I’m talking about Toy Story again. In the first movie, Woody breaks what seems like the most important rule that toys have and talks to Andy’s sociopathic neighbor Sid about his mistreatment of toys. Sid’s toys, desperate to end the abuse, were quick to agree to Woody’s plan. Surely no one would believe Sid when he told them that toys are alive.
But what is learned cannot be unlearned. Once Sid knew that all toys are actually alive and have feelings, his life could never be the same. The audience is supposed to laugh triumphantly as the brat gets his comeuppance, but if you think about it, realizing that toys are alive is a huge thing. Sid could not have possibly known that he was doing harm to sentient beings. Sure he was a horrible child with deep emotional problems, but what Woody did to him must have tipped him over the edge.
Woody didn’t simply have a chat with Sid Phillips. He got the other toys to surround him and put on the most frightening display they could come up with. They didn’t just want to let him know he was hurting them. They wanted to scare him. They wanted to punish him. They wanted to scar him for life by letting him in on a secret that nobody else knew and that nobody else could possibly believe. They’d have been far kinder if they had simply killed him.
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