Knights in Shining Armour

I guess having children gives adults an excuse to watch all those great animation movies. It makes a pleasant change from the violence, crudeness and gratuitous sex that is in most movies these days.

What I see in the animations is that there a crisis has occurred, someone emerges as the hero, defeats the ‘badies’, saves the day and returns order once again. It is quite a generalisation but that is the general trend.  

The older animations usually had a Prince Charming-type who saved the day This handsome character on his powerful white horse would ride into town, have the princess instantly fall in love with him and then he would ride off and ‘slay the dragon’. This is obviously what people needed to see, that there is a hero out there who will ride into town and save the day. How convenient would that be? Issues would be so easy to resolve. Just wait for Prince so-and-so and he will rescue us.

To continue my reality-check theme of there being no magical genies, guess what? The reality is, there is rarely going to be a knight in shining armour that will incredibly appear, just when you need him the most.

Sorry, but most of the time you are going to have to face the dragons on your own. I don’t mean you have to have the battle as a lone soldier, I just mean you have to initiate and lead the mission. You can recruit as many allies and resources as you have access to. Surround yourself with friends who can support and lift you up, but ultimately you are going to have to do something yourself to get out of the crisis you find yourself in.

The more recent animations I have watched all have a seemingly weak, under-dog  character who steps up and takes on the ‘badies’. So, I presume the subliminal message is that even me as a seemingly weak, under-dog can actually slay a dragon. Maybe subliminal isn’t really the right word choice but for the children watching, I believe it is. The adults that watch recognise the under-lying message but often just relay it onto children in their development and character building.

Why only for children though? Surely we can also identify with the same under-dog hero, not really believing we have what it takes to get through the current crises. Ask yourself, “Will the dragon I face now, actually destroy me?”. Think back to the previous one you faced. You survived! Maybe a few scars but you survived. Now tackle the next one with the knowledge that you can and have defeated dragons before. Maybe you do have what it takes…