La Ron S. Readus
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Here’s Why Lightyear’s Zurg and Buzz Are BOOMERS! (VIDEO SCRIPT)
🕑 Added 2022-08-10 20:01:01 +0000 UTCReaders, I don’t think it’s surprising anyone to hear that I never really had any expectations of Disney and Pixar’s Toy Story spinoff Lightyear
/If you’ve seen my video I made on it back when it was the talk of the town, the only thing I kinda contributed to the quote-unquote “hype” was that this was going to be a movie that happens in the world of Toy Story; more than likely a movie that Andy would’ve seen when he was a kid that made him want to own the toy he got on his birthday./
And while the movie definitely confirmed that considering it started that this movie was pretty much made in Toy Story’s 1995
/It definitely gave off more “Mid 2010 Franchise Reboot” vibes rather than mid 90’s action movie considering everything it decided to do with the story, Star Command, and even Zurg/
Basically, Lightyear feels like there was definitely a more “lore accurate” film franchise before this was released in-universe, and that this is the equivalent of Batman Begins or Fant4stic for lack of better examples.
But, I digress -- which is something I usually only say during the END of my videos.
Lightyear is a fine film that I was quite surprised was willing to tackle a very important topic when it comes to generational gaps considering that a lot of its plot revolved around time
And that’s not even a spoiler; that was in all the trailers.
What I initially thought was gonna end up being a take on the last act of the live-action Lost In Space movie ended up being a mix of that and Interstellar
But like I said earlier, what surprised me the most was how it juggled the decisions it needed to make in order to tell its story. Especially when it comes to the relationship between Buzz and Zurg.
And for Today’s Lesson, I want to focus on that connection between the two, and how the film does a great job at highlighting said relationship to show off the hypocrisies and dare I say sociopathy of an overall entitled generation. Let’s begin
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Hey, Readers. La’Ron here. Offering you analysis and perspective on your favorite bits of geek and pop culture media
If it wasn’t obvious from the intro, this video will in fact contain spoilers for Disney and Pixar’s Lightyear. It’s currently available to stream on Disney Plus, so give it a watch before continuing here if you haven’t seen it yet and don’t want me to spoil pivotal points of it for you in this video.
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That’s the syllabus. Now onto the lesson.
Buzz Lightyear is not just a cop.
He’s also a boomer.
Of course I don’t mean he’s an ACTUAL boomer; that’s technically impossible.
While a boomer is short for Baby Boomer -- someone who was initially born during the United States baby boom between 1946 and 1965...
A couple of things that have been progressively associated with the generation now that Millennials are of age has been the overall disconnect and, dare I say, selfishness of the generation when it comes to a lot of quality of life issues and the like.
The latter includes hoarding wealth and making things almost impossible for the generations that come after them to take advantage of the same opportunities that they did
The former, however, reflects more along the line of being so out of touch with the current day and how things have currently come to work that there’s now incentive by certain members of this generation to blame said lack of opportunities and the like on the younger ones.
Which is pretty much where the whole “You’d be able to afford a mortgage if you didn’t spend money on avocado toast every day.”
No! No I won’t, Francis. I can’t afford a mortgage because you still think $30,000 a year is a lot of money compared to inflation and the current housing market when it’s barely even minimum wage anymore!
Now the reason why it’s been mostly Millennials speaking out about the selfishness and dissociation of Baby Boomers and Baby Boomers criticizing Millennials as a result is because Gen X tends to pretty much stay quiet and just...exist.
Not to say that there aren’t members of the generation that are as vocal, but a good amount of them allow themselves to be the rope in a game of tug-of-war when it comes to which side of the fence they end up on.
Because let me tell you; there are DEFINITELY some Gen X’ers I’ve seen that have the same amount of mentality and disconnect as the traits a lot of us associate with Baby Boomers
That’s why -- and don’t quote me on this; this is just me using logic from witnessing the use and evolution of current slang...
Gen Z and younger ones are starting to take the concept of this selfishness and disconnect from younger generations usually associated with Baby Boomers and are just labeling that as Boomer logic, and applying it to any generation older than them that is starting to apply it to either state their previous position in the world and critique the work ethic, moralities, etcetera of generations younger than them. Sometimes on the same playing field
That’s why you have members of Gen Z and younger calling certain Millennials Boomers; the generational label has transcended just referring to the generation in question and instead is now a reference to the behavior that’s regularly associated with them
So while it’s impossible for Buzz in Lightyear to be a Baby Boomer, it’s definitely possible for him to be a Boomer. And he is.
