My oldest son's favorite topic is Sesame Street (about which he knows arguably everything worth knowing) and my favorite topic is God and (by corollary) the Catholic Church, and so, in an attempt to find common ground in conversation, some time ago we jointly formed a hypothesis that all Sesame Street Muppets are Catholic unless demonstrated otherwise (much excellent discussion of the ramifications ensued which I elide). The first twelve minutes of banter here might cause me to further propose that Bert and Ernie will grow up, leave the 'Street to go to different colleges and get jobs and start families, and then one happy and entirely plausible day find themselves reunited as canon lawyer investigative journalists.
Your discussion about becoming the “party house” is serendipitous; during my Holy Hour this week I was praying about how we as a family could do something, and I had the very same idea. It led to some rather unusual-for-Adoration thoughts like “how could we fit a pool table in the basement” and “what Costco snacks do we need to have on hand”, but hey! Anyway, even though it’s a little daunting for an introvert like me, it sounds like the way the Spirit is moving if the Pillar guys feel it too!
Both of my girls gravitated to different favorites, some of which were tolerable, others of which made me want to burn my ears off with a plasma torch. When this happens to you, Ed (and it will), it does help to offer that suffering for the sake of the world. That’s the only way I could make it through the 9,724th screening of Frozen.
We don't do a lot of screen time for our boys (ages 6 months, 3, and 5). We haven't introduced them to anything Disney. We usually put on Mr. Rogers or some of the childrens programs on Formed. If your parish has a subscription, check it out. The kids especially like Brother Francis (the lessons are good, but the music is awful) and The Wonderful World of Benjamin Cello.
If you have a 7 month old and are watching / hearing Disney movies on repeat, you don’t have a parenting problem- you have a marriage problem. Your 7-month old will enjoy whatever melodious tunes you play for her in a major key, and you need to understand that when she is older, she will force whatever she fancies over and over, so you darn well better pick what you want now.
If you do Pandora kids radio and dislike or skip everything Disney, you can find better stuff-with Elizabeth Mitchell, Laurie Berliner, Jim Gill, and Jewel, for instance, (Yes that Jewel). Caspar Babypants was a particular favorite of ours, from the lead singer of the old Presidents of the USA band.
We decided to let our daughter see Disney outside the house but not bring it home-gifts of princess material would disappear after a suitable period-and we told her many versions of the classic fairy tales, especially Rapunzel.
The best thing you can do for her imagination is read aloud. There’s a great book on this from the Wall Street Journal’s childrens’ book critic. I think you’d like it.
Music Recommend is Car Tunes and The sugar Beats since they cover classic 50-80s music. Also, the band Scythian (good Steubenville guys) have kid albums under Cake for Dinner. In regards to Disney, just count yourself lucky. My oldest daughter was obsessed with Snow White. Except for the Dwarf songs, painful.
Ed, two things. First, is your house really a party house? I only know you from the podcast but that doesn't seem like the kind of thing you would be into.
Second, my daughter is about a year older than yours, and so far her screen/music time has been watching orchestras and violin soloists and the occasional compilation of ducks or puppies on YouTube. Some of our friends insist on playing Baby Shark but I have not been able to figure out why "kid music" is necessary. Maybe I'll understand when my daughter is older but I'd say you're good for at least a year with whatever the adults enjoy.
We only really show the our kids old Disney films or the great Pixar films. We listen to folk (mainly Irish) and jazz music. Music marketed for children has never been a part of our household. We just sing the songs ourselves. We do like the Moana soundtrack - full disclosure.
I'm not surprised that a lot of the comments here already concern the hot takes on children's media. I see someone posted a link to a piece on Encanto... I'll just add that I think you guys are missing out. Sure, the "system" or whatever the magic is is incoherent — as it is in pretty much every Disney film ever — but the music is consistently fantastic (it is honestly one of the only soundtracks that has in our house grown better with repetition), and the story I think does get a lot right in the end about grace and family — your insistence that all the answers are wrong doesn't seem to pay attention to how the story actually ends. I don't really see how Moana compares. Not to mention that Moana has some really scary bits for little kids. Encanto is pretty much all charm, and rather than your standard Disney "I am an individual who can conquer the world and redefine the world however I like" message it leaves us with a more hopeful (and ultimately more Catholic) sense that it is only in and through family and community that individual gifts have their meaning. Sure, there are some tiresome moments (Ed is allowed some eye-rolls), but the anti-Pelagianism of the film remains timely. (Perhaps I say this because in Abuela's lines about "earning the miracle" I hear the voices of numerous Catholic young people who see the spiritual life in remarkably similar terms.)
