It was an a-ha moment, an epiphany light-bolting across her face. It flickered with incredulous certainty and ended with awareness in her eyes.
We were watching Disney's "The Lion King." Scar, the evil brother-lion, mercilessly kills the lion king, gleefully watching him fall to his death during a stampede. I tracked the revelation tracing across her face — I waited, entranced and wondering. What had she realized?
"American bad guys are always bad," my 5-year-old daughter announced. "Japanese bad guys are only sometimes bad." She turned back to the screen and Scar's maniacal laugh.