Mister Mister Posted October 15, 2014 Posted October 15, 2014 Hi I am curious about what your thoughts are which (if any) popular movies are and aren't appropriate for kids, and how you determine this. There are some kids movies I enjoy, and some I find pretty wretched. Obviously there are themes and abstract concepts, proposed virtues, political/social ideologies and so on that are inevitably woven into children's movies which children are not capable of rationally processing, yet still absorb in a deep way, especially in a medium that is as sensually captivating as cinema. For this reason I would be very sensitive and cautious about which movies my kids watch, as well as encouraging them to watch certain movies. I wanted to get the feedback from the smart and sensitive people here on this forum about this.
villagewisdom Posted October 15, 2014 Posted October 15, 2014 I'm interested as well. And also, how to use that movie tool to reinforce some ideas and bring light to what is productive and what is not. I think even if I don't agree with a movie "theme" it can be used as information in "how some people are" and how and why other behaviors align with a code of ethics and produce a desired outcome.
shirgall Posted October 15, 2014 Posted October 15, 2014 Are there movies of interest to kids that promote critical thinking, self ownership, mindfulness, and adults can have fun too?
chewit Posted October 15, 2014 Posted October 15, 2014 (edited) Hi I am curious about what your thoughts are which (if any) popular movies are and aren't appropriate for kids, and how you determine this. After picking apart many of my childhood films, I too have been thinking on what films may be useful for my son, and others' children instead of the parade of morally perverted drivel that comes out of many a film studio's doors... I find it best to steer away from most disney films, but only because they perpetuate sexual stereotpyes, inequality, gender-abuse etc, etc... I am also mindful of films that have a covert boy-meets-girl things tagged on the end, as well as strongly expressed moral dialogues smothered with cuteness, humour and princessification. And most sequels are even more full of manipulative and propagandised bullsh*t than the original. There are no doubt many other ways to determine what may be good for my child at his/her stage of life... your child/ren will no doubt be very different at all the stages in their life and a film that may hold a great moral quality at one age could go right over their heads if shown to them in other stages. I find that (As long as I know enough of the issue explored in the film myself) discussing a film with my son afterwards is very important. So many parents just pop a DVD on and leave their kids to it. Actively watching films with your children and discussing it to a degree is a very responsible thing to do. It teaches them that firstly, their opinion is important and valued, and it also helps them cultivate their own critical thought processes so they too can understand 'why the Queen is doing that' or 'why the King is going to war' etc etc... Stef has covered many films and the idea of fantasty. Fantasy is something that I am still exploring, so I'm not certain on this yet, but it may be useful to show children films that are relevant to their lives at whatever stage they find themselves. Erasing certain types of fantasy (or atleast shelving them for now) could be a useful differentiation. Films that I think can be very valuable to children; easy to understand (without hollywood or product placement, gender programming etc) include: Ernest & Celestine (Great one for tolerance and freindship) The Secret of Kells (Creativity, authority, perseverance) Terry Pratchetts Hogfather & Going Postal There are many, many more, I will add more as I remember them! Edited October 15, 2014 by chewit
tasmlab Posted October 15, 2014 Posted October 15, 2014 Are there movies of interest to kids that promote critical thinking, self ownership, mindfulness, and adults can have fun too? I'd suggest anything out of Studio Gibli. Animated features with wickedly complicated plots, puzzles about right and wrong, wonderfully fantastic. Nothing particularly libertarianish, but authority (and often the government) is almost always the villain. "Spirited away" should blow your hair back. "Princess Mononoke" and "Howl's Moving Castle" are both superb. (Mononoke is a bit bloody/violent, but my kids love it.) The entire catalog is worth watching. Half of their titles are in the general i.e., adult list of IMDB's top 250 of all time.
