Up@dawn 2.0

Sunday, April 28, 2013

Philosophy of Toy Story Post 2 (Kailey McDonald H1G2)



Now I'm going to talk about jealousy seen in Toy Story. Here's a video to set up the rest of my blog:



The philosopher who came to my mind when I thought about jealousy was Rousseau and his idea of The Social Contract. He believed that people are generally good, but when we start living together in cities, “we become obsessed with trying to dominate other people, and with getting people's attention.” He thought the best society would come about if people were concerned with the General Will, or what is best for the whole community.


I think jealousy emerges when people are selfish. They want the best for themselves, and if they they see someone else getting the better end of the deal, they become envious. Woody gets extremely jealous when Andy gets Buzz for a birthday present. Woody loves Andy, and he feels like Buzz has replaced him. And what makes it even worse is that Buzz doesn't seem to care about Andy. Buzz believes that he is actually a space ranger, oblivious to the fact that he is a toy whose purpose is to make his owner happy (not save the universe from the evil emperor Zurg). Woody's resentment for Buzz causes him to create a plan to knock him behind a desk so Woody can go on a family outing with Andy. However, this plan backfires when Woody accidentally knocks Buzz out of the window. After the incident, all of the other toys turn on Woody. Jealousy makes people act in ways that they would not normally act. One can not be happy if he is constantly comparing himself to those around him. If Woody would have been less concerned about himself and how much time he was able to spend with Andy, and more worried about the feelings of his friends and Andy himself, he would not have gotten into all of the trouble he did in the 1st movie. Because of his hatred for Buzz, he was almost completely left behind when Andy and his family moved. However, because Woody and Buzz were able to set aside their differences, they were reunited with their owner. Woody realizes that the most important thing is what is best for his whole toy community and what is best for Andy. He also realizes that he has found a new friend who will be there for him no matter what.

Buzz: You still worried?
Woody: About Andy? Nah, it will be fun while it lasts.
Buzz: I'm proud of you, cowboy.
Woody: Besides, when it all ends I'll have old Buzz Lightyear to keep me company - for infinity and beyond.


 Word Count: 443
Total Word Count: 1456



3 comments:

  1. Another good post! I agree that jealousy comes when we are selfish. I am sure all of us at some point in our lives have been jealous, whether it be jealous of the person who marries Justin Beiber (you know, the teenage girls that love him apparently) or so on. Jealousy is a continuing factor in the daily lives of everyone, which makes them act different (I definitely agree with you Kailey!). This different way of acting could harm your relationships with other people or the people who look up to you. However, jealousy can also be a good thing. If someone is jealous that someone got a new IPhone, then they might work harder to earn the money to get the new IPhone as well! I can see jealousy being both good and bad. Your analysis on Toy Story is really good! You picked a great topic, and you have done really well! Keep up the good work!

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  2. I think jealousy is deeper than just wanting what someone else has. I looked up the definition to see if that would help me articulate what I'm thinking and it did.. part of the definition was "against another's success or advantage." To me, jealousy is when you're angry with someone else because they have something better than you. I agree with you Evan that sometimes good things could come from jealousy, but I don't think that makes being jealous a good thing. So I kind of agree with you, but not completely!

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  3. Oh I agree that jealousy is not a good thing. I was just trying to see both viewpoints on the idea. I would not want to be jealous all of the time. That would probably be a miserable life!

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