KitKatMatt

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Plot points and spoilers will be discussed below! Feast is a short film released by Disney, so this one is pretty short. Summary: A Boston Terrier puppy is searching for food in an alley when someone throws him a french fry. The man adopts him and takes him home. What follows is a montage of meals: first kibble, then kibble with eggs and bacon, spaghetti, nachos, and more. This is what the dog, now named Winston, lives for- he LOVES food! One day Winston's owner has dinner with a woman, and the dinner Winston gets is different. Instead of junk food it's vegetables, and the woman adds a little garnish on top. Winston hates the new food, spits it out, and knocks the plate over. His owner seems to have changed diets for his girlfriend so there are lots of salads, which Winston can't stand. He knocks over salads, vegetable plates, and tears apart grocery bags. He realizes that he won't get any of the food he wants anymore, and stares at the kibble in his bowl, which now has a garnish on top that his owner's girlfriend placed. His owner's relationship suddenly breaks, and the woman leaves. Grieving the breakup, he starts binge eating junk food, and suddenly Winston's life is great again. Scenes go by where Winston is happy eating junk food his owner has left out, but his owner is seen suffering in the same scenes. One meal is spaghetti, and on top of it is a garnish that the woman placed on everything. Winston is angry when he sees it, but his owner takes it off and then the dog happily starts eating. He looks up from the food to see his owner staring at the garnish, and then realizes that the man is hurting. For the first time, Winston pushes food to the side to get his owner's attention. He then grabs the garnish and manages to get out the window and run outside. His owner chases him down the road, but Winston knows what he has to do to make everything better. The woman works in a restaurant, so Winston finds it and runs through the back. There is food everywhere, and in the confusion when he's running through food is dropped to the floor. He has to fight his love of food and focus on what he has to do, and runs past all sorts of temptations on his mission. He finds the woman outside and gets her attention, dropping the garnish at her feet. His owner catches up and puts Winston on a leash to try to take him away. The woman tells the man to wait, and they make up. It fast forwards through time, the man and woman get married and move in together. Winston is happy that his owner is happy and is now content to eat plain kibble. Time passes, and one day Winston wakes up to a meatball rolling towards him. He eats it and follows the sauce trail to find a baby in a high chair, offering more food. Winston now grows up with his owners and their baby, eating all sorts of food that gets thrown around, and he's happy. Morals: Winston loves food, he loves it so much that it's the only thing he pays attention to. When the food he's offered changes, he doesn't like it, and acts out. Then his owner and the woman break up, and suddenly his food is back again and that makes him happy. Because of the way he views food, he doesn't see how much his owner is hurting from the break up for a while. When he finally does notice, he knows he has to make a choice. Winston willingly pushes food away and runs to find the woman for the sake of his owner. Since the woman works in a restaurant, it is pitting Winston against the worst temptation. Steaks, hamburgers, and drinks all fall to the floor around him, free for the taking, but he keeps going and bypasses it all. Once his owner and the woman make up, he doesn't get any extra food with his kibble like he had gotten before. But he's not upset, he is able to look past himself and be happy for his owner. He is now content to eat plain kibble. Winston realized that he was only focusing on himself and that he'd been ignoring his owner's feelings. It wasn't easy to change and focus on someone other than himself, there were big obstacles in the way that could have thrown him off track. He teaches that we need to look past ourselves to care for the ones that we love, and that even though there can be difficulties along the way that we have to remain focused on our goals. In addition to that, when we look out and care for others, good things can come back our way.

