There's this really good
interview with Ed Catmull (co-founder of pixar) that I found very interesting, inspiring, and wonderfully honest. There are a ton of great points he makes about the film process and the success of his company, but there was one that really stuck with me. He was answering a question referring to children being 'consumers' and changing with time and technology and here's what he said...
" ...In terms of the way we think about our stories though, we don't segment them in that sense. We do make films that children can enjoy but we also make films WE can enjoy and we believe very strongly that children live in an adult world. We want things in the films they don't understand, not that were trying to do that. What makes things interesting for children is they are figuring out their world and if you make something that is all easy for them to figure out your actually having a distortion of the world they operate in and the world they like to be in."
He has a really good point when it comes to censorship and 'thought control'...something I personally juggle when making decisions about what's acceptable when I work in film or in picture books. Anyways, my apologies for the personal post...I was really inspired when I listened to it and I'm posting it hoping you all will be too. Thanks for all the comments lately! Stay tuned, more to come =]
-willie