Pixel Perfect

I used to hold Disney highly suspect when my kids were younger. There were a lot of things in the late 80's and early 90's that just seemed so unnecessary for children's programming. But something happened in the mid 90's at Disney. I don't know what it was (probably a personnel change?) but what ever changed, I liked it!

Now that my kids are getting older we have discovered the Disney Channel. And I absolutely love so many of the "on purpose" points Disney is sending to the kids of this upcoming generation.

In a world where a girls self-image is so distorted due to constantly comparing herself to the magazine covers and a young boy's taste for the "ideal girl" are fashioned by those illusions on the magazine covers I am so glad Disney is at the forefront of blowing that myth out of the water! I love the fact that actresses like Raven Symone are shown to be beautiful and healthy; while not being the anorexic icon of Hollywood. Disney shows beauty as being more than a physical trait, but a character trait.

Not long ago, Disney made a movie called Pixel Perfect. The whole premise of the movie was that what you see on the magazines is NOT reality but rather the work of a good graphic artist at a computer who does "nips and tucks" with the click of his mouse.
Okay, well at least that is what I got our of the movie. What it was really about is a boy who designed his "ideal girl" by picking the traits that he liked in a girl. He had a hologram program on his computer that made this hologram into a lifesize clone of "The Perfect Girl"...only problem was the hologram was an illusion and when it encountered sunlight it vanished!

The boy who created this hologram had taken some of the characteristics that he liked of one of his female friends who happened to have a crush on him. He left out the characteristics that annoyed him. So he took reality, tweaked it, and created the flawless, ideal girl...an illusion, a hologram.

As the story unfolds, this hologram meets the boy's friend whom she was fashioned after...they develop a rocky, but working "relationship". The friend has no idea this new girl is not "real". Jealousy grows. In the end the boy discovers that his "pixel perfect" girlfriend is rather cold, unemotional, lacks feeling...and learns that he prefers "the real thing", his true friend...with bumps and warts and all.

There was a song from the soundtrack of this movie that showed up on my playlist in iTunes the other day. It must have been downloaded when I took music files from Brad and Laura's mp3 folder. So in the middle of the emotional roller coaster about ending the friendship that I have been talking abou this week, this song came loud and clear over my computer speakers...and suddenly I felt like I had learned a VERY profound life lesson...one I hope that my daughter will learn as we talk about these issues and how to avoid manipulative and toxic friendships.

So, I thought I would give Disney a thunderous applause for reminding this wife and mother a very valuable lesson that most people learn in junior high school!

Enjoy the lyrics of the song!

PERFECTLY

by Huckapoo

I like who I am, but I guess you don't

I think that I can

But you think I won't

Amount to anything at all

If you love me, you sure show it strange

Is there anything that you would want to change?

I can't be your paper doll.

Chorus:

I wanna be perfect, but I'm me...

I wanna be flawless

but you see

every little crack, every chip, every dent, every little mistake

I wanna be perfect

Just like you,

but there's only so much

that a girl can do

When I look in the mirror

It makes sense to me...perfectly.

I like worn out shoes

You like high heels and fantasies

But I'm what's real

I guess you could say

The shoe don't fit

Maybe I'm from Venus

You're from mars

My imperfections are what they are

I guess one of us must deal with it

I try to fit in the mold that you make

But I'm tired of playing this little charade

I wanna be perfect, but I'm me...
I wanna be flawless
but you see
every little crack, every chip, every dent, every little mistake

I wanna be perfect
Just like you,
but there's only so much
that a girl can do
When I look in the mirror
It makes sense to me...perfectly.

Hhmmmm....well, heres hoping that now that I am pushing 40 I will have mastered this very valuable life lesson that I learned from Disney as an adult!

Dawn