The movie makes it abundantly clear where Buzz stands when it comes to a few things in the beginning.
/How he feels about artificial intelligence and even rookies being the first focuses are part of the driving force of his character development over the course of the film./
But as I watched the rest of the movie, I noticed aspects about Buzz’s personality that would also play a very important role later on down the line.
/Things like how his lack of trust in others caused him and his crew to be stranded on this hostile planet filled with killer vines and insects./ (You need any help)
/How his resolve and, dare I say PRIDE, caused him to seek and constantly test a fuel source that’s capable of 100% sustainable lightspeed travel in order to fix his mistake, knowing how it affects time around him and everyone else on the planet./
And I admit; when I saw these specific plot details and character traits in Buzz during the first act of the movie, I initially fell for the trap that all this was yet another dissection of toxic masculinity at first.
/Specifically regarding Buzz’s sense of ego, and how his distrust in others with the exception of Alicia Hawthorne represents his mindset regarding being the only one capable of fixing his own mistakes./
And while those aspects about Buzz are still important regarding him getting through this obstacle course that is his development over the course of the film, I not only realized that this mindset isn’t just limited to male development via patriarchy and the like, but that the movie is trying to utilize this form of toxicity in another way.
And it was made aware to me the first time after Buzz’s first failed attempt at 100% lightspeed when he missed 4 years
/More specifically, when he missed Alicia’s engagement/ (I never would’ve met her if we didn’t land here)
So as the movie progressed and I saw how the crew continued to live full lives while Buzz was constantly testing out new fuel sources to get them home, it became more apparent to me what the overall message was, and how it was using his earlier traits I initially associated with toxic masculinity to actually critique antisocialism and the sense of self usually associated with the Boomer generation that for the life of them can’t figure out that “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few or the one.”
/Everyone on the colony since Buzz’s first failed attempt at reaching lightspeed decided to make the best out of a bad situation. Meanwhile, thanks to a combination of his duty and his pride -- especially thanks to him being Lawful Neutral in general -- didn’t allow himself to live a life like the others./
As we see later on in the film, his want to fix his mistake becomes his driving force, and it causes him to miss an entire lifetime that others have been able to happily experience.
And mind you, he still hasn’t gotten over his distaste of artificial intelligence and STILL refuses to allow anyone to work with him that isn’t on the same level as him or higher, as shown during his early experiences with Izzy and the rest of the Junior Patrol
/So when we find out during the second act that there’s a sense of hypocrisy in his beliefs and actions when he explains to them that he was pretty much just like them when he was a rookie -- if not worse -- and only decided to stay on Star Command because of -- let’s just be real here -- the belief and support of a black woman, it’s easier to associate the previous traits of Lightyear before having to adapt to the Zurg invasion with that of the sociopathic self-obsessive nature that’s usually associated with Baby Boomers that lacks a broader view regarding seeing a body of people united by common goals and values/
Thanks to Buzz having the privilege to push his own cringe-worthy past as a rookie to the further corners of his mind with the exception of befriending Hawthorne, he’s allowed to have these closed-minded opinions that the movie forces him to experience in order to grow.
And thanks to pride, ego, and personal morals formed from said privilege, his desire to fix his own mistakes causes him to reach the borderline threshold of selfishness with that goal that’s regularly associated with sociopathic behavior.
And we see what happens if these aspects about Buzz are allowed to grow and fester uninterrupted to extremely toxic levels of behavior in the form...
Of Zurg.
So, I’m gonna be honest with y’all. I actually really appreciated the twist regarding Zurg being an older version of Buzz from an alternate timeline.
Honestly, considering that they were hinting at time shenanigans being present in the film since like...the first full trailer, I’m actually quite surprised that people WEREN’T expecting this to be the overall twist
/ESPECIALLY after the sequel to The Lego Movie/
But the reason why I appreciate Zurg being Buzz is because of what I stated earlier; it shows us what would happen to him if all of the previous points about Buzz were never addressed via character development.
Zurg represents a version of Buzz that fully embraces the selfishness of trying to redeem himself in the eyes of his own morals to the point of literal antisocialism, and it in turn becomes sociopathic.
