Toy Story 3: Coping with Rejection
Pixar’s third installment to the anthropomorphic Toy Story series delivers a believable evocative plot that makes one forget these are merely toys. No longer a kid, Andy is off to college and the question of his toys’ fate hangs in the balance. One is glued to the screen as the story unfolds, anticipating how each character deals with the recurring theme of rejection.
Woody is not new to the threat of rejection. He reacted with puerile malevolence in Toy Story 1 and then with some maturity in Toy Story 2. These past experiences gave him the tools to hold steadfastly to his faith in Andy, but it was not enough for the rest of his friends.
“What I want is to be needed. What I need is to be indispensable to somebody. Who I need is somebody that will eat up all my free time, my ego, my attention. Somebody addicted to me. A mutual addiction.”
- Chuck Palahniuk
The worst thing that could possibly happen to anybody would be to not be used for anything by anybody. To be relegated to the attic or not be played with was the worst kind of fate for a toy. When Woody fails to convince his friends that Andy did not mean to give them away, they abscond into the box meant for Sunnyside Daycare.
Lotso Huggin’ Bear rules the toys at Sunnyside Daycare. At first blush he is a loving, caring huggy bear who smells like strawberries. Woody’s friends are delighted and indeed the future seems rosy. At Sunnyside there is no risk of rejection. As Lotso proudly declares,
“When the kids get old, new ones come in. When they get old, new ones replace them. You’ll never be outgrown, or neglected. Never abandoned or forgotten. No owners means - no heartbreak!”
Hooray! Life cannot get any better than this.
There is, of course, a dark side. Shattered by abandonment and bitter with resentment, Lotso is a formidable bear who runs the Sunnyside toy prison. His was a rejection more painful than any he had ever experienced and he could not forgive Daisy for it. Awash with anticipatory anxiety, he pre-emptively rejects others, reflexively recoiling in self-protection with the merest hint of rebuff. As Lotso leaves the toys to die in the incinerator he spat with vehemence, ”Where’s your kid now?”
Despite its childish exuberance Toy Story 3 holds a note of melancholy in its plot, a hint of the ineffable and the desperately sad, the enigmatic vindictiveness of life and the impermanence of the universe. In the end it holds true to Hollywood fashion; fear not, for there is an upside to rejection. When you are kicked to the curb, unwanted, you can cling to the hope of embracing a new life with your personal Bonnie.
