Who are minions and why shouldn't they be shown to children?

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

In the midst of the summer holidays of 2010, the cartoon "Despicable Me" was released. The picture told young viewers about a supervillain who had to become an adoptive father for a while, which is why he changed and became kind. The main idea of the cartoon, however, consisted of funny assistants to the main villain - "minions" (from English - a servant).

A million little yellow men, speaking an incomprehensible language and behaving rather strangely, immediately attracted the attention of the audience. As a result, Despicable Me got a sequel, minions became a brand, and on July 9, 2015, a spin-off of Despicable Me, dedicated to the minions themselves, is released on the screens of Russian cinemas.

It would seem, what could be harmful in little funny people? But if you think about it, the brand of "minions" and their stories are full of very ambiguous hints and meanings. Let's figure it out.

Who are the minions?

If in the first cartoons it was not yet clear who the minions were and where they came from, the trailer for the new full-length film provides answers to these questions: according to legend, minions have been on earth since time immemorial, starting at least from the era of dinosaurs. Since the trinity from "Despicable Me" also participated in the events of the 17th century, it becomes clear that they are immortal. Wherein, they live only for one purpose - to serve the villains … Without submission to the villain, the minions fall into depression. They find the most evil and entrust themselves to him in leadership, serving him faithfully until he dies, then they look for the next one. They cannot be called a people, because minions do not have children, old people, women. And now we invite you to watch the trailer for the new cartoon.

What was shown in the trailer?

The trailer is very eloquent. In addition to what we already know about minions, we were also shown in three minutes: several deaths in a row (0: 50-1: 20); dressing up minions as a woman with a prominent bust, which she showed to a passerby (2:29); dressing a female swimsuit as a minion (0:36); the mustachioed father of the family in a bright red dress and makeup (1:50); a mockery of a sick person and a blow to the groin (2:19); a colorful demonstration of a torture chamber and a game with a gallows there (2:56); a minion in a thong (3:13) and a minion kissing in a jacuzzi what he perceives to be two women (3; 16).

But the most impressive thing is not even that the main characters of the children's cartoon depict either boys or girls and deliberately serve evil, but the fact that they are shown as positive, funny and funny characters, from which children will certainly want to take an example.

It is already known from previous cartoons that minions not only do evil, but also do good. They all their existence helped the villains of all eras, but accidentally served as the reason that the villains most often died: they burned Dracula, shot Napoleon. They fight, and then perform cutely at the wedding, have fun eating ice cream and go to steal the moon. They obeyed the villain and showed great enthusiasm for his villainous plans, and later with the same enthusiasm admired his plans to save the world. Try reading this to-do list to your child, and then ask the question that often torments children when watching movies and cartoons: are minions good or bad, good or bad?

The child will not be able to give you an answer, and it will also be difficult for an adult to decide on this issue. Thus, in the child's psyche, and the cartoon is intended for the 6+ audience, the concepts of good and evil will be blurred. You can be nice, but fight for a banana with someone you know for many years, take someone else's and help the villains.

And one more thing - minions, as already mentioned, come from the word "servant", and their unquestioning submission to the villain, who in one situation may well engage in the production of murder weapons, and in another - ice cream, only confirms this name. They are servants, created to serve, they wear work uniforms, they do not think over orders and only in the evening allow themselves to go about their business, which are most often fights, cruel jokes and mockery of each other. Isn't this the image of a typical representative of the consumer society that modern mass culture that has come from the West is actively imposing on us? Identical creatures who have neither their own opinion, nor the meaning of life, nor any moral and ethical qualities and who only want to serve.

Now let's ask one more question: what gender minions?

Judging by the names, the main characters - Stewart, Bob and Kevin - are clearly men, to a greater extent they also have masculine traits. Sometimes they even “fall in love”: in the cartoon Despicable Me 2, the minion Stewart fell in love with a woman. However, the authors deliberately often draw attention to the fact that, if desired, minions can be a girl.

In the new trailer, the minion comes out of the water and, seeing that everyone is in swimming trunks, but he is not, in fear he throws himself into and out of the water - in a bra (0:36). Having received a blow to the groin area (2:23), the minion is surprised at first, and then just laughs, demonstrating that it does not hurt at all.

The authors clearly make it clear that the minions are bisexual, if desired, they can be both a boy and a girl, as they like, as it will be beneficial for them. Let us remind you once again that the main target audience of such cartoons is children, and it is in their minds through such images that the idea is laid not only of tolerance to perversions, but also that changing your gender is absolutely normal.

Behavior patterns

And now about how the minions communicate with each other.

Despite the fact that the main characters have known each other without exaggeration for a thousand years, their relationship cannot be called friendly. They constantly argue, mock each other, laugh at any oversight or failure of their comrade.

In this passage, one can see how one wants to hit the second with a club, then one laughs at the other, then they fight, but in the end of the scene, while one is being kidnapped by an unknown evil, the other lets him go and with a malicious grin escorts him into the unknown.

How will the child behave after watching such a scene? What does she teach? Obviously not friendship, caring, or mutual assistance. Despite the fact that these yellow characters can in some situations combine their efforts, for example, when they need to commit some kind of villainy, we are not talking about teamwork, because even here it is not complete without attempts to substitute a comrade and stand out from the rest. During one cartoon, they are fighting over the controls of the plane, over the computer, and the rest, seeing the conflict that has flared up, pick up the call "fight-fight" (fight-fight) and watch with pleasure. During a fight, minions can not only bludgeon each other with thin handles, but also bang their heads on the table, use improvised objects.

Words like honor, conscience or dignity are simply not part of their scope. Minions are devoted only to the evil owner and their ego and are more like a ball of rats ready to devour each other for a bonus and any handout from the owner. These are the models of behavior that this cartoon brings up.

Summarize. The Minions brand is aimed at:

Blurring the concepts of good and evil: minions are villains and help villains - this is the meaning of their immortal existence, however, they are depicted as cute and funny, doing both good and bad deeds, thereby blurring in the minds of the young viewer the concepts of what is “good” and what is “bad”.

Propaganda of perversion - minions can be both boys and girls at will or mood.

Fostering unquestioning and thoughtless obedience… The minions themselves are simply servants, and, as noted above, they do not care what ideals they serve. It turns out that the brand of new idols for children being promoted all over the world is a “funny servant” without any moral guidelines.

Raising individualism and rivalry in the viewer for the sake of small goals. Minions are very cocky and boastful, they fight with each other just to show off in front of the owner or for fun. Despite the fact that the minions have known each other for thousands of years, they do not have friendships.

Propaganda of vulgarity. Minions are extremely immoral guys, in the frame they hint at things that do not fit into the 6+ rating.