Return to Oz - a movie that had a subplot about Dorothy being committed to a psych ward and given electroshock therapy because everyone thought she was delusional - was a thing that all of us just watched. As kids!
Once again, in case you’re wondering why Gen Xers are “like this,” watch any Disney movie between Walt’s death & The Little Mermaid, the shit we were raised on. Tried to rewatch The Rescuers last night and it is utterly Bananapants that a single soul thought this was acceptable kids’ fare
I was raised on f'ed up dark fantasy movies, Stephen King, Alvin Schwartz's Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark with the original Stephen Gammell illustrations, and the original Are You Afraid of the Dark? I devoured it all. Gen X and elder millennials were raised half-feral.
We were also raised on an alarming amount of animal death and brutality. Watership Down, Old Yeller, Where the Red Fern Grows (I know just triggered someone - sorry), Charlotte's Web, Sounder, Cujo, Pet Sematary, Island of the Blue Dolphins, etc.
For me the most disturbing was Jack Pumpkinhead: this tragic, sweet and fragile creature in a murderous world, with a costume that made it look like that heavy head was going to rip right off his neck at any moment. Honestly, that’s the thing that kept me up at night the most.
I was shown Return to Oz as a kid years before I ever saw Wizard of Oz. I assumed the original would be far more nightmarish so I was too scared to try it.
I watched that movie so many times as a kid. In retrospect, this may explain much.
(I also broke a lot of barbie heads because I was switching them around like Mombie)
