Stephanie Overanalyzes Children’s Entertainment: Toy Story (Part 2)

Part 2 – All About The Ladies

If you haven’t read Part 1 of Stephanie Overanalyzes Toy Story, you may want to do so before continuing.

I’ll Take My Feminism Where I Can Get It

Let’s face it, the Toy Story universe doesn’t have an abundance of female characters. The first 2 movies can’t even pass the Bechdel test. Toy Story 3 adds at least 5 named female characters, and really builds on the strong characterization Jessie got in Toy Story 2 by giving the girls crucial, if not major, roles in the story. Multiple viewings have pointed out to me that throughout Toy Story 3, women are the characters who most often stand up to Lotso. While Woody is busy trying to return to Andy, and Buzz is brainwashed, the ladies are holding down the resistance. And when Lotso has all the toys surrounded by the trash bins, trying to coerce them to return to the daycare, it’s not Woody or Buzz who present a counterargument – it’s Jessie and Barbie who lead the fight. (The glance between Buzz & Woody when Barbie says “authority should derive from the consent of the governed, not from the threat of force” is downright classic.) Ultimately it is Mrs. Potato Head who saves all their lives due to her seemingly trivial decision to adopt 3 aliens at the end of Toy Story 2. And it is no insignificant matter that Andy’s toys (whom might be considered by many to be “boy’s toys”) are handed down to Bonnie, a girl, for their new lease on life. These may be small moments, but they’re important ones, and they stand out more to me the more I watch these movies.

In addition, the two Toy Story holiday specials are both focused on female characters: in the Christmas special, Trixie the dinosaur learns to be content in how she’s played with, while the Halloween special focuses on Jessie working through her PTSD. (No seriously. The 20-minute kid’s cartoon tackles Jessie’s post-traumatic stress from being boxed up for decades. It’s kind of amazing.) Yes, Toy Story will always be Buzz & Woody’s show, but overanalyzing it does enrich the female characters, and I’m always down for that.

Um, Excuse Me, I Believe You Have My Toy

We have all been overlooking a gross injustice in the Toy Story universe for far too long: Mrs. Potato Head is Molly’s toy. At the end of Toy Story, the toy soldier watching the Christmas gift unwrapping says, “Molly’s first present is… Mrs. Potato Head!” And yet for the rest of the series, Mrs. Potato Head is always among Andy’s possessions. ANDY STOLE THAT TOY FROM HIS SISTER AND WE’VE ALL BEEN TURNING A BLIND EYE!

Andy’s Mom

I feel a kinship with Andy’s mom. We both have oldest sons who are imaginative, funny, smart, and obsessed with Sheriff Woody and Buzz Lightyear. Plus she has a lot of Mom Moments that are right-on-point…

  • Kicking the toy soldiers after stepping on one. (I do this every. single. day.)
  • “You can take ONE toy.” This decision unfortunately cranks Woody & Buzz’s rivalry to the boiling point, but I can’t fault her mom game here. No you’re not taking 5 toys that I’m ultimately going to have to keep track of. In fact, let’s not take any toys since we’re going to an arcade where you’ll be too distracted & busy enjoying yourself to even pay attention to your 1 toy, as evidenced by the fact that you don’t even realize your toy is missing UNTIL WE GET HOME.
  • Does anyone else assume that the budding psychopath next door is one of the major reasons Andy’s family is moving in the first movie? Cuz I do. And I’m 100% behind Andy’s mom’s decision there. Her entire family’s lives are in danger due to an under-parented child with an explosives fetish. Besides, you just know that in a few years Sid would be all, “Hey Andy, wanna try some pot?” No ma’am. Get your kids OUTTA there.
  • Holding a garage sale to get rid of some of her son’s crap while he’s at camp. This is next-level momming brilliance.
  • Her eyes brimming with tears as she looks around her oldest son’s empty bedroom. This moment gets me now, but you best believe in 14 years it will tear me apart. (Guys, don’t under any circumstances let me watch Toy Story 3 between 2031-2036.)

I really try not to judge other moms; however, there are a few issues I’d like to bring up with Andy’s mom…

  • Did she wrap a puppy in a gift box for Christmas at the end of the first movie? We only hear the exchange, but it sure sounds like Andy unwraps a gift and… puppy! How long was that dog in that box??
  • She doesn’t notice the gross weight difference in the toy donation box between when she put it in her car and when she carried it into the daycare? I mean, at least 10 toys climbed in there of their own volition. It was not a very full box before Buzz & the gang got in. It would be really hard not to notice that.
  • At the end of Toy Story 3, Andy is apparently driving himself to college ALONE. What?!?
  • She never once questions the presence of 5 new toys (Jessie, Bullseye, & the 3 aliens) in her son’s possession at the end of Toy Story 2. “Andy, where did you get these new toys? Did they give them to you at cowboy camp?” “What do you mean, I thought YOU bought them for me!”  *Mother and son slowly back out of the room and subsequently burn every toy in Andy’s possession, then have their house exorcised.*

Bonnie’s Mom

I’m sorry, random boy whose mom is an acquaintance of mine and whom I obviously haven’t interacted with in years, I’m gonna need you to ask my permission before you come over here and promise to give my small daughter a dozen of your old toys. She clearly already has too many toys! No.

The ending of Toy Story 3 would have been much more tragic had I been Bonnie’s mom. She is clearly some sort of saint.

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Tune in next time for the conclusion of my Toy Story over-analysis, where I’ll delve more deeply into a few of my lingering questions.