Dear, sweet, Littlefoot, do you remember the way to the Great Valley? I guess so. But why do I have to know if you’re going to be with me? I’ll be with you. Even if you can’t see me. What do you mean I can’t see you? I can always see you.
The Land Before Time(1988) dir. Don Bluth
#Children’s media used to be about making you feel the entire depth and breadth of the human emotional spectrum#All while your 7 y/o brain struggled to make sense of if all. But it was like an emotional vaccine#Comprehending loss at that age didn’t make it any easier to bear with age. But atleast it was familiar (conserving these tags by @jonairadreaming because yes)
Don Bluth felt that children needed to process darker themes in a safer way, to experience joy and wonder and fear and grief, and see those handled, have that frame of reference for what Fear or Grief IS, how to try to be brave when you’re still scared, and how those we love are always within us, with what they taught us.
So that’s why if you’re a Millennial you have emotional memories about The Secret of NIMH, American Tail, All Dogs Go To Heaven, Land Before Time, Anastasia, or even Thumbelina.
Mr. Bluth is why those films are Like That. He wanted you to know even as a child that happy stories can come after really truly scary stuff.
(via fandomsandfeminism)
