Stonebraker's Favorite "Andy Griffith Show" Episodes

The show ended 17 years before I was even born.   Yet through the beauty of syndication and a father who introduced me to what I consider to be one of the greatest television shows ever made, I got to know "The Andy Griffith Show".    I have and I will continue to argue that good television is as educational of a tool as is anything else.  A lot of valuable lessons, and how to react to them with good morals and values were taught on "The Andy Griffith Show".   They weren't taught in condescending or judgmental ways, but instead through example.   "The Andy Griffith Show" proved that television could truly be great and today I want to share with you some of my favorite episodes.

"Feud is a Feud"

This is one of my favorite episodes because through an hilarious depiction, "Feud is a feud" tells the story of two families that have been feuding for as long as they can remember.   The only problem is, they have no idea why they are feuding.  They don't even know why they don't like each other, other than they are feuding.   The episode is an illustration of how sometimes in life we can get so wound up over the silliest of things and how we sometimes allow bridges of friendships to be burned, because we're more worried about being right than we are about being happy.   Sometimes in life you are better off to stay away from certain people and have nothing to do with them.  However, other times in life, you're better off to let bygones be bygones, shake hands and be friends.   Life's too short to be enemies with people who you'd be better off friends with.   This episode illustrates that beautifully.

"Andy Discovers American"

 As an avid lover of history, how can I not love this episode.   The boys at school think history is a real drag and they all do poorly on purpose.  This bothers their teacher Ms. Krump as she confronts Andy about it and Andy acts very nonchalant in return.   Upset, Ms. Krump gives Andy a tearful explanation of why history is important to us and why his nonchalant response is alarming.  Andy realizes that she is right and gets the boys excited about learning history. I appreciate how in turn Andy realized that in order for the boys to care about history he had to make it exciting and relate to things that they liked.   I never forgot that, and have to say that while I was student teaching, I totally stole the idea  for a lesson I taught one day.   It was the best student teaching day I had while at English Valley.  

"Aunt Bee the Warden"

 I consider this to be probably the funniest episode of the series, and I mainly appreciate it because of that.  However,  there is also a valuable lesson to be learned from this episode as well.   Otis Campbell is used to getting his own way, being waited on and having little to no discipline.  At first Aunt Bee caters to him and lets him have his own way.   After a while he begins to take it all for granted and finally Aunt Bee has had enough and she puts her foot down and begins to discipline him.   She makes him do chores, clean up nice and even makes him vow to quit drinking.    What's even cooler about this episode is that she is doing all of this to help make Otis a better person and at the end of the episode both he and the town's people go from looking at him as nothing more than a useless drunk, to someone they can be proud of.  

"Barney and the Choir"

 I think we have all had talents in life that we do not possess that we wish we did.    I can most certainly relate to this episode as I too wish I could sing, but I can't.  Like Barney, there was a time when I thought that I could, but quickly discovered through the use of a recording device, that no, I could not.    What I appreciate about this episode is just how naive Barney is to the fact that he sounds like a goat when he sings.   It helps to make you realize that if you've ever had one of those days when you couldn't see whatever it was starring you straight in the face, you aren't alone.   We all have those days.  

"Barney's First Car"

 This episode I appreciate because it proves that even though people try and claim that things were so much better back in the day than what they are now, that sleazebuckets and slimeballs existed back then, the same way they do now.    Barney is conned into buying a dud of a car by a wise swindler, and ends up getting screwed out of all of his money.    What's even funnier is at the end of the episode when they catch the con artists,  they try to sell Barney another car and he almost falls for it again.   There are swindlers amongst us everyday and we need to watch out for them, or we too will be paying money for worthless things like a car that doesn't run.