Thank you very much for this information! I will be checking these out

Plot points will be discussed below! This is a spoiler warning This post is not nearly as complete as I would like. I had a hard time breaking down this movie as I did the last one, and I think it deserves a lot more than I gave it here. Since I have worked on it for quite a bit and seem to have hit a wall, I want to make sure everyone knows they are welcome to add any thoughts and ideas to fill this out more! Summary: China is under attack by the Huns, and the emperor rallies the country's army to protect his nation. Conscription notices go out to take one man from every family to fight. Mulan is the only child who lives with her mother, father, and grandmother on a small farm. She lives in a culture that strictly defines the roles of each gender: men fight for honor, and women give birth to sons for honor. She's introduced on the day she must meet the matchmaker to determine her fate as a wife. After the meeting goes terribly, Mulan feels that this is not the role she was meant for. She has little time to think of it before men on horseback appear to hand out the conscription notices in her neighborhood. She pleads for them to not make her father fight because he has fought before and has an injury that makes it hard to walk. Fa Zhou, her father, feels disgraced by her actions. Mulan stays quiet about the matter until she secretly watches Fa Zhou practicing with his sword before he collapses in pain. She brings it up again at the dinner table, but Fa Zhou refuses to listen and tells her that she must learn her place. Sitting outside in the rain, she makes up her mind about what she must do. She waits until her family is asleep and steals the notice, her father's armor and sword, and takes the family's horse before setting out for the training camp. Before she enters the camp, Mushu, a disgraced temple guardian, appears and tells her that he was sent to help her. His "help" makes her the center of negative attention at first, but he becomes a better coach as time goes on. All this time, Mulan must hide that she is a woman. If the truth is revealed, she will be killed. Mushu, irritated that the group of soldiers hasn't gone to war yet, forges a letter calling them to arms. The troops finally march out to this order, passing a descimated village where captain Shang's father and soldiers were found dead. While marching, Mushu accidentally lights a stored cannon and the signal brings the Huns right on top of them. The soldiers are severely outnumbered, but Mulan grabs the last cannon and triggers an avalanche with it. This seemingly wipes out the entire Hun army, and she saves Shang from death in the avalanche. After everyone is safe, she collapses from an injury. While being mended, it's discovered that she is not a man. Shang lets her live to pay his debt, but refuses to acknowledge her further and the rest of the soldiers leave her. After they have gone, a few Huns begin struggling free of the packed snow. Mulan hurridly rides to the emperial city to warn them, but no one will listen to her because she is a girl. With no one believing her, the Huns set up their attack and kidnap the emperor. When Shang and his soldiers cannot get past the doors to save him, Mulan is there to help them. They manage to get inside and trick the few Huns standing in their way before rushing to face Shan Yu, the leader of the Huns. Mulan fights Shan Yu face to face, showing how much she's learned in training. Mushu helps finish him off with a barrage of exploding fireworks. In the end, the emperor thanks Mulan personally for her feats. She returns home, presenting Shan Yu's sword and a crest from the emperor to her father, hoping that she has finally honored him. Fa Zhou throws the things to the ground and hugs his daughter. Morals: This one was very interesting because deceit was a main theme in the movie. When it comes down to it, I believe it depends on the intention for the deceit. Mulan has to deal with a mountain of adversity in this movie. She is a woman in a world that only values women when they give birth to men, and this is not the live that she feels called to live. Because of her different wants and needs, others (like the matchmaker) call her a disgrace. This entire movie is a lesson from Mulan that you need to fight to achieve your goals, even against the greatest opposition. She also lies and steals, which makes an interesting conversation. When Mulan is introduced, it's shown that she will break rules when she feels the needs- in this case, writing secret notes on her wrist so she can remember them in the meeting with the matchmaker. This backfires on her and causes the appointment to fall apart. After she decides to impersonate a male soldier, Mulan steals her father's armor and takes the family horse. She says she is Fa Zhou's son. I believe it's important to examine her motives for her deception here. When she decides to steal and impersonate a male soldier, it's not for a self serving cause. She is attempting to save her father from dying in war with her own life. I believe this is a noble cause, but I am definitely open to hearing discussion on it. Fa Zhou, Mulan's father, makes a great teacher with his actions. He feels dishonored that Mulan would want to stop him from serving his country. When she brings it up again he tells her that he knows his place and she must learn hers. At the end of the movie when Mulan returns to her home, she wants to bring him honor by giving him the crest of the emperor and Shan Yu's sword. When she offers these gifts, Fa Zhou tosses them aside as if they are worthless and hugs Mulan. He tells her "The greatest gift in honor is having you as a daughter". He now looks past this system of honor which he seemed to be bound to before out of the love for his daughter. Fa Zhou teaches that sometimes cultural ideals and beliefs can separate you from those you love, and when that happens you must choose which is more important to you. That is all I have for now on Mulan. I welcome any additions and suggestions! I think this is a very good movie and I am a bit scared that I haven't done it justice.

The only Christian books I am familiar with are written by very conservative authors. These seem to be the only kind sold by nearby stores, from WalMart to Barnes and Nobel, and especially Lifeway. Since I am not familiar with any moderate, progressive, or liberal Christian author, does anyone have any suggestions that I could look up on Amazon? I'm sort of in the dark about this topic so I'm not sure how to approach it.

In my view, morals in the sense of what is acting or showing care and thought for the future is wisdom and i think that is what you are referring to as living a 'good' life. Is that correct? That's what I was going for, yes I'm sorry if the quote messed up, I'm still getting used to the features here.

