Woody, let it go!

Students: Castillo, Gabriel. Vega, Jessica.

Remember this dialogue from Toy Story 3: “And this is Buzz Lightyear, the coolest toy ever. Look, he can fly, and shoot lasers. He’s sworn to protect the galaxy from the evil Emperor Zurg. To infinity and beyond! Now you gotta promise to take good care of these guys. They mean a lot to me” says Andy, one of the main characters in the film and Buzz and Woody’s owner. “My cowboy!” cries Bonnie, a 4-year-old girl and future owner of Andy’s toys. “Woody? What’s he doing here?” Andy asks confused. Most of us remember this sorrowful scene from the film Toy Story 3 and probably all of us have had the same heartbreaking feeling, and why not some tears in between, when seeing that Andy is giving his beloved toys to Bonnie.

Toy story is a Pixar three-film series not only known by children but also by adults. The films make all of us feel identified with the emotions, situations and themes presented in them; and that is why these films are thoroughly appealing. The most sympathetic theme is abandonment, since it is an inevitable aspect to face up and go through in our lives. Despite its painful connotation, the films deal with it in a strong and evoking way that lets us affirm that Toy Story prepares children for abandonment in life.

Toy Story 1 portrays a clear example of abandonment in friendship. This film shows that Woody is Andy’s favorite toy and that their friendship goes beyond a simple owner-toy relationship. The breaking point in their friendship comes along when Buzz Lightyear, the astronaut toy, is introduced and changes Andy’s world. Andy becomes keen on Buzz and shows a fanaticism which goes from posters on the wall to spatial-homemade costumes, leaving aside Woody. Children will see how best friends may not have a lifelong friendship since people move on in their lives and meet other people in their way.

Take a look at Emily's story in Toy Story 2. Abandonment starts when the other person changes, in this case, Emily, who is Jessie’s owner, grows up and those changes affect people around her. Emily goes from having cowboy’s hats, Jessie’s launchboxes, horse-cover notebooks and an acoustic guitar to colorful manicure, girlish make-up, music records and pop-band posters. Emily leaves behind all her child-stuff to move on to a teenage-wave. Jessie, the cowgirl doll, suffers her owner’s growth since she belongs to her past child-world now. With just two deep verses from the song “When She Loved Me” sung by Sarah Mclachlan, Jessie shows her hollowness of heart: “So the years went by, I stayed the same. And she began to drift away, I was left alone”

A profound focus on abandonment can be noticed in the characters’ dialogues. In most of crucial scenes, they utter totally significant and comprehensible phrases regarding abandonment as a frequent situation to confront in our lives. The most clear example of this is found in the second film of the series when Stinky Pete, the prospector, assures Woody, the cowboy toy and main character of the films, “How long will it last, Woody? Do you really think Andy is going to take you to college, or on his honeymoon? Andy’s growing up, and there’s nothing you can do about it. It’s your choice, Woody. You can go back, or you can stay with us and last forever. You’ll be adored by children for generations.”

When it comes to Toy Story 3, the audience finds itself divided regarding emotions. This is because the younger audience does not feel identified with the abandonment feeling introduced in the film in the same way than the older one does. In particular, Woody will evoke the parents’ figure since he perceives Andy’s abandonment just like parents feel when their children leave home. Andy’s departure to college in the third film marks the saddest instance of abandonment in the film series and allows children to be aware of their parents’ feelings when they will be the ones who abandon their own homes.

After  seeing the three films, children  may conciously or unconciously internalize the concept of abandonment as a natural aspect in life and the only possible way to go through it may beby facing it up just like Woody did. He knew that there was only one left thing to do: endure abandonment.