"Barney's Physical"

 Exams are coming up, and Barney is worried that he won't pass the requirements for height and weight, and therefore not be allowed to be an officer anymore.  He goes to extreme measures, including hanging himself to try and make himself taller, in order to make sure that he'll pass the exams.   Andy and other folks in the town also go out of their way to do all they can to help Barney pass the exam.  The magic of this episode is that it illustrates that if you truly want something so bad and you do all you can to achieve it, people will take notice of that.   People will help you to succeed.   While the other "requirements" are often needed, Heart is often the most important ingredient.  

Citizen's Arrest

 Even today we have quite a few examples of those in authority taking advantage of their position and abusing their authority.   In this episode Barney does just that by giving Gomer a ticket for breaking the law and then turning around and breaking the exact same law himself.  Gomer points this out to Barney and places him under citizen's arrest.   Barney learns that just because he's a police officer, it doesn't give him the right to break the law anymore than it does anyone else.  While there are a lot of really good cops out there in this world,  I know more than a handful that could stand to watch this episode.

"Bailey's Bad Boy" and "Man in a Hurry"

 I purposefully put these two episodes together because I think they both get across the same point.   Both are about two people who are in a big hurry and have their priorities a bit out of whack.    They both tell a simple story about simply taking the time to relax and appreciate the things in life that really matter like your friends and your family.   It is also an early peak at a young Bill Bixby, who is one of my favorite actors.

"Mr. McBevee"

 Opie meets a mysterious man in the woods one day while playing and the man becomes his friend.   Opie goes home to tell his father about him and Andy dismisses it as simply Opie's imagination.  Yet when Opie insist that he is telling the truth, Andy punishes him for lying.   Andy later discovers that Opie was indeed telling that truth and that this man really does exist.   It's a complicated lesson because people often due lie about things but it is wise to never assume someone is lying until you know the facts.   Accusing someone of lying when they are telling the truth is an awful offense and you learn that by watching this episode.

"Opie's Charity"

 Like "Mr. McBevee" this episode deals with the ugliness of assumption, only instead of thinking he is being lied to,  Andy just assumes that he knows why Opie isn't giving to the local charity.   Andy assumes it is because Opie is being selfish and wants to by himself a ticket to the movies or a new bicycle.   In the end Andy comes to find out that Opie wants to by a jacket for a little girl in his class that can't afford one.   Andy eats major crow realizing that while he thought his son was selfish, he actually turned out to be very selfless.    I've seen one too many incidents where people don't understand the reasoning behind why people do something and rather than ask, they make up their own assumptions, which are often as far off from the truth as you can get.    In the end Andy ask Opie, "Well, why didn't you tell me you were saving the money to buy her a jacket?"  Opie responds, "You didn't ask". 

"Opie the Birdman"

 Opie is out with his BB gun one day,when he shoots and kills a mother bird, leaving behind her babies.   Opie feels awful about what he has done and decides to take care of the birds himself.    What I learned about this episode was that in life when we mess up,  we can either continue to beat ourselves up about what we did wrong, or we can choose to make up for it, by doing something good.   Opie killed the mother bird, took responsibility for his actions and made sure that the baby birds were going to be taken care of.    We need more of that in our educational system.  Too much, "stand in the corner" and "Go to the principal" for what you did wrong and not enough, "FIX what you did wrong" 

"The Pickle Story"

 Sometimes in life you are just better off telling someone the truth, even if it'll hurt their feelings than you are trying to hide if from them.   Another extremely funny episode,  this one teaches you exactly that.

"The Education of Ernest T Bass"

 We often overlook people and what they are and what they aren't capable of based on prerequisites and false pretenses.   Few believe in Ernest T Bass's ability to get himself an education and through determination, hard work and the guidance of those who won't let him give up, he does exactly that.   We have no right to tell anyone they can't do something before they've even attempted it.  Sometimes, they'll even surprise us and do exactly that.  If someone believes they have the ability to do something,  I usually trust that that they will.   Even if they don't, they at least tried and that's more than I can say for a lot of people.


What are your favorite Andy Griffith episodes?