There is no reason to make a comment like that. My point is not to discuss the existence of morality, go make your own thread.

The purpose of this thread and idea isn't to break down that question. It was just asking if people would like it if I posted threads about moral lessons taught in movies.

I'm really not sure what you're saying. Are you picking at this because I used the word "good" in a sentence because it didn't match to the same meaning that you held? If that's the case, I'm really not sure this discussion is going to go anywhere.

I'm not exactly sure what you're trying to ask? I don't know what the Gordian knot is. I will try to explain what I mean: I think moral lessons taught in movies (or anything, really) can help a person change the way they think in ways that can help them. The way I'm trying to say "live a good life", I'm saying being introduced to a new idea or way of thinking that helps you live a better life because this lesson can help you. You don't need to take in every lesson and use it, but some are really helpful. Like being taught by example why it's a good idea to have patience with others, which is something I struggle with. When it's broken down and taught to me through different mediums and different view points (like the view of someone who is rushed, showing what they feel when someone is very impatient with them), I can better take in the lesson and apply it to my life. Then I can hopefully understand others more and be more patient, which can help other people around me feel calmer and better. I don't seem to have a good grasp of words tonight so I am not sure if I can get this across correctly. I will try to answer any other questions with the best of my ability

When I wrote this post and my first movie discussion post, the concept of morals I used was an important lesson that can be valuable to living a good life I am not anywhere near perfect at this though, especially because this is my first time doing such a thing, so I really want to open it up for discussion from everyone. I hope I answered your question in the way you wanted, but if not I can try again!

You're right about Nala not really knowing what Simba is going through. Although Simba refuses to tell her, it's not because he's being difficult, he is hurting very badly because of something terrible in his past and he's scared. I see what you're saying in the last paragraph! That's a really awesome observation and another very important thing to think about. Thanks very much for your addition!

