Ok, so the last couple of weeks of this school year I was chatting with the year 6 and 7 students at the school I was working at. Just chatting about stuff, important pre teen stuff, like who fancies who and what movies they think are great etc. when the movie 'Get Him to the Greek', was discussed.
The kids (11 and 12 year olds) assured me it was 'awesome' and that I really should see it. They raved about how funny it was and how the characters get up to some 'cool stuff'. So I thought I'd watch it.
Now, maybe because I knew the 11 and 12 year old kids had already seen the movie, or maybe because I have just out grown that sort of base degrading humor, (although I'm sure I was never into that kind of thing), I just couldn't find the movie funny at all!!!
The blatant use of recreational drugs, the sex scenes that really didn't leave much to the imagination and the full on stupidity of the movie just made me feel sick.
The whole way through it I kept thinking, 'the kids at school have seen this, the kids at school have seen this'.
I just can't believe a parent in their right mind would let a child under the age of consent (that's 15 and 16years) watch this movie, supervised or not. It was the most inappropriate thing I've seen in a long, long time! Even as an adult I found it stupid.
I realise the target audience was probably males aged 18 -25 or something but seriously! And the amount of publicity this film got. I actually thought from the previews and the interviews that the movie might be a bit of a laugh.
Look, I'm just so annoyed at parents who let their kids watch this stuff. It allows kids to see drugs as fun and sex as a game and gives them the whole wrong idea of how to form relationships. I'm not against one night stands.... but not at 13 years of age. Which does happen, and where do the kids with babies end up? That's right folks - foster care, youth shelters or on the street.
I hate when I go to the movies to see an M15+ movie and there are 10 year olds in the line in front of me who buy tickets and get in, no questions asked. I've seen parents with toddlers take their kids to see violent movies and I have to say.... you had the kids, suck it up and get a baby sitter or wait for the dvd.
Can you tell I'm pretty passionate about this?
I just stomped my foot for extra effect.
Kids just don't have the reasoning skills and the comprehension skills to realise that these crazy storylines are for show and not how life should be if you want to be successful.
Anyway, enough ranting.
Does anyone agree with me? or am I just over sensitive?
5 comments:
Hi Des,
well done :)
I have made some bad choices and let my kids see things i thought were ok because they watched it with me etc etc but then realised later that there minds couldn't get the concepts.
i have let me kids watch some things and then change my mind and say not until your older.
when it comes to ratings i look at it as a gudieline... some pg movies i won't let my kids watch some m films i do depending on the content and storyline.
my son and i are in counselling. I explained yet again my stance on some movies, books etc .... that consciously the kids are seeing one thing but subconscioulsy they are picking up other themes etc that stay with them and help to form them. The counsellor told my son that he was lucky that i cared so much about him and that i thought through the implications of what he watches, plays etc.
now some of the things i have let my kids watch i do cringe at but I am still growing as a person.
I find that more and more kids are allowed to watch movies with adult themes.... people are brushing it off by saying "it's just a movie" but it's not. I've seen the effects first hand.
i am passionate on this subject and it's great to see others that are too...
<3 Bron
Yep...full heartedly agree!
Just like you said...these kids don't have the cognitive skills to differentiate reality from fantasy or think about the difference between short term gratification and long term consequences....that's why they have parents...they are supposed to do the hard thinking for them!
I totally agree! I use the rating as only a guide and will do my research if I'm at all unsure whether to let my children watch it. There's plenty of reviews online, including a specific family related review site. I can't remember it offhand.
I don't care if "everyone else has watched it." I think it's pure laziness on a parent's part to cave to peer group pressure via a child.
There are many movies that may be a bit much to watch at the cinema, but are Ok to watch at home on DVD with a parent.
I cringed when I saw so many young kids at Avatar this year. It was NOT a child's movie at all.
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Hi Des
Just read the post. I admire your passion, and I totally agree with you. Thankfully I did not see the movie , and it will now never be seen by me.
I am also very angered by parents who allow children to watch and read inappropriate movies and books. Children are like sponges. They pick up EVRYTHING, whether adults realise or not.
Keep up the good work
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