Stonebraker's Top 10 Favorite Pro wrestling finishers

One of the things that made professional wrestling such a fun thing to watch for me in the late 80's through the mid 90's was all of the awesome finishing maneuvers that the wrestlers had.   I recently sat down and thought about what finisher's were my very favorite and why.    I decided to stick with single wrestlers only on this list and leave out tag team moves.   My top 10....

10. Tito Santana's Flying Forearm

The picture really doesn't capture the essence of the move all that well, but it is the closest I could find.   The thing I loved about Santana's "Flying Forearm" or as Bobby "The Brain" Heenan would call it, "The Flying Jalapeno" was its sudden surprise.  A lot of times he'd hit it out of nowhere and it'd catch his opponent completely off guard.  Seeing that Santana lost nearly every televised match he wrestled between 1990 and 1993,  I didn't get to see this move as much as I would have liked to.   Even when he did hit it, he'd usually knock his opponent out of the ring so he couldn't pin him or the referee would be unconscious so he couldn't register the pin.    When Santana became, "El Matador" he did a different variation of the move and it didn't look near as crisp.   The Original way he did it was awesome.

9. Shawn Michael's Sweet Chin Music

I'm not the biggest Shawn Michaels fan in the world, and the more I learn about the guy, the less I seem to like him.   However,  that's on a personal level.   As a professional wrestler, there is no denying whether you like the guy or you don't, he was and still is one of the absolute best of all time.   Throughout his years in the Mid-South and the AWA, as well as his early years in the WWE  he was good, but he hadn't quite elevated himself to the level of "one of the best" until about late 94', early 95'.   Believe it or not, but I think one of main things that elevated him to the next level was a change in his finisher.  Once he broke away from Marty Jannetty, and went from being a Rocker to being the Heartbreak Kid, he used the teardrop suplex as his finisher.  He then used other variations of the suplex as his finisher as well, but none of them really seemed to get over with the crown.   Once he started using the "Superkick" which he would later rename, "Sweet Chin Music" he began to be taken more seriously by the fans.   Add in a change from heel to babyface, and suddenly his popularity and status skyrocketed.   Had he still been using the teardrop suplex at that time, I don't think he would have experienced the same success.

8. Psycho Sid's Powerbomb

The Powerbomb is a move that has been used and reused many times throughout the history of professional wrestling.  While it was invented and popularized in Japan, the person to make it famous here in the state's was Sid.  I loved this move because it was sort of like watching a train wreck right into a car.  It just seems to totally take everything out of the opponent.   Not so much that it knocks you out, but more like it completely wipes you out.  There have been many people from Kevin Nash to D'Lo Brown to Batista that have used the powerbomb as a finisher, but none were able to master it quite like Sid.  

7. Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat's High Cross Body Block

  Perhaps not the most devastating move on the list, but still effective none the less.   When Steamboat climbed the ropes and signaled for this move the crowd usually rose to its feet.  He soared high through the air and hit his opponent perfectly chest to chest to come crashing down to the mat, hook the leg and get the three count.   I've always wanted to be able to fly like Superman, and I think the closest I ever saw anyone come to doing so was Ricky Steamboat as he'd do this move.  

6. Yokozuna's Bonzai Drop

You can use the "f" word all you want when describing professional wrestling, but I don't think there is anything fake about having a 500 plus pound man sit on your chest.   The way he sometimes would do the move, I'm surprised he never cracked anyone's sternum.  Even if he landed on you safely, you still had a 500 pound man sitting on your chest!   I used to cringe every time I would see him hit this move on someone.  I just imagined him coming down on me full force and how much that would suck.   I've had fat people get on top of me before, and it's not fun to say the least bit.   Now to imagine them coming down with force the way Yokozuna did with his Bonzai drop seems even worse. 

