Jumanji demonstrates the power of movies
as propagators of approved cultural values
Movies not only emulate culture but they also presage culture based upon the worldviews of the producers, directors, writers and actors. Movies from their inception were used as powerful propaganda purveyors {Birth of a Nation. 1915.}. This movie appealed to President Wilson who promoted the goals of the Klu Klux Klan (KKK) giving it impetus that nearly dominated American culture into the 1950s. Such is the power of movies!
Nor should Americans forget that movies were, are, used by the government to legitimize its policies. A slew of movies released after World War I sought to glorify and legitimize America’s involvement in that terrible conflict. World War II had its own Hollywood slate both during the war and afterward. Such is the power of movies that the American government quickly used captured enemy video, combined with their own video shot during the war, much in actual battles, to produce Victory at Sea (1952-1953) among other films to tell Americans that this terrible war was worth the expense and deprivation to defeat ultimate evil. Whether movies induce behaviors or only legitimize approved behaviors has been the subject of furious debates. However, it cannot be denied that movies do influence behavior or they would not continue to be produced supporting the current values of their eras.
The original movie Jumanji (1995) was based on a book of the same name {which will not be discussed in this post}. The major theme of the movie was the importance of family relationships, especially father-son relationships. The board game is simply the vehicle for dramatically emphasizing the struggle sons have with living up to their images of their fathers. Produced during the onslaught of feminism which denigrated all male relationships, especially father-son relationships it is surprising that Hollywood actually made such a movie. Hollywood had been pushing feminism in its movies nearly from the beginning though it had to make money to survive resulting in many strong male roles also. Alan Parrish, the son of a strong business owner, finds it hard to live up to the expectations of his strong male oriented family. During the playing of the game a hunter is released who seeks to shoot the now adult Alan because he rolled the dice. The hunter is the same actor who played his father earlier and the now adult Alan learns that everyone has fears, even fathers, but one still needs to make decisions even in the face of fears. The importance of family relationships are also emphasized through the additional characters. A true family value movie, surprising for its time period.
This Jumanji remake seeks to undo everything
The original Jumanji movie emphasized
Jumanji, Welcome to the Jungle (2017) {herein I will simply refer to it as Jumanji 2 for convenience} bares almost no resemblance to the original movie. Other than using the name and a game concept this movie is neither a remake nor a sequel to Jumanji. The most disturbing aspect of this movie was its naked promotion of LGBT values, white privilege values and obvious stereotypes. It begins with the board game transforming itself into a video game module, movie never explains how this occurs or why. The first teenager disappears offscreen. Fast forward about 26 years and four teenagers are sent to the school basement for detention with the job to prepare old magazines for recycling. Teens: geek white boy; jock black boy; self-absorbed blond girl; and a geek plain girl. The white boy represents white privilege in that he writes papers for the less than stellar black jock, another stereotype. Continuing the stereotypes the blond is dumb while smart girls must necessarily be drab and shy. While in the basement they find the Jumanji video game pick avatars and are transported into the game though the movie never explains how the school got the game or why a nearly 30-year-old game even works.
Though lackluster up to this point the movie hits its stride when the characters live through their avatars. The geek white boy becomes a well-built black man with no weaknesses. Though this is supposed to speak against white privilege though it actually supports this false concept since the white boy still remains on top of the pecking order. The jock black boy becomes a mousey black zoologist to provide the whinny comic relief thus proving that blacks still are seen as less than serious actors in many roles {I thought I was watching a 1940s style movie at first}. The geek drab girl becomes a beautiful athletic woman able to defeat several tough men via dance combat! This shows that only beautiful women can make any achievements in life; not a great message for the majority of girls watching this movie. The most disturbing change of all was the dumb blond turning into a plump smart man. It is through this change that the movie emphasizes its true message.
The movie makes no attempt to describe how the characters find food or shelter; however, it does emphasize how to teach a woman to urinate via a penis. The girl, now man, is the transgender motif throughout this move. Hollywood’s juvenile emphasis on sex and bodily elimination functions takes center stage in this film. Later, when these characters meet up with the first boy transported into the jungle there is a scene where the two males kiss and the professor obviously has an erection. This obvious promotion of homosexuality relationships was masked by the point that the professor was still a girl in a male avatar. This is the point of genderism. You are what you think you are at any moment in time. You can believe you are a girl, a man, even a different ethnicity and age in order to live the experiences you want. The meaningless plot was only a means to promote these latest Hollywood values to impressionable children and teens. Later when everyone is released from the game, returning to their own time and forms they meet. The geek boy and girl continue their romantic relationship proving only that romance is only achieved by beautiful people even if only a fantasy in one’s mind. The others are as insipid as they were though supposedly they learned what it meant to be someone else.
Jumanji was used in schools as teaching aids
Think how it could be used today teaching LGBT
Jumanji 2 certainly repudiated everything Jumanji emphasized. There was no emphasis on family relationships, father-son developments nor even the importance of truthfulness to protect others. This was simply cheap exploitation of current Hollywood cultural themes to influence the goals of most public education programs. The LGBT culture runs counter to family centered values since families are not created by these relationships but must be made by taking away those children produced by family relationships. In addition, there is the obvious demeaning of women via both transgenderism and outward physical appearance. By supporting the concept of transgenderism, feminism has self-destructed. Since a man can be feminine by just thinking himself so women can just as easily think themselves as men and thus be equal, as they define equality. This is nihilism, leads to nothingness by self-destructing its own goals. By the same token, a homosexual can just as easily think of himself as heterosexual when convenient. We see the results of this in actual practice when men use women’s bathrooms or seek the company of young children using the excuse that they feel that sex and age. This is simply pedophilia.
I was surprised the movie was this blatant and equally surprised that many people ignored or missed the obvious messages. This is disturbing since to miss or ignore the messages is to tacitly approve of them. Parents who do not teach against these obvious value transmission mediums give the impression to their children that these messages are okay. As these messages are repeated in schools, television programs, movies and books they become reality to the minds of the children who then become adults. This is how families are eliminated and the culture changed. This is how America ceases to be America.