How does one combine the news of Disney’s purchase of Pixar with the Papal encyclical today? My sainted wife sent me this, which I think is worth sharing:
I was thinking about the recent Disney take over of Pixar (which I’m not too happy about) and the Dory speech at the end of Finding Nemo which is such the most perfect heart-felt speech about Love since Shakespeare EVER. This, of course, led me to realize all the different layers of love within Finding Nemo, both parental and romantic, as well as political.
It suddenly struck me that one of the reasons we love Pixar movies so much is they are all so very much about love. But not just any type of love, a distinctly conservative type of love. A love of self but also a love for others and a recognition that we have bonds to others that must be attended to in very real and specific ways. The “villain” is always one caught up in self-love which is self-centered, masturbatory, and consumed by victimhood.
In short, this is the difference between what is promoted between the conservative and liberal movements. More and more, I’m seeing conservatives of a certain stripe promoting love of self that involves self-reliance, self-respect, and self-support with the understanding that once you’ve achieved these things you are fairly likely to support others around you to achieve the same. Additionally, more and more, I’m seeing liberals promoting self-love that involves proclaiming your own victimhood, demanding someone else support you and solve your problems, and removing yourself from the community at large to “preserve your individual and separate uniqueness”.
It is constructive love vs. destructive love. Unfortunately, one is guised as easy money and one is described as cold hard capitalism. Only in the movies do we see their true faces.
In the Pope’s terminology, I suspect that the destructive love my wife identifies would be a subset of eros, while the constructive love is closer to agape. I always said
that Finding Nemo was a great movie.