5.  Bret Hart's Sharpshooter

 I don't know if there has ever been a greater submission finisher than the sharpshooter.   Sting used it in WCW, and called it "The Scorpion Deathlock" but it didn't have near the recognition that Hart's Sharpshooter did.   Hart was the first WWE champion to win the belt via submission.  If that doesn't speak volumes about the effectiveness of the Sharpshooter, little else will.  It was a move that every pro wrestling fan during the time loved to see.   I can remember watching RAW, Superstars and PPV's and every time Hart went to lock on the move the crowd would get excited.   It was one of those moves that made pro wrestling exciting, it was one of those moves that made it fun.   If anything, it was one of those moves that helped to legitimize pro wrestling's believability.   Hart was a superior technician and he used a lot of amateur skills and techniques throughout his matches that could be used effectively in a real fight.    The Sharpshooter, if applied properly, is a move that hurts your lower back like a s.o.b.   Believe me, I know, I've been put in it before.

4. Randy Savage's Flying Elbow

There has never been and there will never been anyone to hit the top rope elbow drop as well as the "Macho Man" Randy Savage.  He patented and perfected that move and no one will ever come close to hitting it as eloquently or as gracefully as he did.   It was almost as if he was able to slow himself down and hit the move with exact precision.  I watched a lot of Randy Savage matches in my life, probably 100 or more, and I've never seen him not hit the move perfectly.   It's hard to be 100 for 100, but that's just how good Savage was at hitting this move.  It never looked sloppy, it never looked out of place, it always looked spot on.  

3. Jake "The Snake" Robert's DDT

If you saw Jake hit this move during the match, you knew it was light's out, "Good night" for his opponent.  If there has ever been a move that described the old saying, "Stick a Fork in him he's done"  it was Jake Robert's DDT.   This was one of the most devastating maneuvers that has ever been in professional wrestling.  Before professional wrestling became totally exposed, and it was still debated whether it was real or not,  even the highly educated skeptics with their fancy college degrees had a hard time questioning this move.   That is how real and impacting it looked every time Jake hit it.  It just looked like it killed the guy he was giving it too. 

2. Rick Rude's Rude Awakening

I love, love, love this move.  This is one of the greatest maneuvers in the history of professional wrestling and no one hit it better than Rick Rude. My neck and spine hurt just looking at this picture.  I'm a fan of precision and finesse, and what move exerted these characteristics better than the Rude Awakening?  

 

1. Arn Anderson's Spinebuster

This is my all time favorite finishing maneuver.   A lot of people have hit variations of the Spinebuster over the years but none have even come close to hitting it anywhere close to as awesome as Anderson did.   The height, the flow, the grace, the landing...it was all impeccable.    Whenever I would watch a WWE or WCW tape with one of Anderson's matches, I would have to rewind the part when he hit the spinebuster over and over again.  That's how much I loved watching this move. 


For those of us that love professional wrestling, we have different reasons for loving it.   The characters, the interviews, the vignettes, the storylines and even the matches themselves draw us to this weird and exciting world that is truly of itself.   You may not think that finisher's would be all that important, but they are, as they are a part of what makes a match fun and exciting.   When we know what a wrestler's finisher is, then we know that if he hits it, the match is over.   Finisher's usually got loud reactions out of the fans and were usually the highlight of many matches.   

Looking back, what are your favorites?

Actors who seemed to vanish into thin air

I watch a good movie and I really enjoy watching an actor in it and I go to imdb.com to see what other movies that the actor has been in.  For the most part, their is a long list of films that he/she has been in.   However, there are times when I'll go to look them up and then discover that the film I saw them in is either the only film they've ever done, or one of the only films they've ever done.  Not only that, but when I go to research them on the internet, there is little to no information to be found on them.    It is as if they never existed outside of those one or two films.   Where they are and what happened to them remains a total mystery.  It is as if they vanished into thin air.


