Many parents pat themselves in the back for not letting their kids watch movies with "woke indoctrination". Some of them sign petitions on Life Sites News or akin sites whenever Disney makes an attempt to include LGBT people.
However, I am yet to see "conservative" influencers actually attempting to dismantle the real problem with some of this films. Instead of focusing on fake moral panics and anti-woke slop you tubers, they should give to this movies a serious analysis.
This would allow them to find whatever might be erroneous on this films, assess the extent of the damage and permit the viewers to find this questionable messages for themselves. So today, in the Pasture of Knowledge, we will discuss a surprisingly common family movie trope that should be questioned and held accountable.
What is a Low Brow Moment?
With "Low Brow" moments I mean every single scene on a family movie that includes references or jokes about breeding.
Unfortunately there are many movies and cartoons that follow this unfortunate trend. This is specially true of the movies from the 1990's to the year of 2026, and even more applicable to the animation studio Dreamworks.
Case Studies
While I will not make an exhaustive list of every vulgar joke in movies, I will use as examples those I found to be the most egregious.
Any Low Brow Moment is pretty bad, but the conditions to verify the nature and seriousness of Low Brow Moments, were the following:
1: Matter at hand. What kind of activity is the joke about? It's always worse if it deals with weird activities and always worse if it implies violence.
2: Relevance to the Plot. Can the scene be edited out / ignored / forgotten without the plot losing coherence? This is specially important for parents who have the time to censor the movies they own.
Zootropolis
Also known as the movie were, in the context of a city of anthropomorphic animals who wear human clothes, we are presented to a group of animals in a weird new-age spa were none of them are dressed.
Judy Hopps reacts horrified when she realizes her investigation has brought her to a, let's, say, adamite club. Nick, the fox, replies sarcastically: "Zootopia is the city were anyone can be anything." What the little canine didn't realize is that the directors wanted us to believe this slogan is virtuous.
Further low brow "jokes" can be seen during the scene, which we will not describe. As for myself, it is hard to not consider Zootopia as furry bait when a scene like this was made relevant to the plot.
Bee Movie
Also known as the movie that has some uncomfortable jokes about a bee dating a woman.
Madagascar
Madagascar is a more classical example. Released to appease both adults and children, the movies contain a surprising amount of Low Brow jokes that make me think someone actually way to make a movie for an older audience.
On 2016 this saga saw a prequel: The Penguins of Madagascar. Here we see the origin story for the penguins Skipper, Kowalski, Rico and Private.
For some reason, through the movie, the penguins are always slapping each other's rears, even Private's who is younger than the others. It is very uncomfortable.
Show Dogs: The Final Boss
Released in 2018, Show Dogs is the final boss of Low Brow Moments. The matter of the joke is extremely serious and the relevance to the plot is significant. While the scene was removed from (most) video releases, avoiding this movie in my opinion is a necessity.
Long story short, the "joke" is literally a grooming technique, when the abuser suggests to their victims they can "imagine to be somewhere else".
This is told to a police dog who doesn't want to be touched in certain areas during a dog show were he is undercover. "Max" must permit this unsanitary practice or else he won't be able to save a panda victim of trafficking.
And that's why my blog is named the corner of madness.
Bonus: Glorified Bad Relationships
Aside from the movies with low brow moments, we have films whose relationships are unhealthy or dangerous but the movie portrays them as desirable.
Belle & Beast
I base my criticism of the film's main couple on the possibility that their relationship might be the result of Stockholm Syndrome.
In the movie, Beast was cursed by a malevolent fairy. He needs the love of a maiden to save himself and his servants from death. After Belle's father is captured by Beast for trespassing, the girl agrees to be captured in his stead. Eventually, both Belle & Beast develop a relationship and marry after Beast recovers his humanity.
Belle presents many symptoms of Stockholm Syndrome. This include:
+ Developing feelings & empathy for her captor. This increases when Belle is told she can save the Beast from it's curse.
+ Refusal to leave. After Beast saves her from a pack of wolves, Belle decides to stay and help him despite the fact she could have escaped in her horse.
She has started to see her captor in a better light, despite the fact that if it weren't because of Beast, the wolves wouldn't have attacked them.
+ Anger with those who oppose the kidnapper. When the village people want to kill the beast, Belle's immediate response is to help it.
The songs of the movie even ridicule a group of people who are (whether they realize it or not) marching to lynch a kidnapper:
"We don't like / What we don't Understand / In fact it scares us / and this monster is mysterious at least."
Many of the things that cause Stockholm Syndrome are also present in the story:
+ Amiability. If the captors show their kind side, the victim will eventually learn that befriending them will keep them alive.
The first kidnappers to show their nice side are the furniture servants. They offer a huge party in the honor of Belle and frequently bring her consolation.
The Beast starts with violence: it threatens Belle and even strikes her. But as the movie progresses, Beast shows kindness, gifting her dresses, books, and dancing with her.
+ Belle is separated from her social circle (her father) for months.
+ Belle endures the first moments of the hostage situation by feeling intense fear. She is comfronted with something she doesn't understand (The Beasts) and she nearly dies / gets seriously injured in a few occasions. This leads her into survival mode.
Now, other (real) psychologists might disagree with my perspective, but I still think we can criticize this relationship whether there is Stockholm Syndrome or not.
Beast is a kidnapper but he also is in being held by something. He and the furniture have been pressured by a morally questionable Fairy into a life or death situation.
Both, in their own way, have been pressured into loving each other out of fear.
K-Pop Demon Hunters
With K-Pop Warriors my problem is based on symbols, not in actions.
Consider that in this film our protagonist is a half-demon (Rumi the demon huntress) whose love interest is a literal KPop demon (Jinu).
Many of the defenders of this movie claim that the demons in K-Pop Warriors are "Korean" and therefore different from "absolutely evil" western demons. This didn't stop Sony from referencing western culture (ie., the devil's sing in latin). Plus, the demons are, let's say, demonic enough. They eat souls.
In therms of their love, both Jinu and Rumi have a fairly friendly (so to speak) relationship.
This one however includes a fair deal of manipulation. Rumi wants Jinu to help her defeat the other demons and Jinu has leverage against Rumi, since he is aware of Rumi's secrets.
Strictly speaking, this movie has a symbol subversion - your boyfriend is a demon now.
Many women get involved on relationship with complicated guys with the excuse of "saving them", only to be hurt by them.
Jinu and Beast are characters who feed into this unfortunate temptation.
This type of relationship shouldn't be glorified on an animated family movie, specially if it is mostly aimed at children.
Conclusion
I was not willing to talk about this but I had to do it. Even movies that are mostly harmless have this types of moments and I can't accept it.
To avoid the problems of Low Brow Moments, the following can help:
+ Checking family-review sites can help to prevent this moments.
+ Pause and Advance can work with low brow moments you suddenly remembered about.
+ Apparently, it is possible to censor DVDs and VHS tapes for yourself. If you have the time and the will to do this, you are welcome. My belief is that if any movie is worth watching, it should be from physical media, and not from streaming services.
+ Avoid the movies where the jokes are relevant to the plot.
+ Be a good parent, or else your children will run away with creepy motorcycle guys and girls from the asylum.
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