Wait, Lilo & Stitch Is About Medicaid and Family Separation?
Would you believe me if I told you Disney’s new live-action Lilo & Stitch remake was actually about Medicaid and family policy?
Oh, sure, there’s the requisite hijinks with the furry little destructive alien of the title, a big-eared blue puffball of chaos who resembles both a puppy and a toddler but is, we are supposed to believe, actually a bioengineered superweapon. It’s predictable but cute, no match for the hand-animated original, but fine as far as these things go.
Certainly, it’s better than the awful recent Snow White remake. When I left the theater, I didn’t exactly want to watch Lilo & Stitch again, but I didn’t question whether life was even worth living. So if nothing else, it’s an improvement over the previous Disney remake.
But the movie’s plot is powered by a strange sort of policy logic. Lilo, you see, is a six-year-old girl who recently lost her parents. She lives in Hawaii with her 19-year-old sister, Nani, who is also her legal guardian. But that relationship is threatened by a social worker, Mrs. Kekoa, who sees their somewhat chaotic lives and Nani’s less-than-perfectly-stable employment as grounds for potentially separating them and putting Lilo in some sort of foster care.
When Kekoa makes a home visit to judge the situation, she finds a mess and a misbehaving kid. She tells Nani that if there’s any chance for the sisters to stay together, Nani w
Article from Reason.com
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