Adult Fear: Difference between revisions

* ''[[The Secret of Kells]]''' third act. Because the young protagonist Brendan has once disobeyed his uncle's (the abbot of Kells) strict curfews, he locks him and another monk who helped Brendan in the scriptorium, i.e. to keep them out of reach of {{spoiler|the invading northmen}}. In the ensuing {{spoiler|slaughter}}, the abbot has a very sudden and positive character change when he is horrified to see all his schemes and preventive measures against {{spoiler|an invasion going up in smoke. He himself is wounded repeatedly and badly, and passes out. The scriptorium is set on fire. Unbeknownst to him, Brendan and the other monk managed to escape beforehand. They, in return, see the abbot lying in the snow and leave him for dead}}. Now, just to clarify, Brendan believes the abbot, the only parent and relative he had ever known, {{spoiler|is dead, }}while the abbot thinks that Brendan, his only surviving relative whose own life he risked to save him as a baby, {{spoiler|has burned to death because ''he himself had locked him there in the first place''. The movie ends very much with a very dark [[Bittersweet Ending]] as this misunderstanding is cleared up ''decades'' later. But still, the fears of an adult authority to fail in really ''really'' trying to protect his community and his nephew's life are fully and conveniently exploited in this film}}.

* ''[[The Lion King]]'' has this exchange between Mufasa and Simba after Mufasa's [[Papa Wolf]] moment with the hyenas:

'''Mufasa''': I was today. I thought I might lose you. }}

* ''[[Despicable Me]]'': seeing your children, whether adopted or not, being kidnapped. It's also just as bad to see them returning back to the orphanage after bonding with them.

** The scene where Gothel returns to the tower and finds that Rapunzel is missing is eerily similar to how any parent would freak out if their child disappeared without their knowledge and they don't know where their kid was, even though we knew that Gothel is the [[Big Bad]].

** This is sadly not only a fear for adults, but "Mother Knows Best" is ''horrifically'' dark for an otherwise fairly cheerful, encouraging movie, if you consider that Gothel doesn't use magic to keep Rapunzel locked up. [[Manipulative Bastard|She preys on her innocence, affection and vulnerability]], like a real-life [[Abusive Parents|abusive parent]].

* ''[[Pinocchio (Disney film)|Pinocchio]]'' where young boys were turned into donkeys, shipped off and forced into labor, the parents not knowing what happened to their sons and even if they did find them, they wouldn't have recognized their own kid, seeing how they are now stuck as donkeys.

** And a subtler example from the same includes the moment when Gepetto puts on his coat to go out in the pouring rain to look for Pinocchio who never returned home from school. Hearing the agony in his voice as he paces around his kitchen is enough to make parents whose children like to play hide-and-go-seek in department store racks flashback a little.

* In ''[[The Little Mermaid]]'', King Triton had to deal with the aftermath of his youngest daughter Ariel running away after having a huge and violent argument with her. His words [[My God, What Have I Done?|"What have I done?"]] certainly brings the trope home.

* [[Mulan]]'s parents found out their daughter ran away to join the army. Imagine not being able to save your child from the horrors of war and possible gruesome death, since any attempt would reveal her gender and sentence her to execution.