Boy, Psalty the singing psalm book... that brings me back to my Baptist days.
So I think whether or not one sees JD's perspective on Moana is going to have a lot to do with whether you are looking for a CS Lewis-esque allegory OR more appropriately a Tolkien-esque idea, so eloquently laid out in the fantastic essay "On Fairy Stories" which I highly recommend. If you are looking for a 1:1 correlation, no you will not find it in Moana. But if, as Tolkien, you recognize that the truth of Myth and Fairy-stories finds its power in the fact that ""the particular quality of this secondary world (if not all the details) are derived from Reality, or are flowing into it" and that the eucatastrophe in Myth and Fairy-stories "may be a far-off gleam or echo of evangelium in the real world" "The Birth of Christ is the eucatastrophe of Man's history. The Resurrection is the eucatastrophe of the story of the Incarnation. This story begins and ends in joy. It has pre-eminently the 'inner consistency of reality.' [...] [The eucatastrophe in a fairy story] looks forward (or backward: the direction in this regard is unimportant] to the Great Eucatastrophe." (On Fairy-Stories, JRR Tolkien, Epilogue). Tolkien was outspoken about hating allegory, looking for that 1:1 correlation, especially in a story like his. Which is why there's no single Christ-figure in The Lord of the Rings like there is in The Chronicles of Narnia. Instead, you see a lot more typology. The satisfying and powerful events are such because they echo the sacrifice, death, journey to the realm of the dead, resurrection, ascension, and coronation of Jesus. Frodo, Aragorn, Gandalf, each have moments that embody this but there is no single representation of Christ, just as there is no single representation of the disciples, etc.
JD's insight into Moana as echoes of The Story, that one that *all truth* is derived from is a powerful one. She does have a Christological theme, even if (as I suspect) the writers *never intended it*. That idea of the heir to the king (chief) who "has crossed the horizon to find you" and "knows your name" and "restores the heart inside you" to turn that which has fallen back into that which is good (and who does things like walk on water, descend into the netherworld), that is, in a sense, a type of Christ. And just as Joseph, Moses, Joshua, David, etc are also all types of Christ without being perfect allegories for Christ, this clearly doesn't have a 1:1 correlation. But it does ring true precisely because it has those echoes of The Truth.
I have long liked Moana for another reason, though. Despite Disney being Disney, they actually wrote a movie in which to save the world the very Feminine Protagonist must use her *very feminine genius* (in this case the care and empathy she feels that help her recognize what she does about Teka) *in complementarity with* the very Masculine Pro(ant?)agonist using his own masculine genius in his masculine way. It very much displays both the necessity of the complementarity of the sexes and a very good picture of post-fall the pitfalls and struggles of working together in this way. I love that, in contrast to how very often feminist ideas/literature/story/etc requires that the female shed her feminine genius and become more like man to compete with man, this story (again, whether intended by the writers or not) fits very nicely with a more Catholic understanding of the complementarity of the sexes.
I agree with Ed, though, that I am not very impressed by Encanto. Also, my husband is totally (apparently to my horror) on JD's side over the wallet and I am firmly in Ed's camp. Were I to lose my wallet for longer than about 30 minutes I, too, would probably burn down my life. The idea of waiting 3 weeks before taking such reasonable measures (such as moving, changing my name, and cancelling every credit card) is horrifying. But I am known to squirrel away money in odd places so I can at least identify with the serendipitous finding of odd and unexpected cash.
As usual, my husband and I love your banter, as well as your fresh, even-keeled (at least when appropriate) perspective on the world today and we love it when you go To the Law!
Oh, and I agree with the others. If your daughter is 7 and you are not in control of her music and are exposing her to something you find annoying, that's on you (or your wife). At 7 months she doesn't get to have an opinion. Just expose her to the good stuff (and I had to search for Beethoven's Wig because that sounded awesome - and it is!! And the mention of Psalty made me nostalgic. Do you also play Music Machine for your kids JD?)
Anyway, as usual, this was a great podcast. I am always recommending it to basically anyone who will listen.
I was a fan of Beethoven's Wig as a kid, and now.