Plot details will be expounded on in this post for all those who are spoiler conscious The format that I would like to do these posts in will include a summary, and then a breakdown of different characters and the challenges they face. I know that many people know about The Lion King and have probably seen it, so a summary might seem a bit silly, but I would really like to practice this because I've never done it before. I hope it is an enjoyable read! The Lion King is one of my favorite movies. It came out when I was a child and I have watched it more times than I can count. It's a staple for many families, and I think it contains a lot of great lessons! When I was a child no one ever sat me down to talk about themes in movies, so now that I know there are people out there who like to talk about details even in kids movies I am very excited! (Kudos to you TvTropes for showing me this!) This is why would like to talk about the moral lessons that The Lion King can teach us! Summary: The star of the movie is Simba, the son of the leader of a pride of lions that live on Pride Rock. Mufasa is his father and wants to teach him the lessons he needs to assume his role as king later in life. However, Scar, who is Mufasa's brother, is angry that he will never be king now that Mufasa has a son. Scar plots to kill Mufasa and Simba, and he succeeds half way by causing a wildebeest stampede. Still alive, Simba is told that it was his fault that Mufasa died, and that he should run away and never return. While he runs off, Scar tells his hyena henchmen to kill the cub. Simba manages to get away but the hyenas do not tell Scar. Simba wanders far into the desert and is saved from death by Timon the meerkat and Pumbaa the warthog. They teach him to turn his back on the world when bad things happen, and to live a lifestyle free from cares, worries, and responsibilities. Their life motto is "Hakuna Matata" which means "no worries". Scar assumes the throne in the wake of the death of Mufasa and Simba, and brings the hyenas to live with the lions even though the two groups of animals are enemies. The pridelands start to fall apart, sending the lionesses further and further out to find food. Nala, Simba's chilldhood friend, is searching for food when she spots Pumbaa and tries to catch him. An adult Simba runs to his defense and attacks her, but they soon recognize each other and happily reconnect. Friendship turns to romance, but soon that's shattered when Nala realizes that Simba is really the king and tells him to come back. Simba refuses to come back and also refuses to tell her why because of his guilt, and the two go their separate ways. As Simba walks off, he's annoyed by a mandrill who turns out to be Rafiki, a good friend of Mufasa's. Rafiki knows who Simba is and claims Mufasa is still alive. Simba follows him to where Mufasa supposedly is, revealing a pool of water. Rafiki tells Simba that Mufasa is still alive inside of him. Simba then talks to an image of Mufasa in the sky telling him to take his place in the circle of life. Simba returns along with Nala, Timon, and Pumbaa to the pridelands to fight Scar for his place as king. Scar makes Simba "admit" that he is really responsible for killing Mufasa, and backs him against a cliff that he slides down, barely hanging on. Scar reveals that it wasn't Simba that killed Mufasa but himself, and Simba leaps up and the lionesses come to his aid to fight Scar. Scar's hyena army lead the attack against the lionesses, and in the mess Scar gets away up the side of Pride Rock. Simba follows him where things culminate into a fight, and right as Scar is about to leap onto him for the final blow, Simba kicks him off Pride Rock where he lands among some burning plants, surrounded by the hyenas. The hyenas took offense to Scar trying to blame them earlier for not being able to step down as king and attack him. Simba takes his place on the cliff in front of Pride Rock as king of his pride, and is shown to later have a cub with Nala who will be the next one in line. Morals and Lessons from the Characters: Mufasa, Simba's father, protects his son with his life. He fights off hyenas to save him when Simba and Nala get into trouble, and though he is very angry with Simba he patiently tells him why he is so upset so that Simba can understand. He teaches bravery* and patience. *Mufasa explicitly defines bravery to Simba, which I think was an excellent move. Sarabi, Simba's mother, stands up to Scar's wrath when the pridelands have gone to waste. Even with hyenas snapping at her as she walks by to intimidate her, she does not flinch. Sarabi teaches courage in the face of adversity. Simba, being the main character, shows us many other things. He shows that being rash and seeking danger is a bad thing, as when he first sneaks away with Nala to the Elephant Graveyard and gets attacked by the hyenas. Mufasa told him not to go there to protect him, not because he was hiding some fun place. Simba later has to deal with the intense guilt of believing he was responsible for his father's death, and if it weren't for Timon and Pumbaa, he would have died himself in the desert. There is a lesson here as well, that it is OK to accept help when you are dealing with a very bad situation. Sometimes having a friend in these times can mean a huge difference for your future, even if they can't reverse the events of the past. However, upon Nala telling him that he is the rightful king, Simba refuses to take his place and would rather continue to live a life free of responsibilities instead of face something difficult in his past. It takes Rafiki to remind him that Mufasa still lives within him, and Mufasa speaking from the dead to remind him of his real identity and his place in life. Simba wanted to forget who he was and never return because the idea of his mother and family learning that he "killed" his father was too much, but in the end it was the only thing that could save them all from starving to death under Scar's mismanaged and ruthless rule. The moral here is that you must always do the right thing, even if it hurts very much to do so. Scar has his own lessons. His greed to become king is based on his desire to be the ruler, even though he lacks all of the abilities. He turned out to be a terrible king, to the point where he refused to allow the pride to leave Pride Rock even though it would mean the starvation of the entire pride. Scar needlessly killed his own brother, and attempted to kill Simba, just to reach the top and revel in the feeling of power. The lesson he teaches is that succumbing to greed and envy does not benefit you or anyone else, and can in fact be very harmful. Timon and Pumbaa had a great life in paradise. They had all the food, water, and shelter they'd ever need their entire lives. When Simba came and went, they could have stayed there and continued to live a life free of responsibilities, but instead they chose to follow their friend to a desolate, depleted land because it was important to Simba. The lessons they teach are loyalty and friendship, which they displayed wonderfully when they left behind their perfect lives and walked away into an uncertain future to aid Simba. The hyenas, specifically Shinzi, Bonzai, and Ed, show what happens when you blindly follow a leader just for the spoils. Attracted by Scar's claims that they would never go hungry again, they didn't realize that they were just being used by him. While lions and hyenas are enemies and hyenas are depicted as unsavory at best in the movie, they can also teach a lesson. Their lesson would be not to blithely follow any person that promises a reward for obedience, because they may be using you for their own ends and leading you down a very bad road. Nala is a great friend to Simba when they are young. When she is reunited with him later in life, she insists he returns to take his rightful place. Simba refuses and gets very angry, but Nala continues to tell him what he should do and does not back down. Even when you are friends with someone, do not be afraid to speak up when they see to be making the wrong turns. I think this is an important thing to learn. There are probably more lessons to learn from the movie, but that is all I have in my head for now. I really love this movie, and I wish I could talk about all the different things it teaches. Being a "kid movie", it should be less of a way to kill 90 minutes and more of a way to open up a good discussion about motives, themes, lessons, and morals to young minds. Thank you to anyone who has made it to the end

Awesome! Thank you for adding that!

I was thinking of doing each movie in its own thread, actually! So I hope that will work! I haven't seen the animated X-Men series I actually haven't seen many shows or movies that are based on super hero franchises. Maybe someone can add those!