/Going so far into the future to find the abandoned ship and tech because he interpreted the actions of the new commander as ungrateful./
/Only having robots to interact with, which he hates by the way/
/The very plan to go back in time to keep his younger self from ever landing on the planet to begin with, and at what lengths he’s willing to go to in order to make sure that happens./
Zurg only has one thing on his mind: finish the mission.
And because he’s been unchallenged in regards to his ideals, morals and personal pride, he cannot see how his decision to go back in time to undo everything will affect the lives of others that have grown and existed on the planet since they first crash landed there; Zurg’s very selfishness literally keeps him from seeing the importance of “the needs of the many.”
/He doesn’t care about the life that Alisha lived or the family she had and that loved her until her last breath. Because according to him/ (She’s not gonna miss anyone if she never meets them in the first place, right?)
And that’s how both we -- and even Buzz -- are allowed to see Zurg’s Boomer level sociopathy.
/There is a HUGE lack of empathy between himself and the people on the planet that allows him to not only disregard the new generation of individuals who have since called the planet home/ (who’s Izzy)...
/But even regard his younger self as an enemy, because Buzz’s mental maturity surpasses what he’s willing to accept, and is seen as nothing more than a restraint on his individual freedom of seeing his time travel plans through/(I hardly recognize you anymore, Buzz. All these new ideas...).
Buzz being allowed to have this mirror placed in front of his face is just the wake-up call he needed. But I would argue that while seeing what would happen to him if his ideals and morals weren’t challenged by the events, the personalities and the people he encountered is just as important...
Being informed of the core reasoning for all of this in the first place was what told him that certain things about him needed to change. And what that core reasoning was...
Is Self-Forgiveness
During the moment Buzz realized what would happen if Zurg succeeded in going back in time, a very important tidbit of how he processed his resolve regarding finding a sustainable fuel source was revealed to us by Zurg.
/It was shown to us earlier on in the movie in the form of a nightmare he had, but it was made prominent here when Zurg revealed how it was a reflection of his guilt for stranding everyone on the planet to begin with; that it was the guilt that acted as the driving force./
/But what made Buzz truly think about the situation he was in and realize what he had to do, I believe, was after Zurg reminded him of said guilt and said/ (you can finally let go of that)
Because outside of throwing away his opinions about AI, or his hypocritic opinions of dealing with rookies, one of the things he never did that resulted in both his and Zurg’s situation was that while everyone ELSE was able to forgive him for the lot of them ending up stranded on the planet, Buzz never forgave himself.
And because he never forgave himself, he was the only one who never had a chance to live an actual life while everyone else.
Instead, his guilt prompted him to seek a way to make things right according to his standards and start him down the path to become the Zurg we see in the movie.
And it’s not until he hears this from Zurg’s lips, along with a bit more self-realization from the revelation of what he becomes if left unchecked, that he realizes in order to TRULY set things right, that he needs to set things right with himself first.
/Then, and ONLY then, can he stop fixing and finally bring himself to start LIVING./(For the first time in a long time, I feel like I AM home)
Conclusion
While I wasn’t expecting much from an in-universe Toy Story spinoff, I was actually quite surprised at what all Lightyear was able to accomplish in its storytelling
And while I kinda correct in my prediction regarding Alisha Hawthorne, I am glad that the character was allowed to fully live her life outside of just being development fodder for the white male protagonist
Plus Keke Palmer (pauses then shrugs shoulders)
If they’re serious about making this a trilogy of films, then I must admit that they’re off on the right footing with how they handled Buzz’s development, and how others can pick up the messages and allegories as well.
/So here’s hoping the next one takes even higher leaps. To infinity, and beyond/
But, I digress, Readers. Your homework assignment for the day:
Write in the comment section below what you thought about Lightyear if you’ve seen it.
Or, if you feel like sharing with the rest of the class, a film or television show you’ve seen that did a surprisingly good job at showing that pretty much ANYONE can be considered a Boomer.
Ooh, this is gonna be a fun one.
Whichever question you decide to answer, I’d love to know your thoughts.
/A HUGE shoutout to my Patrons both big and small for helping make this channel possible.
Make sure you check out the card at the end of the video to see if you want to join, or click the link to it or any of my affiliates in the description box below.
But until then, this is Readus 101. Class dismissed./
