Perpetuating the Child Within

Here's a thought for today: to what extent do we still yearn for our childhood innocence? Our adult world is perhaps not such a disconnect from childhood as we might think; we're still fans of our comic book Superheroes such as Batman and Superman (even while their world, portrayed in film, is darker and more sinister than we may remember, as anyone who has seen Heath Ledger's portrayal of the Joker in Batman's The Dark Knight will agree).

The jokes in films for children are often adult-orientated - think of those erstwhile family favourites such as Shrek, or Toy Story; it's an interesting thought that within the framework of film for children there exists a secret society of jokes for adults -  a club that kids can't join - yet it reveals that yearning we may have for the 'innocent' days when toys were plastic soldiers and Mr Potato Head. Nice thought: the paradox of a kids club that kids can't join.

We  constantly reach for the world of the child, reading every one of the Harry Potter series; Philip Pullman's The Northern Lights trilogy; searching out the fantastic; perpetuating the fairy tale in our lives. Maybe we do so, because we want the sense of childhood magic to return to our increasingly desperate- to-consume society (have you just bought a high-powered vacuum cleaner? What on earth for?); we yearn for the freedom of laughter - the joy of finding something simply funny. Or magic; just out of this world.

Or perhaps we are yearning for innocence, a return to childhood, in a world that is becoming too difficult to turn our adult frightened eyes upon.