My oldest son's favorite topic is Sesame Street (about which he knows arguably everything worth knowing) and my favorite topic is God and (by corollary) the Catholic Church, and so, in an attempt to find common ground in conversation, some time ago we jointly formed a hypothesis that all Sesame Street Muppets are Catholic unless demonstrated otherwise (much excellent discussion of the ramifications ensued which I elide). The first twelve minutes of banter here might cause me to further propose that Bert and Ernie will grow up, leave the 'Street to go to different colleges and get jobs and start families, and then one happy and entirely plausible day find themselves reunited as canon lawyer investigative journalists.
Your discussion about becoming the “party house” is serendipitous; during my Holy Hour this week I was praying about how we as a family could do something, and I had the very same idea. It led to some rather unusual-for-Adoration thoughts like “how could we fit a pool table in the basement” and “what Costco snacks do we need to have on hand”, but hey! Anyway, even though it’s a little daunting for an introvert like me, it sounds like the way the Spirit is moving if the Pillar guys feel it too!
Both of my girls gravitated to different favorites, some of which were tolerable, others of which made me want to burn my ears off with a plasma torch. When this happens to you, Ed (and it will), it does help to offer that suffering for the sake of the world. That’s the only way I could make it through the 9,724th screening of Frozen.
We don't do a lot of screen time for our boys (ages 6 months, 3, and 5). We haven't introduced them to anything Disney. We usually put on Mr. Rogers or some of the childrens programs on Formed. If your parish has a subscription, check it out. The kids especially like Brother Francis (the lessons are good, but the music is awful) and The Wonderful World of Benjamin Cello.
If you have a 7 month old and are watching / hearing Disney movies on repeat, you don’t have a parenting problem- you have a marriage problem. Your 7-month old will enjoy whatever melodious tunes you play for her in a major key, and you need to understand that when she is older, she will force whatever she fancies over and over, so you darn well better pick what you want now.
If you do Pandora kids radio and dislike or skip everything Disney, you can find better stuff-with Elizabeth Mitchell, Laurie Berliner, Jim Gill, and Jewel, for instance, (Yes that Jewel). Caspar Babypants was a particular favorite of ours, from the lead singer of the old Presidents of the USA band.
We decided to let our daughter see Disney outside the house but not bring it home-gifts of princess material would disappear after a suitable period-and we told her many versions of the classic fairy tales, especially Rapunzel.
The best thing you can do for her imagination is read aloud. There’s a great book on this from the Wall Street Journal’s childrens’ book critic. I think you’d like it.
Music Recommend is Car Tunes and The sugar Beats since they cover classic 50-80s music. Also, the band Scythian (good Steubenville guys) have kid albums under Cake for Dinner. In regards to Disney, just count yourself lucky. My oldest daughter was obsessed with Snow White. Except for the Dwarf songs, painful.
So much more to be said about the profound story of Encanto (the tragic history of Columbia on which it offers a powerful perspective, the stone the builders rejected, etc.), but here's just a taste: https://www.wordonfire.org/articles/disneys-encanto-offers-a-fresh-kind-of-magic/
Ed, two things. First, is your house really a party house? I only know you from the podcast but that doesn't seem like the kind of thing you would be into.
Second, my daughter is about a year older than yours, and so far her screen/music time has been watching orchestras and violin soloists and the occasional compilation of ducks or puppies on YouTube. Some of our friends insist on playing Baby Shark but I have not been able to figure out why "kid music" is necessary. Maybe I'll understand when my daughter is older but I'd say you're good for at least a year with whatever the adults enjoy.
We only really show the our kids old Disney films or the great Pixar films. We listen to folk (mainly Irish) and jazz music. Music marketed for children has never been a part of our household. We just sing the songs ourselves. We do like the Moana soundtrack - full disclosure.
I'm not surprised that a lot of the comments here already concern the hot takes on children's media. I see someone posted a link to a piece on Encanto... I'll just add that I think you guys are missing out. Sure, the "system" or whatever the magic is is incoherent — as it is in pretty much every Disney film ever — but the music is consistently fantastic (it is honestly one of the only soundtracks that has in our house grown better with repetition), and the story I think does get a lot right in the end about grace and family — your insistence that all the answers are wrong doesn't seem to pay attention to how the story actually ends. I don't really see how Moana compares. Not to mention that Moana has some really scary bits for little kids. Encanto is pretty much all charm, and rather than your standard Disney "I am an individual who can conquer the world and redefine the world however I like" message it leaves us with a more hopeful (and ultimately more Catholic) sense that it is only in and through family and community that individual gifts have their meaning. Sure, there are some tiresome moments (Ed is allowed some eye-rolls), but the anti-Pelagianism of the film remains timely. (Perhaps I say this because in Abuela's lines about "earning the miracle" I hear the voices of numerous Catholic young people who see the spiritual life in remarkably similar terms.)