For years I wondered what ever happened to Robert McNaughton (pictured below)  who played Michael in "E.T."  Here was a guy who was in one of the most popular and recognized films ever made and the only other real credit he had to his resume was a relatively unknown film by the name of "I am the Cheese".   It wasn't until the re-release of  "E.T." in 2002 that his whereabouts were revealed.   McNaughton made so much money from E.T. that he was set for life and he decided to give up acting.   He lives in Arizona, where he raises his family and delivers mail more as a means for something to do than anything else. 

I suppose that's a possible explanation for other actors as well, but not everyone was in one of the top grossing films of all time.   Not everyone made enough money from that one or two films they were in to where they could be set for life like McNaughton was.   So then what happened to them?

Take Rand Kingsley (pictured above) for example.   Kingsley played the part of Hugo Snyder in the 1992 hit, "3 Ninjas".    Not only did he play the sinister bad guy convincingly, but compared to a lot of other late 80's and early 90's live action films for kids, his acting was head and shoulders over others playing similar parts.    It'd be one thing had he sucked like Eric Freeman in "Silent Night, Deadly Night" but his acting in "3 Ninjas" was actually very good.   Save an extremely small part in "The Gardener" a film no one has even heard of that he was in six years later,  "3 Ninjas" is the only film to his credit.      So what happened to him?  After some research on youtube.com and imdb.com  non-accredited resources have rumored that he married a woman from Japan, who was involved in Japanese films and he has been working in Japanese films himself ever since.   This is pure speculation and rumor.   Whether it is true or not remains a mystery.

Another actor I have wondered about for years and years is David Agresta (pictured below)

Agresta played the part of Sonny Grasso in the 1988 film, "Best of the Best" and while it was not a 5 star performance, it was still good enough to where he most likely should've found work again.  Unlike Kingsley however, there are no rumors as to what became of him.   His whereabouts remain a completely and utter mystery. 

You'd think that with today's technology and the resources we have to research that you could google about anyone, especially someone famous and find out at least some information on them and what happened to them.   However, in the case of Kingsley, Agresta and some other actors I'm sure I'll think of later,  you can't find jack squat.   It's like they literally vanished into thin air and what became of them may forever remain a mystery.

 

Women I would have liked to have known

Anne Frank -  She is probably the most recognizable name in the entire world.   A young girl that died long before her time, who has left an imprint on more people that I would say has anyone since.   Here was a girl, not even an adult yet, who truly believed in the beauty of all people, even though she was placed in an environment to believe anything but.    I say this in all seriousness that she's the type of woman that I would have liked to have fallen in love with and a sense of who she is through values and morals is something I look for in women.   When I started dating Melissa and seeing just how good and genuine of a person she was,  in a way she sort of reminded me of the demeanor of Anne Frank.   Granted she would've been 56 when I was born had she lived, but I'm talking had we been contemporaries.    What's sad here to me is that only through her death do I even know anything about her to begin with.   I mean if she were alive,  her diary never would have gotten out like it did and neither I nor the world would know who Anne Frank was.    I think the lesson to be learned here is that we should value what we can learn from another person, regardless of their status.   Most recognizable name in the world or not, she clearly had a beautiful vision that so many others are too blind to see.

Dian Fossey - If you can't tell already, I highly admire people who are full of deep passion and immense love.  Fossey's love for animals, in particular gorillas, was second to none.  She valued their lives as much or even more than most of us do human lives.   For those of you that are not familiar with her, her passion for gorillas mirrors that of Steve Irwin's for crocodiles.  She was truly a beautiful woman who had the courage to take on the black market trade of killing and selling gorilla parts.  She gave her life to protect and stand up for the animals that she loved.   Who wouldn't want an opportunity to meet a remarkable woman like that?

The Fabulous Moolah - Lilian Erickson was a pioneer in the wrestling business.  She wasn't the first woman to step into the squared circle, but she was the best.   If any inspiring female who dreams of being in the ring doesn't know who the Fabulous Moolah is, she ought to be slapped upside the head and told she can't come back until she finds out.   If it wasn't for the Fabulous Moolah,  then women in the business of professional wrestling never would have gotten their fair shake.   It's a shame that in today's society women are still often seen as nothing more than sex symbols and eye candy, but because of Moolah  women like Natalia Neidhart and Beth Phoenix get to prove that they can perform and wrestle just as well as the men.  As tough as they come inside the ring and a true lady outside of it,  Moolah is a woman I would have liked to have known.

