Emotional Attachment

Recently my son destroyed one of his toys. I highlight the word "destroyed" because that is not really what happened, but that is how my brain described it. What he did was tear most of the decals off a toy car parking deck. Its basic functions still remained in tact, and no plastic was bent or broken. What was really destroyed was my efforts. See, I kept him at bay on Christmas while I painstakingly put the sticker on. So for him to remove them was a bit of an emotional injury for me.

Which brings me to my topic: "emotional attachment" of this kind is unhealthy and ought to be exercised from a free thinking person's mind. This isn't to say that emotions are not valid, but a good rule of thumb would be that emotions are for people, not things. Two exceptions of polar opposites would be a passion for the protection of an important historical artifact, or the desensitization of prison guards toward the pleas of convicted criminals. However, generally speaking emotional involvement with the inanimate is a handicap.

Take the movie, Lars and the Real Girl, for example. I highly recommend this film to anyone interesting in having their perspectives challenged. It is not to say that this is a difficult film to watch, its very enjoyable, but it is to say that it goes down a very unexpected path.

Lars Lindstrom is, to a painful degree, very shy. He has almost no social life outside of this brother and sister-in-law, who's garage he lives in. So they are surprised to find he has met the girl of his dreams. However, to this social hermit, the "girl of his dreams" turns out to be a sex doll he ordered on the internet named Bianca.

Here's where the story heads down the road less travelled. Lars is not interested in sex, but a deep, meaningful relationship. Since he doesn't know how to interact with real girls, it seems his only option is to invent one. Because the people of his small town care for him, they decide to play along. The local doctor is also a psychiatrist, and pretends that Bianca has a rare condition that must be treated regularly. During this time, she is able to talk to Lars about his strange attachment.

I won't go any further into the story except to say that it is a truly heartwarming story of healing—one that is distinctive and edgy enough not to be sappy. For me, it provoked a lot of thought about how we assign a certain spirit to inanimate objects, as well as pets, which they really don't possess. Usually, this is a harmless practice from childhood imagination, which can be beneficial, as it was for Lars. Though such attachments can be abused.

To borrow the plot of this movie for analogy's sake, what if the doctor had insisted that Bianca needed a certain expensive prescription (one that paid a high commission). Or what if a local car salesman used Bianca's condition to sell Lars a new car? What if Lars decided Bianca needed a credit card so she could get the high-fashion she needed?

This is precisely the sort of thing that unscrupulous advertisers seek to do: tap your emotional weak spots in order to push on you a product which you really don't need. FITmedia seeks to create writers, producers, and distributors who understand that the only products that should sponsor true art are truly artful products. Whether it be scientifically advanced food products, or high-quality literary entertainment.

FEATURED MEDIA: "Lars and the Real Girl" - The story of a meaningful relationship with a sex doll.