Is it just me, or do the adults tend to react to things immaturely while the kids constantly portray vast wisdom beyond their years? It is a most unrealistic portrayal of life. With age comes experience, and these movies are getting the message across that children are superior. This could make young viewers enter a hesitant state at the thought of growing up, while giving them a false sense of security about their youth and a lack of respect for their elders. Don’t follow me? Fine. I will elaborate on examples that undervalue the adults while glorifying the likes of youth.
In movie number three, there was a problem in the Great Valley- a lack of water. The adults handled this by arguing for an extended period of time, which accomplished nothing. The kids also had a problem- their peers, or, the bullies, were heading into danger. Littlefoot did not hesitate, left the valley, then saved the mean teenagers. So, in retrospection, the adults couldn’t handle their problem while the kids jumped right into theirs and solved it. Isn’t that teaching kids that careful planning is a waste of time and rushing into danger is the solution? Furthermore, it might make kids not worry about being reckless, as their parents will just fix everything. I mean, I once made a thread in this section comparing The Lion King to The Land Before Time. Well, here’s a difference, making The Lion King’s example of this more appropriate for developing minds.
In The Lion King, Simba recklessly charges into the unknown, and because of that, he was nearly killed. The gang of five was also nearly killed for wandering off. So what was the difference, you ask? Simba got a royal scolding from his father. Mufasa gave a huge lecture that taught kids what can happen if you head into danger. The adults in The Land Before Time? Hm. “This is no time to go exploring.” Really? Is that all? Just like the adults failed to respond to a problem, they failed to chide their children and reveal just how wrong it was for them to leave like that. Hyp got reprimanded the worst, but the only complaint his father made about him leaving was that his departure was a distraction to solving the water problem. “Duh, dad?” “Yeah?” “I’m going to enter a near death situation.” “Nah, don’t do that! It might distract me!” The full concept of the danger was never passed down from parent to child. The parents simply took care of the sharpteeth, and all was fine. So, kids were glorified as being the ideal characters and the authority and wisdom of adults was thrashed in this film by making it seem like not planning is the way to get things done, and doing dangerous things will simply cause your parents to bail you out. Did the head writer have parent issues…?
In movie number four, a resident faced death. Yet, no adults would go because it was too dangerous. Wait, what did I just say!? In movie number four- No, I heard myself! I just couldn’t believe my ears. What better reason to face danger than to save a loved one! Some cousins they were! Here is another example of how The Lion King shines and The Land Before Time, well, doesn’t. When Simba was in danger, his father risked everything to save him. He was the ideal adult, holding life sacred enough to put his own well-being at stake to save that of another. I mean, TLBT was laughable! The adults just murmured to themselves, and the Old One felt it was too risky. Well, she wasn’t as smart as some thought she was, because if a pack of kids can handle it, it would have been cake for adults to retrieve the healing flowers. In the end, the kids are shown to be exemplary for going off to the Valley of Mists, while the adults are portrayed as ninnies. Sure, it wouldn’t have been as great an adventure for adults to help, but there are tactical ways to prevent the adults from helping without making them seem likes heartless meanies! Maybe there was a cave in where the only big entrance to the VoM was, so adults couldn’t fit through. Heh, I thought of that, and I’m not even some big time, paid writer. This shows kids that adults just don’t care, so when they want something, they should get help from other kids. What a wonderful message! Don’t go to your elders, go to your peers! So sad…
In movie number five, the adults argued to the point that they decided to split. It was the kids that kept everyone together. Oh my gosh! Are the children and parents role playing that their roles are switched? I mean, this is one of the most blatant reversals of how families work. Kids fight and tension rises, yet the wise parents settle things and bring ties back together. It’s almost like the writers forgot which characters were the grownups and which were the little ones. This shows kids that children are peacemakers and adults cause tension that has to be fixed by the younger generation. Let me guess. When Littlefoot grows up and has children, he’s going to get in fights and HIS kids will set things right. This was just a total role annihilation.
In movie number six, the adults were going to run Doc away because of their superstitions. Littlefoot realized how silly this was. See the role confusion again!? Sure, his grandfather didn’t believe it either, but still, while practically the whole Great Valley felt that the weather problems were caused by a dinosaur, Littlefoot knew better. Huh, who’s there? Oh, hello there! You’re professor Xavier, from the X-Men, right? I knew it! What’s that you say? You’ve been trying to find Storm’s X gene at the source, and you traveled back in time after tracing it to a dinosaur? Wow. Oh, and you say his name is Doc? Oh my. Boy, do I feel silly for criticizing the grownups now. It makes perfect sense. Doc is really a mutant who can manipulate the weather. Thanks, professor X! No, but seriously, they were foolish for thinking Doc was the cause of their trouble. Once again, adults + LBT = incompetence while children + LBT = sense.
In movie number seven, Ducky is kidnapped. Do a bunch of adults rush to save her? You guessed it- nope! It’s the kids who leave to find Pterano. Adults didn’t show up to help until the very end. The kids save the day but nearly perish from the nearly-too-late arrival of those grownups. What is this teaching kids? Adults procrastinate, and kids are the real ones to turn to when there’s trouble. Good night, can’t you get adults and kids straight one single bloody time!?
