Inappropriate movies

All over. I'm not a parent, and I know exactly what you mean. I've been seeing this for years. It seems I've noticed it more in the last few years, but then again it was only a few years ago I was a kid myself and probably wouldn't have noticed. Don't even get me started on the WWE.

I'm no advocate of sheltering kids, but the line has to be drawn somewhere. Some parents just don't seem to care or realize that young kids are effected by such imagery and subject matter. Also, too many parents these days just have no idea what their own kids are up to. Either they don't care or are just oblivious and uninvolved. These are usually the same parents who blame Eminem when their kids end up getting in a fight in school.

 

It was the same wth two movies here a couple of years ago.

The first one was South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut. The series is forbidden for people under 18 here in Sweden while they made the rated the movie as a child movie even though it holds the world record for most swearings and stuff like that in a cartoon movie EVER!! That is just redicilus.

The second movie is James Bond 007: The World is not Enough. All the other Bodn movies in Sweden is forbidden for people under 15 and they rated this one as a movie for people over 11(Even younger if they had their parents with them.) and it was the most violence Bond movie of them all. I think that it just plainly sucks.

 

The situation here is Malaysia is totally different. Governmental agency already made sure that all movies strictly follows the Islamic codes and some pre-WW2 codes. It is so ridiculous that they even have time limit for the duration of kissing. "Babe 2" (the movie starring a pig) was banned, but they didn't ban the first one. "Schindler's List" never made it to Malaysia because Spielberg don't want his movie to be sensored. And the story just goes on and on.


Well, don't we all take that adults are responsible and educated people that can make choice? If they think that their children can watch those kind of movies, then they can. The movie rating already told the parents what to expect, the parents are the one who made the choice. Everyone do have their different ways to bring up their children, and we can't really say what is wrong and what is right.

[ July 09, 2003, 05:56: Message edited by: teekc ]

 

I don't think it's any different in the Netherlands. Hell, i know someone who's six year old son already plays GTA Vice City, and i think there's more violence in that game than in any movie ever made.

 

I've seen it plenty. Heck, even movies and TV that are directed at children have a significant amount of violence and trauma! Cases in point:

*Finding Nemo: The barracuda attack and the shark-chase scene in the sub were both way to intense for my son (recently 3). He refused to stop watching the movie, but he was clinging pretty tightly to his daddy. And what could possibly be more traumatic to a small child than the thought of being separated from your parents?

*Disney's Tarzan: The movie opens with the death of the baby gorilla, followed closely by the death of Tarzan's parents. The ending, with all the hunters descending on the gorillas, is pretty bloody. We watched it once and it was a great opportunity to start instilling my pro-gun-control stance in my son, but it won't be coming out again for several more years. "The Lion King" is in the same boat.

*Saturday-morning cartoons: Why must everything revolve around some kind of battle? The shows that teach kids to find other methods to solve problems are all weekday shows, when my son is in daycare and can't watch them. TiVo, anyone?

I'm sure there are more examples. To bring in a different source of exposure to violence, think about the evening news. Many parents watch the news over dinner, completely oblivious to what the children are soaking up. No matter where I've lived, the local news is little more than a litany of crimes and tragedies, with some health, consumer, or fluff pieces filling in before the weather and sports. What are kids supposed to think when they hear about four shootings and three robberies, and an arson each night before dessert?

 

I was horrified by "Finding Nemo"

We were on vacation in Florida and we went to see it with my sister and her two kids (5 and 2). They screamed hysterically and had to leave the theatre they were so scared. My 7 year old was O.K. and really liked the movie. Disney might not like it, but I think we need more ratings at the lower end of the scale (G-5?) then we do at the higher end.

I have met so many parents upset with how scary Nemo was for younger kids.

For that matter can anyone think of a Disney movie in which the main plot line didn't involve at least one parent dying or already being dead? What do they have against a traditional family?

 

I think it depends on the kid and hte age of course. If the movie is seen with the parents and things are properly explained I dont think the kid will be negatively affected by any movie. However, I dont see what kind of kid would find any enjoyment in a movie like T3 or for whatever reason you would bring a kid to it.
As for scary and unpleasant scenes in Disney movies and for example "Finding Nemo" I think it is good that they arent totally sugar coated all the time. Kids can often handle more than we think and if we shelter them from everything we really have a problem when they get older and can see movies by themselves and have never learnt to deal with anything more unpleasant than the "Carebears".

