Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie has revealed that she was nervous about how her adopted children would react to new animated movie 'Kung Fu Panda 2', because the story follows the main character's search for his biological father.Adoption was never directly mentioned in the first Kung Fu Panda movie -- panda Po's dad is a goose, so adoption surely is suggested. And there's a point where the dad is leading up to telling Po a family secret, and we're led to believe he's going to reveal the adoption. . . and then it turns out to be the family soup recipe! It will be interesting to see how the birth parent search is handled in Kung Fu Panda 2.
The 'Salt' star, who has lend her voice for warrior Tigress, took her six children with partner Brad Pitt to an early screening of the film, but admitted that she was wracked with nerves when they actually sat down to watch it.
"I wondered how they'd respond to the themes of the film. (We were) sensitive to see if there was going to be a big discussion that night about adoption and orphanages," Contactmusic quoted her as telling USA Today.
Though the couple was more than ready to tackle any tough questions about the subject after the movie, there was no need.
"That's because we talk about those issues at my house all the time, very openly. We've had those discussions so often, they're such happy, wonderful discussions," said Jolie.
What do you think about the fact that Jolie has frequent discussions about adoption with her kids, "such happy, wonderful discussions?"
7 comments:
The happy and wonderful comment totally negated the we have conversations, and tells the adoptee all they need to know about how much and in what depth they can speak about 'their' feelings. It made me sad.
I wonder how much of the "happy and wonderful" comment was to try to normalize the idea. It's hard to say what the content of the conversations might be from that one line. So, for example, when I'm talking to someone who is a little leery of even TALKING about adoption, I'm more overtly cheerful about it. I might say, "It's really great" although I also always say, "It's hard" as in, "It's hard sometimes but it's really great. They are such good, meaty discussions." Now to someone more sensitive to adoption issues I might not feel the need to be so dang cheerleader-y about it but it's about knowing my audience.
Brangie has been trying to "normalize" adoption since day one.
It's pretty typical for "many" ap's to go on and on about how awesome adoption is...they didn't face the enormous loss the child faced in order to become part of their adoptive family.
I guess it is important to know your audience....there are so many audiences when it comes to adoption, and so many "sub-groups" of those audiences. I myself am part of the "angsty" sub-group, so I usually take anything an ap says with a grain of "salt".(especially a celebrity ap)
Obviously we don't know the content of their discussions, nor should we. I don't find anything wrong with her comment in the context of this being an interview--it is not our business (as the public) to know her childrens' levels of comfort or personal adoption stories/feelings. I would find her denying that she had discomfort much more disconcerting or that she gave it no thought at all--that is typically the AP that does not acknowledge as different than being raised in a non-adoptive household.
I think people are jumping to conclusions. I'm admittedly celebrity-cynical but my first thought is how wonderful it is that adoption is discussed regularly in the home. I don't read into it that those conversations gloss over important hard details.
I don't get why many AP's are put in this group of mistrust. Adoption IS normal for many families. Sometimes birth mothers cannot or do not want to care for their child, and adoption occurs. Agreed it's better for the child to stay with the first mom if possible, but forcing a first mom to keep a child against her will can be a setup for emotional or physical abuse.
Having said that, it's obvious Brangie is too busy with her foreign policy to update herself on adoption psychology. To begin with, if she understood abandonment and "the theme of gratefulness," she wouldn't be trying to collect children from different countries and make
them ambassadors.
I don't get why many AP's are put in this group of mistrust. Adoption IS normal for many families. Sometimes birth mothers cannot or do not want to care for their child, and adoption occurs. Agreed it's better for the child to stay with the first mom if possible, but forcing a first mom to keep a child against her will can be a setup for emotional or physical abuse.
Having said that, it's obvious Brangie is too busy with her foreign policy to update herself on adoption psychology. To begin with, if she understood abandonment and "the theme of gratefulness," she wouldn't be trying to collect children from different countries and make
them ambassadors.
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