Toy Story 1

Narrative

Starts with Andy playing a game with his toys, shows his view on each of the toys as what he represents them as in his game, e.g. good guy or bad guy. The disruption is that it's Andy's birthday, and they are all worried whether he'll get new toys and not want to play with his old ones anymore. They don't want to be replaced. It also introduces the characters in the way that Andy wants them to be introduced, but once Andy has left they introduce themselves in a way of what they do. When Andy leaves the room, it also reveals the secret of that they are all able to talk and to move.

Genre

This film is a hybrid as it contains a range of different genres, for example, adventure when all of the army toys are sent off on a mission downstairs. Comedy, when Mr Potato head puts all of his facial pieces on the wrong parts of his face - this is amusing for children. Romance between Woody and Little Bow Peep, when she gets all flirty with him. And also a bit of fantasy because toys that can talk and move on their own aren't very realistic.

Characters

Andy, the child, seems to be conforming to the stereotype a typical boy, he's excitable because it's his birthday party. He is also treating his toys a bit rough, like making Woody slide down the banister. None of the toys he plays with are girly either, for example, dinosaur and cowboy, except from Little Bow Peep of course. He is also a caring older brother and a good son, as he did as his mother asked by collecting his baby sister, Molly, from her cot. Woody appears to been the main character as he has a lot more screen time than everyone else, he orders people to do things, and they do what he says, everyone listens to him, he seems to be more in control than everyone else, the leader of the pack.

Atmosphere

The atmosphere is really happy, it's Andy's birthday, so everything is on his side and going right for him, so he is happy. It's also a very colourful scene, so this also adds and emphasizes the happiness in this.

Themes

One of the themes is happiness, as I have spoken about in the atmosphere section. There is a separate theme for the toys than Andy. Andy’s theme and main focus is his birthday party, whereas the toys main theme is Andy, to make sure that they're always part of him and are always there for him when he needs them. They also want to make sure that no other toys take their place, so they themselves are one of their themes.

Taylor Hayward