Chipping away at innocence

Thanks Disney. Thank you for introducing the scariest concepts imaginable to a young child. Alex and I watched Tarzan over the weekend. It's Disney - rated G. How bad could it be. It's a 'classic.'

Yeah.

In the first scene Tarzan (not his given name) and his parents are the only survivors of a horrific shipwreck. They wash up on the beach of a deserted island and decide to build a tree house and live happily in paradise.

In the second scene an Ape gives birth to the cutest little bundle you can imagine only to have her babe stolen and (the viewer is left to assume) eaten by the local, menacing, jungle tiger.

Momma morns her little baby until she hears a far off cry of another baby. She runs to investigate - up the tree and into the tree house only to find bloody paw prints, no parents (again, you assume they've been eaten), and poor little Tarzan all alone. So, Momma Ape decides to raise the cute, little hairless creature herself but not before barely escaping the apparently still hungry tiger.

Why does Disney feel the need to kill off the parents in EVERY G-rated classic??

*******

Two days later while driving in the car, Alex asks, "Mommy. What happened to her baby?"

"What?"

"What happened to the Momma Ape's baby?"

"Tarzan?" I say. Hoping.

"No Mommy. HER baby. What happened to HER baby?"

"Well, hmmmm." I can't tell her he was snatched by a mean hungry tiger, mauled and then eaten.

"Hmmm. Well, the mommy ape needed to take care of Tarzan."

"But what happened to HER baby?"

I was NOT prepared, panicked a bit and in the end I chickened out.

"Honey can I answer that question later?"

"Why?"

"Because I'm not sure how I'm going to answer that question. Is that OK? Later?"

"OK."

Thanks a lot Disney!!