Anti-knife message in movie?

J

jackknife

Joined
Oct 2, 2004
Messages
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Our youngsters unfortunatly learn too much from TV and videos. Last night, I saw a clear anti-knife message in a Blockbuster rental movie.

I was having the grandkids and a few of thier friends over for the evening, and they had expressed a desire to see an animated movie called "Up" about an old guy who turns his house into a balloon supported airship. Okay, its a kids movie and I have no problem with a little fantacy cartoon thing.

But...

It got to a part where the old guy wanted to come down in altitude, and to do this he cuts some balloons loose by cutting the cords to them. And just what does he use?

He takes a key, and saws away at the strings to the balloons and the strings fray apart and break. He uses a key, he keeps on the shelf to be handy for that. No knife. A key to saw away with. A frigging key!:confused:

How often have you seen some person using a key or a pen to try to punch through something?

This was not lost on my grandson, who looked up at me from his place on the floor and asked me,"Granddad, why would you use a key, and not have a pocket knife on you?"

My Grandson has been raised around me and my son and my whole family who all carry some sort of knife, even if it's just a small Victorinox classic keychain knife. I couldn't help but wonder if this is Hollyweirds way of re-enforcing the idea to young people that a knife was not needed in daily life? The main charater uses the key a couple of times in the movie to saw through string.

It's pretty sneaky, slipping it in there in an animated cartoonish movie for kids.

I guess the next time some idiot askes me why I have a knife, I may have to tell them that I don't have a key on me.:D

Beware of what your child and grandchild are watching.
 
I saw that too, but I didn't really interpret it as "antiknife" per se. More likely, a key probably seemed the most obvious choice to illustrators, artists, and directors that have never seen a pocket knife. Even if it was intentional, it was not nearly as blatant as the anti-hunting propaganda of Disney cartoons that I watched when I was a kid. "Bambi" didn't phase me in the least.
 
Back in the '60s, cartoon characters blew each others' heads off with cartoon shotguns, and engaged in all manner of violent behavior.

But we all knew it was a cartoon, and magically no one ever engaged in the kind of violent behavior we see today in the age of political correctness.

While I did not see any anti-knife message in the Up movie, I am acutely aware of the widespread, almost universal bias against mainstream America we see coming from Hollywood and the media.
 
hlee said:
I saw that too, but I didn't really interpret it as "antiknife" per se. More likely, a key probably seemed the most obvious choice to illustrators, artists, and directors that have never seen a pocket knife. .
Click to expand...

I have to agree with this...
 
I could be wrong and usually am, but I believe Jacknife may be referring to the distinct concession the movie writer / animater has given toward folk who have always had, and always will carry a pocket knife.

The gentleman in the movie is of the right era to be one of those who had always carried a pocket knife in order to do odd jobs like the specific one being referred to here.

I believe, like Jacknife, that it would have been a very pertinent thing, to have had the genetleman use a pocket knife in favour of a key to convey the message that pocket knives have a place even now in our modern bubble wrapped society.

Again, I may be wrong Jacknife.

I had the same experience the other night, where I almost cursed myself for not having my pocket knife on me, when I had to open yet another plastic clamshell packaged item, and used a key to tear a small hole.

It made the whole task twice as hard, and took twice as long.
 
I can imagine that the scriptwriter anticipated a possible backlash from, say, some overzealous child psychologists but I wouldn't worry to much about it.
It would be fun though if the old guy took a lovingly depicted Civilian from his pocket!

Anyway, I've not seen it, but should in general be a pretty good movie, right? Pixar is usually pretty good. Plenty of knives in their Ratatouille movie.
 
It sucks, especially in a movie where one of the main characters is a boyscout...


Your grandson is smart :)
 
I watched this movie with my kids the other day. Actually, later in the movie, the old man asks the boy for his scout knife to cut the net holding the bird. Soooo I don't think that the movie was trying to be anti knife on purpose.
 
Boondock beat me to it...I actually thought it was a little ironic that the boy had a knife, but the old man didn't.
 
I thought "Up" was a good movie. My 5 year old enjoys it enough that we have all seen it a few times. It is themed towards adults and is likely the most thought provoking of Pixar's movies that I have seen- and I think that I have seen them all. It has a good message about "The best laid plans of mice and men..." I've seen it 3 times now and have noticed something "new" each time. It keeps the kids entertained and that is why we- as parents- like the movie. However, it has merit on its own.

Speaking of, if I remember correctly, that mantle was full of things with sentimental value. Could that key have been more than a key placed there for cutting balloon lines (the first key to the house, the "key to her heart," whatever)? It can be crazy how things of no apparent value acquire sentimental meaning. Maybe the old man's pocket knife was on the dining room table, or maybe he was gesturing with it and it flew out of the window. I've seen enough people of all ages cut things with a key that Pixar gets a pass on this one.

I'm not that old so I have to defer to some of our more "seasoned" forum members for this question. I know that pocket knives were EDC for boys growing up in my father's time (50's and 60's) but, he lived in a rural area. The old man in this movie was depicted as a city dweller. Were pocket knives EDC for boys growing up in the city in the 30's-60's? And, was it "every boy on our block..." or "this one -older boy- three blocks down..."?
 
Jumping at shadows, man. Would've been nice, for us, to see him use a stag handled slipjoint. But he used a key. I've seen a few movies where main characters ride bicycles to get around, does this mean the movies are anti-car?

And, I would wager that the % of "that generation" who actually have a pocket knife on them the majority of the time, is MUCH lower than we like to make out here on Bladeforums. Plenty did, yes. But it wasn't exactly uncommon for people to go about their day bladeless. Just like western settlers didn't always have a revolver on their belt.
 
hlee said:
I thought "Up" was a good movie. My 5 year old enjoys it enough that we have all seen it a few times. It is themed towards adults and is likely the most thought provoking of Pixar's movies that I have seen- and I think that I have seen them all. It has a good message about "The best laid plans of mice and men..." I've seen it 3 times now and have noticed something "new" each time. It keeps the kids entertained and that is why we- as parents- like the movie. However, it has merit on its own.

Speaking of, if I remember correctly, that mantle was full of things with sentimental value. Could that key have been more than a key placed there for cutting balloon lines (the first key to the house, the "key to her heart," whatever)? It can be crazy how things of no apparent value acquire sentimental meaning. Maybe the old man's pocket knife was on the dining room table, or maybe he was gesturing with it and it flew out of the window. I've seen enough people of all ages cut things with a key that Pixar gets a pass on this one.

I'm not that old so I have to defer to some of our more "seasoned" forum members for this question. I know that pocket knives were EDC for boys growing up in my father's time (50's and 60's) but, he lived in a rural area. The old man in this movie was depicted as a city dweller. Were pocket knives EDC for boys growing up in the city in the 30's-60's? And, was it "every boy on our block..." or "this one -older boy- three blocks down..."?
Click to expand...

I grew up in a municipality of some hundred thousand people (think suberbia) and in the 60's a pocket knife was considered a standard accessory for boys. During those times, we never heard of stabbings anywhere. The 50's and 60's were more of a common sense time, rather than the 'Political Correctness' crap we are fed today.
 
I think the director/artist intended the key to maybe be symbolizing in the movie to the key to his Freedom perhaps kinda like how you put a key in a lock and it opens a door... well the key kinda served the point but in a different way? I saw this movie too with my son and did not think twice about it.
 
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