Gilda Radner -  I was introduced to Gilda Radner about 14 years after her death.   I was over at my friend Derek Snakenberg's house when he mother Nancy was watching old reruns of SNL, "the best of Gilda Radner".    I couldn't believe how funny this woman was.  While Nicole Sullivan, Roseanne Barr and Sarah Silverman are all funny in their own right,  I don't know if any of them hold a candle to Radner.   I've always enjoyed being around funny people.  I think I would've enjoyed meeting her.

Rosa Parks - Courage is an admirable trait and I can't think of too many people who displayed it more than she did.  It's sad to me that as long as people have been around, that she even had to do what she did in the first place.   We have advanced so much technologically that we are light years ahead of where we were 60 years ago.  Hell, we are light years ahead of where we were 20 years ago.  Why is it that morally and ethically we are no further than we were hundreds of years ago?   In some ways, sure we are but racism and discrimination exist just as prevalent today as they did yesterday.  The only difference is they're more subtle and indirect than what they were.   I would have liked to have met Parks and spoken with her on these matters.  I would have liked to have had the opportunity to pick her brain and learn from such a remarkable woman.

Sally Ride - I really wish Ride was still around today.  I think that while the Gay and Lesbian community has a lot of strong representation it could use a face like Sally Field leading it.  It's sad that we live in a world where homosexuals have to consistently prove themselves in so many ways.   They have to prove themselves equal to us heterosexuals in every way that a person can prove themselves.   They have to show that they too are good people, that they too are intelligent, that they too contribute to society.    I'm almost ashamed to say that I exist in a world that is still very discriminative towards homosexuals.   Ride from what I know of her was a very intelligent woman, who had a rare gift of being gifted on both sides of her brain (she was a Physics and English major in college).   Not only did she excel at math and science, but she was also good at speaking and articulating herself.  Her achievements as an astronaut speak for themselves.   It saddens me a great deal the number of people who degrade her accomplishments because they don't agree with her lifestyle.  I would have liked to have met her. 

Men I would've liked to have known

Jack Kevorkian - I really feel like I learned a lot from listening to this man speak.   I learned that in this life that there are a lot of things that the powers at be try and convince us that are right, when they're not and in turn there are a lot of things that the powers at be try and convince us that are wrong, when they're not.   Kevorkian questioned a system and in turn challenged it and I really admired him for that.   We wouldn't have seen eye to eye on everything, but I think he would have admired my passion as much as I did his.   I was always hoping I'd get the chance to meet him and shake his hand.   It's a shame that I won't get to.

John Candy - One of my favorite actors of all time.   I remember crying the day I found out that he had passed.  That was 20 years ago.   I was at my Grandma Harding's house when it came across the television screen that he was no longer with us.   From what I saw of John he was a genuine and sincere soul, who everyone who had the opportunity to get to know him loved.   I would've liked to have known John Candy.

John Ritter -  I can remember how much of a shock I was in when I heard that John Ritter had died and how it seemed to take the whole country by storm.   When I was little, before I learned what Ritter's real name was I always referred to him as "The Dad" actor.   I'd say when trying to describe him to friends or family, "Yeah, you know that Dad guy, the guy that acts like a Dad" and essentially that's how I've always thought of John Ritter.   Maybe it was just the characters that he often played, but whether it was in a movie, television show or interview he just always seemed to go out of his way to make you feel better about yourself.   He seemed very much the kind of person that made you feel important and glad to be here.   He had an aura to him that just seemed to fill the whole room.   I would've liked to have known John Ritter.