 

@Joacqin: I agree that life shouldn't be sugar-coated in the movies, that children can handle more than many adults think, and that most movies are OK for kids with appropriate parental involvement and discussion. However, how do you implement those things? Parents need to know what's in a movie to determine if any particular child can handle it or not, and a simple "G-7" rating doesn't convey enough information.

 

Speaking as a 14 year old, I hate the guidlines and ratings for movies. I fully understand the reason, and no its a good idea, even when it isn't that harsh here, but I hate not being able to watch movies like The Matrix Reloaded, and Jackass the movie. Instead I have to wait until it comes out on video.
Also, cos I'm so small, I have trouble getting into 12s. I really hate the ratings.

 

A lot of you seem to think it should be at the parent's discretion whether the child is allowed to watch explicitly violent or frightening movies. Do you apply the same principle to pornography as well? Does a father have as much right to watch Bimbo Bowlers from Brooklyn with his five-year-old as to watch the Texas Chainsaw Massacre with her? As far as I'm concerned, exposing children (anyone under 13) to violent/frightening films or explicit sex is a form of child abuse and should not be permitted no matter how "liberal" the parent might be. There are a lot of terrible parents out there and I frankly don't trust their opinion of what is appropriate for children. I don't believe in any form of censorship for adults but I *do* believe that society has the right and duty to determine what kinds of material children can be exposed to.

I remember seeing "The little mermaid" in the theatre, and my date and I were both struck with how, during scenes such as the crab Sebastian being chased by a chef with a cleaver, the parents giggled and most of the kids screamed in terror.

I was not allowed to watch any television when I was a kid because my parents didn't want me becoming jaded to violence. Then at slumber parties, the parents would have rented these gory, violent videos that would have most of the little girls at the party too catatonic with fear to sleep. They were obviously proud of being the "rebel" parents but I think they were just bad parents, who were being irresponsible with their own children as well as the other children entrusted temporarily to their care.

 

I'm not saying that kids should be allowed to choose, I always ask my mum about movies that I'm not sure about. If she says no, then I won't watch it. I won't watch horrors, as they scare the bejeezus out of me.
However, some movies are rated pretty harshly, eg, LOTR 1. When I watched it, people came out saying it should be a 12, or 15.
As to the Disney movies, I only hated the fox and the hound. That movie had me in tears when I was 6.

 

Hell, I'm 23 and that movie still makes me weep like a little girl.

 

Good for you for being able to admit it.
Dunno if this counts as off topic, but if a movie does affect you, mentally, or emotionally, do most people look down on those who show it, or bottle it up?


BTW, most disney movies, and\or fairy tales are based on gory themes, or contain them in some ways. What does this say about us?

 

Kids are not darn impressinable, you'd be surprised. Speaking as a young kid myself I HATE the censorship laws, I can cope with a pretty large amount of stuff without wincing and if something is too gory or frightening then I don't watch it. Most parents are bad simply because they're unprepared, raising children is HARD. It's not spiritually rewarding and if your child has a colic then you'll feel like killing yourself. If you're going to have children then you need to be prepared to dedicate time to things like checking what movies they're watching. That being said I still dislike censorship because I can choose for myself and I dislike seeing someone with an IQ 20 points lower then me (127) telling me what I can and can not understand.

 

So you admit to being a three-year old?

I thionk young people, that is teens and preteens, even, are a completely different subject matter than kids. When I talk about "movies unappropriate for children" I mean movie unappropriate for people under the age of ten or so. By that time, the "realities" of the world have been presented to your average kid, be it from sneuck-to-watch tv, friends, or other sources.

Children, on the other hand, are a different matter entirely. I remember being completely, horridly afraid when I saw the Little Mermaid, (the first movie I ever saw in a theatre) and clutching my sister and crying "Mommy!" (And apologizing afterwards... my pooor sister... ) I found it scary, and it was DISNEY. Now, there are people who say that "Oh, it's disney, I'll let my three year old see it..." and don't realize that hey, Disney makes stuff other than cartoons. They generalize.

And I agree on the Lion King, it's SO sad!

The parents who bring their kids to see movies such as T3 might think that the kid is too young to understand and will just like all the nice big bangs. Like it has been said, they DO understand that it is more and saying that it's just make-believe is not going to work. Heck, there are movies out there that make adults question if it's make-believe or not.

Gah, I am ranting and not making sense, better end it here.

 

Most Disney movies are emotionally disturbing in some way, eg Dumbo, like when he gest drunk, that scared the flip out of me.
However, this could possibly be passed of as cartoon, nut when the movies are realistis, its harder to explain to kids that it isnt real.

By the way, I obviously dont have kids, but my mum works in a nusery, and I occasionally help out.