Bao - Inappropriate for Children

SPOILER ALERT

OK, so I took the grandkids to see Incredibles 2 last weekend. Pixar typically (always?) has a little "short" at the start of Pixar movies, and Incredibles 2 was no different. This one, however, seems totally inappropriate for children. It starts off with a Chinese woman preparing dumplings for her husband. She feeds them to him and he inhales them quickly as he runs out the door, presumably running late for work. She then starts eating her dumplings, of which there are three of them. She eats the first two and then when she puts the third into her mouth, it starts crying! She spits it back into the dumpling dish and it morphs into a little, living baby dumpling...

This is all that is available on the Internet for now, but then the story continues... 

The little dumpling baby grows up, and she takes it out on walks, and shopping, etc. but never lets it go run on his own. (It is a "him" as we find out later). There are a couple scenes involving donuts, a donut shop and sitting on a train or bus sharing donuts. We're getting kind of attached to this little dumpling child by this point. 

Then, the dumpling has some facial hair on his chin... goes out with friends even though the mom does not want him to. Later, he comes back, with a girl, he runs upstairs and packs his bags and while he's heading for the door - "mom" pushes the girl out - slams the door and the little dumpling is still fighting with her to leave - and she reaches down and EATS the dumpling!  At this point, my grandson lost it... he was bawling. I held him on my lap until Incredibles started, and then he settled down and watched the movie. I must say, while I didn't get emotional over this - I was quite startled and  even shocked when she ate the dumpling! My grandson was quite traumatized over this scene.

At the end of Bao, we see the mother laying in bed, depressed - and then the silhouette of the dumpling, only as a full-sized person now, is standing in the doorway. He comes up to his mom, sits on the bed - she ignores him at first and then he offers donuts and she eventually warms up to him and sits with him to eat a donut. 

So, I had to go look this up.  As it turns out, the director of this short is from Canada, but from a Chinese culture there - and she grew up with an over-protective mom. This short was a representation of her life growing up with her mom.  OK, it makes more sense now - but to coldly throw that at children in a theater who are their to watch a fun movie - that was quite inappropriate. @DisneyPixar, give us a head's up, or better yet, don't put something so disturbing at the start of a movie for children.

If you agree, please share and/or comment below.  If you disagree, I'd still like to see your comments below.

Lucifer - A Cool Dude?

At first, I watched as a curiosity.  I was wondering how they would portray Lucifer, Satan, the Devil, on the very secular Fox Network.  Interestingly enough, this manifestation of the Fallen Angel of Light makes no bones about who he is - and who God is, even referring to God as "our Father."  His name is "Lucifer Morningstar," and when asked if that was a stage-name, he responds, "No, it was God given." 

The premise of the program, Lucifer is bored with Hell - and decides to take a "vacation" on Earth.  Presumably, at this time, an archangel, Amenadiel, is sent to convince Lucifer to go back to Hell - to return everything to balance.  It is as if God "needs" Lucifer to be evil and in Hell to provide balance and peace in Heaven.  Amenadiel despises Lucifer, as we all really should.  Therein lies the rub, this TV show presents Lucifer as someone we might like, or feel sorry for, that he was convicted to reign in Hell until the end of time.  Since when could Lucifer have the "power" to decide to "take a vacation" from Hell?  He has no such authority to do so.  Yes, clearly his presence is made known in the evil of men throughout the world and throughout all ages - but it is unfathomable that he would have compassion for any human being.  As he is walking the street with one whom he "helped" to stardom, she is brutally murdered and Lucifer takes on a mission, of sorts, to find out who was behind the murder and he seeks to bring the real killer to "justice."  He befriends a police detective whom he convinces to take a deeper look into the case - and proceeds to help her solve it.

The show begins with Lucifer Morningstar racing through the streets in a very nice, classic Corvette.  When he is pulled over by a police officer, he uses his power (like a Jedi mind-trick) to get the officer to admit to one of his deepest desires - and then to the fact that sometimes he just speeds through the streets with his lights and siren going, just because he can.  He claims he can't read minds, but has a "knack" to getting people to "confess" to him.
 
The real problem with this show is it glamorizes the most evil being known to creation.  It makes him look like he's not-so-bad.  It makes him look like someone you might actually like.  That being said, that truly is Satan's goal!  If we are swayed to accept him, or think he's not so bad or even that he didn't get a fair shake - we might be inadvertently letting him in to our lives - or worse, our souls.  In that respect, I really feel like this show is working FOR Satan, and sense a real danger in continued viewing of a version of Lucifer which is "not-so-bad."  Remember, Satan is the author of lies and deception - and if he can get you to turn your focus from God to him - he's winning - though ultimately he will lose, and so will everyone who follows him, for whatever reason.

I am not the only one raising red flags over this programming.  On this site (click here) there's a petition you can join to try and convince Fox to remove the program.  In my humble opinion, Fox is eating up the attention from Christians and the more they/we protest - the more "press" they get.  In that industry, "there's no such thing as bad press."   So, consider signing the petition, or consider just telling your friends and family how much you feel that this programming is really a tool for Satan and against God.