Boy, Psalty the singing psalm book... that brings me back to my Baptist days.
So I think whether or not one sees JD's perspective on Moana is going to have a lot to do with whether you are looking for a CS Lewis-esque allegory OR more appropriately a Tolkien-esque idea, so eloquently laid out in the fantastic essay "On Fairy Stories" which I highly recommend. If you are looking for a 1:1 correlation, no you will not find it in Moana. But if, as Tolkien, you recognize that the truth of Myth and Fairy-stories finds its power in the fact that ""the particular quality of this secondary world (if not all the details) are derived from Reality, or are flowing into it" and that the eucatastrophe in Myth and Fairy-stories "may be a far-off gleam or echo of evangelium in the real world" "The Birth of Christ is the eucatastrophe of Man's history. The Resurrection is the eucatastrophe of the story of the Incarnation. This story begins and ends in joy. It has pre-eminently the 'inner consistency of reality.' [...] [The eucatastrophe in a fairy story] looks forward (or backward: the direction in this regard is unimportant] to the Great Eucatastrophe." (On Fairy-Stories, JRR Tolkien, Epilogue). Tolkien was outspoken about hating allegory, looking for that 1:1 correlation, especially in a story like his. Which is why there's no single Christ-figure in The Lord of the Rings like there is in The Chronicles of Narnia. Instead, you see a lot more typology. The satisfying and powerful events are such because they echo the sacrifice, death, journey to the realm of the dead, resurrection, ascension, and coronation of Jesus. Frodo, Aragorn, Gandalf, each have moments that embody this but there is no single representation of Christ, just as there is no single representation of the disciples, etc.
JD's insight into Moana as echoes of The Story, that one that *all truth* is derived from is a powerful one. She does have a Christological theme, even if (as I suspect) the writers *never intended it*. That idea of the heir to the king (chief) who "has crossed the horizon to find you" and "knows your name" and "restores the heart inside you" to turn that which has fallen back into that which is good (and who does things like walk on water, descend into the netherworld), that is, in a sense, a type of Christ. And just as Joseph, Moses, Joshua, David, etc are also all types of Christ without being perfect allegories for Christ, this clearly doesn't have a 1:1 correlation. But it does ring true precisely because it has those echoes of The Truth.
I have long liked Moana for another reason, though. Despite Disney being Disney, they actually wrote a movie in which to save the world the very Feminine Protagonist must use her *very feminine genius* (in this case the care and empathy she feels that help her recognize what she does about Teka) *in complementarity with* the very Masculine Pro(ant?)agonist using his own masculine genius in his masculine way. It very much displays both the necessity of the complementarity of the sexes and a very good picture of post-fall the pitfalls and struggles of working together in this way. I love that, in contrast to how very often feminist ideas/literature/story/etc requires that the female shed her feminine genius and become more like man to compete with man, this story (again, whether intended by the writers or not) fits very nicely with a more Catholic understanding of the complementarity of the sexes.
I agree with Ed, though, that I am not very impressed by Encanto. Also, my husband is totally (apparently to my horror) on JD's side over the wallet and I am firmly in Ed's camp. Were I to lose my wallet for longer than about 30 minutes I, too, would probably burn down my life. The idea of waiting 3 weeks before taking such reasonable measures (such as moving, changing my name, and cancelling every credit card) is horrifying. But I am known to squirrel away money in odd places so I can at least identify with the serendipitous finding of odd and unexpected cash.
As usual, my husband and I love your banter, as well as your fresh, even-keeled (at least when appropriate) perspective on the world today and we love it when you go To the Law!
Oh, and I agree with the others. If your daughter is 7 and you are not in control of her music and are exposing her to something you find annoying, that's on you (or your wife). At 7 months she doesn't get to have an opinion. Just expose her to the good stuff (and I had to search for Beethoven's Wig because that sounded awesome - and it is!! And the mention of Psalty made me nostalgic. Do you also play Music Machine for your kids JD?)
Anyway, as usual, this was a great podcast. I am always recommending it to basically anyone who will listen.