In movie number eight, a herd nearly starves, but one child senses food and saves them all. This shows young viewers that kids are more resourceful than grownups. They even literally say that Spike saved the herd. It was like he has a super dinosaur sense of smell. Is this showing that adults don’t smell very well? Heh, get it? Anyway, the leader of the spiketail herd, the bloody leader for crying out loud, was totally lost but a little kid lead them all to safety. This may make kids undervalue the perception of those in authority, thinking they can possibly do a better job. As usual, the adults were incompetent compared to youth, and the kids were portrayed as the superior characters. Can they ever get roles- Okay, you know what? Forget it. They will never get roles straight so I’m just going to stop asking.
In movie number nine, it made adults seem like coldhearted folks who don’t care about helping those in need. The kids politely ask for help with Mo, and they get a refusal simply because Mo is a stranger and they’d have to venture to the Mysterious Beyond. Okay, I can kind of get the wariness of strangers thing, but they lived in the MB for most of their lives, so what harm is a little journey, especially if someone needs the assistance? The adults just seemed mean here. Now, guess what! I bet you’d never imagine, based off of all the things I’ve said thus far, who actually does the right thing and helps. The kids! Told you you’d be surprised. Now, the what this teaches can be taken two ways, actually. It not only shows that it’s not right to withhold help from those who need it, which the adults did, but it teaches kids that going with strangers is safe, which the children did. Littlefoot and company left their home to travel with someone they’d never met. Kids should never do this! So this time, the kids strength of heart is also a weakness. The writers mixed up the elements of helping those in need and trusting strangers. So the children did the right thing and the wrong things at the same time. Uhhh… Okaaay… It was nice to make the kids have a blatant fault and all, but if you’re going to make their behavior wrong, then make it wrong! Don’t add a hidden positive in the background of their deed that makes the concept confusing.
In movie number ten, eh, well, I think that they actually got the roles right here. Littlefoot got upset and his father comforted him. Cera couldn’t cross a river without the help of Pat. Littlefoot would have died if not for Sue. I think that the adults and children were finally portrayed as they should be. And there was much rejoicing. Yay!
In movie number eleven, things went right back to the role confusion. Why, oh why, couldn’t you keep things right when you had them that way? Oh well. What’s done is done. Let’s take a look at the damages. Hm, not much to really say about this one. The kids accepted the tinysauruses while the adults feared them and wanted to drive them away. The kids were like John Smith from Disney’s Pocahontas, the tinysauruses were the Indians, and the adults were the other white men. Both groups could not accept the other on equal terms and wanted to be as far away from each other as possible. The white men (the LBT grownups) wanted to drive away the Indians (the tinysauruses) while John Smith (the kids) found peace with both sides at once. Whoa, hold the phone. This isn’t LIKE the Pocahontas movie. It IS the Pocahontas movie. The savages song from Pocahontas is just like the creepy crawlies song from the LBT movie. I can just see the director, trying to think of a plot for movie eleven, then his little daughter tugs on his pants and asks him to watch a movie with her. He refuses for days, then finally accepts, having found no ideas. As he watches Pocahontas, his eyes lights up, and he calls the writer team up. Sadly, the father never finishes the movie with his daughter. I mean, seriously, the plot theme was just like that Disney movie, although they kept the original formula of the kids being superior in intellect to the adults. The movie downright mocks adults. One chases her tail, and one gets stuck. This just piles on the incompetent notion of adults to young viewers, and also shows them that adults look for trouble while it’s the kids that want peace with things. Another example of the bad role reversal of adults and kids, and to make things worse, the plot isn’t even original. Okay, I stand corrected. There really IS a lot to say about this one- sadly.
In movie number twelve, there is a system erected to be followed by young flyers. When they start acting out of line, Petrie’s mother says that the day of the flyers will never be the same. How awful! This is showing kids that they can bend rules set by elders and they’ll just be amended to fit. The adults foolishly let the kids take charge, not judging like they were supposed to. Sure, it’s nice to show that kids can make a difference too, but it’s not so great when they go against the parameters of the guidelines that authority has prepared for them. The judges were just too passive, showing that kids can get away with things. As for the kids being too adultish, it was Guido who gave Petrie the best advice, not his own mother, showing that parents aren’t the best source to turn to for sage counsel. Nice going, writers!
Finally, in movie number thirteen, whew, this was probably the clearest role reversal of them all. The adults acted like five year olds and Littlefoot acts like an old man. Need I say more? Eh, I will anyway. The adults were totally lost without the kids. Littlefoot and company showed them the right way to go. Having adults being the lost souls and the kids being the guide is a silly thing to show young viewers. Sure, there are kids that know places that adults don’t, but this went beyond knowledge of the area. The grownups just had no common sense and no sense of direction. The kids were shown as being more logical and leaderly than the adults were. This could cause insecurities about the judgment of elders in young viewers. Sure, there would have been no adventure if the yellowbellies knew where to go, but such a loss wouldn’t sadden many people.
I got two words for you: wow. Okay, okay, so it was just one. I’m tired; cut me some slack. After the original, there have just been far too many role reversals that can give kids the wrong idea. In some cases, it makes a bit of sense, but in most, it’s just silly and uncalled for. There can be many adventure while kids act like kids and adults act like adults. They didn’t have to degrade the name of adults and give the children an exaggerated sense of superiority over their elders. I find this to be a flaw in The Land Before Time series. Say what you will, but that is my stance.
