Mitchell, Connor, and their friends, Connor and Daniel, were watching Treasure Planet—Disney’s 2002 interpretation of Treasure Island—the other day.
To Disney’s great credit, their John Silver is more complex than the typical cartoon character. After the movie ended, the boys started discussing him. Connor and Connor summed up the confusion, “First he was good, then he was bad, and then he was good again.”
Mitchell replied, “No, he’s just somebody doing things.”
I call this a masterful insight for a nine year-old. It runs deep against pop-culture, which tries to paint every human act as a product of either “good” or “evil,” and reacts with shock if they are ever found together in one person.