Alternate interpretation

I’m sure many of you have seen the wonderful Pixar (not Disney) movie, The Incredibles. Those of you who saw it were also forced to watch “Bounding,” the short about the sheep and the jackalope.

If you haven’t seen it, here’s the rundown: There’s a sheep that’s proud of his beautiful wool. Then the farmer comes and shears him, after which everyone makes fun of him because he’s all pink and ugly. Then a jackalope comes by and tells him to “bound,” by which he literally means “jump.” So the sheep starts jumping around, and for some reason this cheers him up. After that, he doesn’t mind anymore when the farmer comes to shear him.

Obviously, “Bounding,” probably hinting at the word “rebound,” was meant to be a light and fluffy “be true to yourself, don’t worry be happy”-type piece of Dear Abby/Ann Landers-style moralizing. However, I have a different interpretation:

The Man is going to fuck you in the ass. Hard and often. And when he does, you had better just bend over and take it. “Assume the position,” as they say in the modern vernacular.

Obviously, the farmer is The Man. The sheep was much happier after giving up fighting the farmer, and just letting him have his way. You (yes, you) are the sheep. Well, I’m the sheep, too. We all are. Who else is the sheep? Your kids, who the movie was targeted at! Is that the kind of propaganda you want your kids exposed to at the movie theater? “Don’t worry about political corruption, the destruction of your Constitutional rights, egregious corporate toadyism, or unjustified, illegal wars, kids! Just bound, bound, and rebound!”

I also think it’s interesting that they chose a jackalope to be the spokesanimal of The Man. Is that a jab at the Roswell-coverup-”I-want-to believe”-black-helicopter crew? Or is it a jab at the fast-food-soap-opera-Miss-Cleo-tabloid idiots? Are they one and the same? Regardless, the true moral of the story is:

Don’t trust whitey.

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