Mister Mister Posted October 15, 2014 Author Posted October 15, 2014 ^Also Nausica and the Valley of the Wind which is my favorite. Come think of it, it is very similar conceptually to a movie I saw recently that I wanted to mention, called How to Train your Dragon. In both stories the hero is an adolescent who is a bit different, in a very traditionalist culture that is primarily concerned about conflict with a particular enemy, in Nausica it is giant bugs from the poisoned forest, and in the other one it is dragons. The hero is different in that they empathize with the supposed enemy, and find that there is a more constructive approach to the problems of the tribe/society, they discover a win-win approach that makes things easier rather than the win-lose approach which perpetuates conflict. At first they are shamed for their betrayal of the tribe, but in the end they save the day. After picking apart many of my childhood films, I too have been thinking on what films may be useful for my son, and others' children instead of the parade of morally perverted drivel that comes out of many a film studio's doors... I find it best to steer away from most disney films, but only because they perpetuate sexual stereotpyes, inequality, gender-abuse etc, etc... I am also mindful of films that have a covert boy-meets-girl things tagged on the end, as well as strongly expressed moral dialogues smothered with cuteness, humour and princessification. And most sequels are even more full of manipulative and propagandised bullsh*t than the original. There are no doubt many other ways to determine what may be good for my child at his/her stage of life... your child/ren will no doubt be very different at all the stages in their life and a film that may hold a great moral quality at one age could go right over their heads if shown to them in other stages. I find that (As long as I know enough of the issue explored in the film myself) discussing a film with my son afterwards is very important. So many parents just pop a DVD on and leave their kids to it. Actively watching films with your children and discussing it to a degree is a very responsible thing to do. It teaches them that firstly, their opinion is important and valued, and it also helps them cultivate their own critical thought processes so they too can understand 'why the Queen is doing that' or 'why the King is going to war' etc etc... Stef has covered many films and the idea of fantasty. Fantasy is something that I am still exploring, so I'm not certain on this yet, but it may be useful to show children films that are relevant to their lives at whatever stage they find themselves. Erasing certain types of fantasy (or atleast shelving them for now) could be a useful differentiation. Films that I think can be very valuable to children; easy to understand (without hollywood or product placement, gender programming etc) include: Ernest & Celestine (Great one for tolerance and freindship) The Secret of Kells (Creativity, authority, perseverance) Terry Pratchetts Hogfather & Going Postal There are many, many more, I will add more as I remember them! Thank you for your feedback. I will have to check out those movies. I am a huge fan of Terry Pratchett so I will especially look into that. I share your caution with Disney movies. I recently watched The Little Mermaid for the first time in probably 20 years and I was pretty shocked. There is some weird subliminal sexual imagery, where the Father Figure Poseidon lives amongst a tower of penises, and the evil Mother Figure Ursula (not explicitly a mother, this is common in fairy tales - a mother by blood cannot be portrayed as evil in the culture, but if she is a step-mother or a witch it is acceptable) lives in a vagina clam. Ariel is a sheltered, pampered princess whose only friend is a pet, and who collects material possessions to fill the void left by her alienation. Her normally warm and doting father goes into a rage and destroys her collection, in a pretty terrifying portrayal of parental anger, which prompts her betrayal of his commandment to avoid the surface-dwellers. So she enlists the help of the witch Ursula to help her pursue the romantic interest her father has forbade her, and receives the curse of losing her voice, with the instruction that men prefer women who don't talk. It's all pretty fucked up and at a young age it is too much to process.
dsayers Posted October 15, 2014 Posted October 15, 2014 While not a movie and not something I'm at all familiar with, it is my understanding that show like the Muppet Babies and Rugrats are shows that model rationality, negotiation, self-reliance, co-operation, etc.
Existing Alternatives Posted October 15, 2014 Posted October 15, 2014 I have not completely given up on Hollywood. I found the trick to be to actively watch the movies with the child and have an ongoing discussion about what is happening on the screen. Some of the questionable scenarios portrayed on the screen allow us to discuss and understand that, for example, violence is clearly is not the solution, that magic is not real, etc. Hollywood imagery is everywhere, so you can’t completely shelter the child from it, it is more productive to take it head on with a proper narrative. As far as more mainstream recommendations go, I would go with Shrek – lessons on self-reliance, judging the book by its cover and authority-defiance. 1
Luirru Posted November 15, 2014 Posted November 15, 2014 Both Unico movies are awesome, they teach the value of friendship and happiness and how jealous powerful people can get. My son LOVES the first one almost as much as he loves the Labyrinth, we usually watch each of these movies at least once or twice a week.
Mothra Posted December 6, 2014 Posted December 6, 2014 I really found Happy Feet to be a great movie. I mean who doesn't love an atheist dancing penguin? It portrayed coming to terms with being different from society, standing up to authority, and replacing superstition with reason. A theme I find fairly prevalent in kid movies is that you are special or "the chosen one" just by chance, and not because of your own efforts and working hard. This was demonstrated in Kung Fu Panda. I find this very disturbing.
PGP Posted December 6, 2014 Posted December 6, 2014 I always enjoyed (and still would enjoy) the Young Indiana Jones series. They bring in alot of cultural variation and themes and also explore the horrors of war. 1
J. D. Stembal Posted December 7, 2014 Posted December 7, 2014 I don't think it as important to filter what childer watch as to make sure they feel comfortable asking questions about it. While you probably shouldn't be showing your kids slasher and gore films, negotiation and good judgement will be critical. Not having children myself, I often think it would be easier to not have cable, media or internet in the home, and swing by an internet wifi hotspot if you need to check your email or sneak a peak on your phone when you need to conduct business. In this manner, your kids will be allow to draw more on their creative resources than media resources. You have to lead by example, though. I remember seeing and hearing things in movies and television when I was a child that I didn't understand, live a euphemism or an idiom. I knew it was something I did not know about and I wasn't supposed to know about so I just took it for granted as a fact of reality without questioning my parents. We didn't have the kind of bond to discuss questions openly and honestly. If you don't engender that kind of curiosity in your children, they aren't going to ask question- of you when leftish media begins to brainwash them. They will conclude that everyone else must know better than their parents, and absorb media as gospel, especially if you rely on this entertainment as a substitute for parenting as was the case in my upbringing.
Buggy Posted December 7, 2014 Posted December 7, 2014 Not free of non-ideal presentations, but pretty good compared to more modern and hyper-liberal alternatives: "Ice Age" - (Comedy, child entertainment) Funny, morally acceptable, little irrationality in any way (except for the physics and art ) "Spy Kids" - (Comedy, child/youth entertainment) Comedy, sci-fi elements, family oriented "Back To The Future" - (Comedy&fiction, older youth&adult entertainment) Comedy, time travel, sci-fi
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