Special: Crazy "Crazy" Movie Theorists

Warning: post may need to be read twice, please see closing note. 

Have you ever seen those (very reasonable) arguments that movie plots are the story of insane minds?

They are everywhere, here's just a couple easy ones:
Harry Potter
http://www.tickld.com/x/what-harry-potter-is-actually-about-childhood-ruined
Pokemon (it's a game obviously, but you get the idea)
http://creepypasta.wikia.com/wiki/Ash's_Coma

Some even go so far as to embrace the idea in the movie:
Shutter Island
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shutter_Island_(film)
Sucker Punch
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sucker_Punch_(2011_film)

These are interesting but you don't have to read them now as they are not the basis for the rest of this post. 

Why is this such a popular and intriguing idea? Well for one, some of these theories are very compelling. But if you take a step back, consider how interesting the Theorists themselves must be.

Consider this... Most people watch movies. They are interested and enraptured in the plot. They are drawn in and are committed to the story. They care what happens to the main characters and how the climax unfolds.

These Theorists however aren't just done when the credits start rolling. They are committed. They go beyond the normal conclusion. They pick it apart and frame it. 

Maybe because that's how the Theorists' brain works in the first place. I posit that this person may have the first signs of a sick mind themselves.

Thoughts? Is this line of logic sound?

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If this post was a little difficult to get on the first read through, please try again with the definition of the new propper noun, Theorists, in mind. 

PS. I haven't been able to find a depository of these types of theories. They can be very interesting and a blog or some type of forum featuring these movie analyses could be successful.

Exponential Growth Leads to a Battle with Generational Empathy

Insight into each other's lives is how we get along socially. Empathy is important. But what if the very foundation to relate to one-another is challenged?

The empathetic and compassionate understanding vital to inter-generational cooperation is becoming more and more socially unmanageable as the world each generation resides in rapidly changes. 

In the past family traditions stuck, fathers taught sons their trade and their ways... who taught their sons, on and on... Now sons can become their own people with great choice - leading to greater separation of worlds. 

Think about yourself as a person now. Now think about your parents at the your age. Now think about how you talk to your parents and what about. Take a moment... 

How much of those things share commonality? Most of what filters through is deep-seeded beliefs and personal characteristics, and not much more. 

No longer are the days of parents understanding children's worlds because the two worlds are now so different.

As with the rise of the industrial and tech eras, and the exponential acceleration of the revolutionary, life-changing inventions in those eras, so does our ability to relate to external generations diminish. As economy demands that industry move faster and faster, soon (or already?) the cycle will be faster than a human lifetime causing our ability to relate inter-generationally to fade.

Inter-generational discounting is a prevalent idea and is often most notably demonstrated with climate change concerns:

"The difficulty of avoiding dangerous climate change arises from a tension between group and self-interest and is exacerbated by climate change’s inter-generational nature. The present generation bears the costs of cooperation, whereas future generations accrue the benefits if present cooperation succeeds, or suffer if present cooperation fails. Although temporal discounting has long been known to matter in making individual choices, the extent of temporal discounting is poorly understood in a group setting."

The importance of teaching children how to think and not exactly what to think is more and more important. As your worlds diverge they will need tools they can use in any world, not just the knowledge of yours.  

Transcending the Parental Superhero

As children, our parents (or other adults) are smart, kind, and fit perfectly in the big world. They are our idols and masters - our superheroes.

As teenagers we start to notice things though; Cracks in the armor of our parents, slips of the tongue, clumsy mistakes. As these occurrences pile up you realize they are human, just like you.

In young adulthood we may start to notice some characteristics where you have to flat-out entertain the idea that some of their weaknesses are your strengths. They've gone from superhero, to a flawed-superhero (what superhero doesn't have weaknesses?), to human... but now you have some superior characteristics?

This is contradictory to our classic view of our parents; it is difficult to reconcile the superheroes of our childhood with newly discovered categorical flaws.

In 25 years you go from helpless god-servant to transcending your superhero. [note that the movement from defining parents as gods to superheroes deserves its own intellectual moment]

Neither the child nor the parent should feel anything but happiness with each passing stage.
"Most people in most countries have been doing steadily better in human development. Advances in technology, education and incomes hold ever-greater promise for longer, healthier, more secure lives." 
This can show even between single generations. 

The parent should not be offended, but proud that their offspring are better versions of themselves. The child should be humble, but not apprehensive about breaking the parental superhero - it is a natural and positive adventure.

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Closing thoughts
This is somewhat of a dangerous subject - especially for the overconfident, rebellious, and zealous young mind:

Keep in mind the pure folly in comparing oneself to another. This thought-experiment is not to encourage this behavior as it is purely destructive - it is to acknowledge the cognitive dissonance occurring in the minds of the growing youth.

Great people have humility and do not overstep the parent-child relationship. This is not a tool to be used to break chains, but to evolve as an adult.