Captain Lou Albano -  I admire passion.  I'm a man of passion and I admire people who are empathetic and passionate.    The professional wrestling is a world of few gems among an assortment creeps, jerks, liars, users and cheaters.   Albano was one of the gems.  He loved the business and he loved anyone who loved the business.   He wasn't one of these back stabbing snakes that would screw anyone and everyone to get to the top like so many others are in professional wrestling.  He was one that would actually go out of his way to help guys to make it.   If you had a dream and he thought he could help you to achieve it, he would.  The world lost a true treasure the day Albano died.  I would've liked to have known him.

Reverend Wade Watts -  It may seem strange to hear an agnostic say how much he admired a devout Christian, but I will say this, if all Christians were like Wade Watts, you'd never hear me complain about any of them again.   He was passionate, sincere and genuine.  A man who truly cared about other people and a man who truly did all he could to make this world a better place.    He didn't just preach love, he lived it.    The world certainly didn't need Wade Watts taken away from it.  If anything the world could use more Reverend Wade Watts's.  I'm sorry I never had the chance to get to know the man. 

Steve Irwin -  "You were too good for this world"  Steve Irwin was a rare gift to this world that we were very lucky to have ever known.    What makes me loathe people so much sometimes is their inability to be pure, raw and honest and that's what made me admire Irwin so much.   The man didn't have a mean bone in his body.  He was full of nothing but good.  Most people don't love one another as much as he loved an alligator.   Most wives don't love their husbands as much as he loved a poisonous snake that would have easily have bitten and killed him.   This world can often be a very cruel and ugly place in many ways.  Thank you Steve Irwin for being some of the beauty that remained within it.   I'm sad I never got to know you.

Tiny Tim - When I first saw Tiny Tim on Television, I thought he was just a weird creepy guy.   Yet years later when I was running across famous Iowans and learned that he lived for a substantial time in Des Moines, I learned all about this extremely fascinating individual.  A gentle soul who was kind to everyone that he ever met.  I've heard stories from those who have met him, and how they said he was never too busy for an autograph or to shake hands and answer a few questions.    What I admire most about Tim is that he was never judgmental of people and saw that he had as many faults as anyone else did.   He was never too good for someone and that in a world full of egocentric, arrogant pompous individuals is something to admire.   He was one of the most honest individuals who ever made it in show business.

There are many more individuals that are now gone from us that I'll never get to know.   I can't think of them right now, but these individuals are a few of the ones I could think of for right now.   

How Disney Animated Films contributed to my poor self image

I've battled image issues most of my life up until recently.    Honestly, I think the only reason why I don't really battle them now is because of two reasons.  First and foremost I've dated and scored with a far number of attractive women over the last 5 years.  Some people are of the mind that confidence creates success, and in many ways it probably does.   My experience has been that success creates confidence.    Secondly, while I am still pretty harsh on myself as far as my body goes, wanting to consistently become more built and lose more weight,  I've gotten to a point that I really don't give two shouts and a holler whether my face is an attractive one or not.   However, at one time I was very self conscious of it and Disney animated films are partially to blame.

I have a long face and a big chin, and how did Disney illustrate nearly ever villain that they have ever put on screen?   A long face and a big chin.    It was difficult not to find myself unattractive as these popular films often depicted what was ugly, as the exact facial features that I had.  

Am I exaggerating?  Maybe, but have a look for yourself

Amos Slade from "Fox and the Hound"  - Long face and huge chin

Aunt Sarah from "Lady and the Tramp"  Exceptionally long face

Captain Hook from "Peter Pan"  How much more obnoxiously could you possibly make your point?  Disney got it across loud and clear here that long faces and big chins were NOT attractive.

Cruella De Vil from "101 Dalmations"  Once again, long face and big pointy chin.

Doctor Facilier from "The Princess and the Frog"   Long face, big chin!

