to attend the Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. Harry is snatched away from his mundane existence by Hagrid, the grounds keeper for Hogwarts, and quickly thrown into a world completely foreign to both him and the viewer. Famous for an incident that happened at his birth, Harry makes friends easily at his new school. He soon finds, however, that the wizarding world is far more dangerous for him than he would have imagined, and he quickly learns that not all wizards are ones to be trusted.

A very fascinating film full of certain issues: (dysfunctional family, race, class difference)
- Harry's family portrait doesn't look so good, is an orphan, and a kind of slave in the house of his aunt. His abilities don't count in their world. This makes him a freak and a disgrace to his family.
- people seem to think that being a "wizard" is abnormal in the 21th century, and the wizards call them Muggles. There's no difference between their school (maybe the subjects differ) and real people's, but both parts hate eachother.
- the scar from Harry's face is seen like a rich ornament for the rest of the wizards, a sign of respect, but in his family, it is nothing but an ugly cut on a forehead.
- Severus Snape is thought to be a bad man, because he taught black magic and he looked... very peculiar, but he helps Harry everytime (we learn that Snape was a freak from his childhood and couldn't be with Harry's mother because his father treated him badly)... and so on...

Matilda

(dysfuntional family)

She was a young girl whose parents were worthless when it came to caring for her. They refuse to allow her to attend school and her father (Danny DeVito) refuses to buy her books, because reading is a waste of time. She finally starts school, only to find her headmistress is abusive, but luckily for Matilda, she learns she has magical powers and begins to use them to finally achieve the life and earn the new family she deserves.