Gaston from "Beauty and the Beast"   I'll actually give a little bit of gratitude to Disney on this one.  While they still had to go out of their way to draw a big massive chin on the Villain in my favorite of the Disney animated films, they at least had it to where Belle was the only one to find him unattractive.  Even at that it was his personality that repulsed her, not his looks.  The fact that the three identical triplets found Gaston to be a knockout is actually, I kid you not,  what gave me the confidence that maybe I could land a good looking girl myself.   I know it sounds absolutely ridiculous, but it's true.   I thought if those babes (albeit they were cartoons, but they were still babes) could fall for Gaston, a man with a long face and a huge chin, that maybe I could get a babe or two in my lifetime to fall for me.   I did, :)  Thank you Gaston!

Hades from "Hercules"   Obnoxiously long face and big chin.   Disney could you be any more subtle with the fact that you think people with big chins are ugly!?!!?

Jafar from "Aladdin" While his chin isn't that big,  his face is extraordinarily long

Stepmother from "Cinderella" Now here Disney just came right out and said it.   They were not discreet in the least bit here,  they just blurted it right out.  The Stepmother was "ugly" and looky here,  she has a long face and a big chin,  imagine that.

Maleficent from "Sleeping Beauty"   Now I actually find Maleficent to be an attractive woman.   One of those types that  I'd never get along with personally, but would secretly hope would have a sudden urge to argue with me while in a skin tight bikini, rather than in what she was wearing.   I think Disney animators even wanted her to come across as at least somewhat attractive.  Nevertheless they didn't hesitate to make her face long and give her a definitive chin.

McLeach from "The Rescuers Down Under"  Just another one added to the list,  look at the size of that chin.

Sykes from "Oliver and Company"   His chin is bigger than Fagin's entire head!!!

Whether you agree with me or not,  I think I have provided more than enough examples.   Disney has drawn a substantial amount of their evil antagonist with long faces and large chins.   Disney has went out of their way to embed within young minds, and the minds of us that still enjoy these films today (People like me!!) that long faces and large chins are ugly and unattractive.     It may seem absurd and weird to think of a nearly 29 year old man having these thoughts but you have to remember I wasn't 29 when these films came out or when I first watched them.   I can remember watching "Peter Pan" with a group of other kids when I was little and hearing them all say that Captain Hook was ugly.   Well shucks,  I sorta looked like Captain Hook.  I didn't have a mustache or a 5 O'clock shadow but I sure had a long face and I sure had a big noticeable chin.   All the little girls watching him on the T.V. were saying how ugly he was.   Well, didn't that mean I was ugly too?  


It was my late Grandma Reta Fox (along with Gaston in "Beauty and the Beast") that helped me to finally feel that maybe I too could get with an attractive woman.   On an hour and a half ride from North English, Iowa to Bettendorf, Iowa my mom and I were talking about something at school that had happened.  A girl in my class had told me that I was the ugliest person she had ever known.   Now a days,  I'd just tell the wench where to stick it, but as a 14 year old seventh grader I was devastated. 


"You know", she said to both my mom and me, "I never found Bill (her husband, my late Grandpa) to be attractive"


My mother and I both looked at her as if she were either insane or pulling our legs.


"Oh come on", my mother shot a quick response, "Of course you found him to be attractive"


"No", Grandma Fox held her ground, "No, not really"


I just smiled and shook my head thinking that while she probably did find him to be physically attractive, she was just saying this to try and make me feel better.   But then she said something that made me realize that she wasn't pulling my leg, and that she was being serious.


"Stephen", she said to me, "I didn't like Bill because of the way he looked,  I liked him because of the way he treated me"


It took a while before that finally sunk in and I began to take chances with attractive women, but I'd say had that day never happened and had I never had the thoughts I did while watching, "Beauty and the Beast" then the dozen or so times I've either scored with or dated attractive women probably never would have happened.    Oh no,  I probably would've just concluded that I with my long face and my big chin was too unattractive to ever appeal to any beauty.    I mean after all, isn't that what Disney animated films have lead us to believe?