Parents who take their kids to inappropriate movies

[foxy]

Since it was a rainy day I saw two movies. "Invincible" and "Snakes on a Plane". Before "Snakes" started, a father comes in with his daughter who looked about 7 years old and sat in front of me. I kept wondering how he could sit there with his kid watching the couple fucking in the bathroom and then a snake bites the girl on her bare tit. I also wondered if she said to him at the end of the movie "Daddy, what does motherfucker mean?"

 

There were at least 3 kids movies playing in the same multi-plex but I guess he wasn't interested in seeing those. What's wrong with parents anyway?

[Rick Munroe]

My parents took me to R-rated movies when I was very young, and look how good I turned out. OK, yes, I'm a w~h~o~r~e but I'm a nice, polite and caring w~h~o~r~e. Btw, my father had no problem with my seeing sexy scenes, because he felt (as I do) that sex is natural, but he did cover my eyes for the violence because he didn't want me to have nightmares. Foxy, do you have any problem with kids seeing people getting beaten or killed, like in Lord of the Rings or Star Wars or many television cartoons and video games? Or do you just think it's inappropriate for kids to see sex? (I'm just curious; I'm not attacking your point of view.)

[Epigonos]

In Europe very explicit sex on the big screen is acceptable BUT much of the extreme violence that we, in this country, find acceptable is NOT. I happen to agree with the Euopean attitude. I vividly remember walking out of a Brad Pitt film that was about a serial killer who based his murders on the seven deadly sins. I found it hard to believe, and still do, that a writer could come up with a script so disgustingly violent and perverse or that someone would want to produce it or that actors would want to act in it.

[foxy]

Yes, I agree, violence is worse than seeing sexual images in movies. I see the violent video games and I don't like those either for small children. I do think that parents should edit what their children are exposed to at and early age. I'm all for sex education but Hollywood is not the teacher I choose.

Can you honestly think the term "motherfucker" is appropriate for a 7 year old kid?

[Rick Munroe]

>I do think that parents should edit

>what their children are exposed to at and early age.

 

I agree with you, but I also think it is up to the parent to decide what should or shouldn't be censored.

 

>Can you honestly think the term "motherfucker" is appropriate

>for a 7 year old kid?

 

LOL Well, my father used to play that George Carlin album for me...the one with the "Seven Dirty Words" (shit, piss, fuck, cunt, cocksucker, motherfucker and tits)...and he used to tell me that words were just words (unless they were used to hurt another person, of which he did not approve) and that the "dirtiness" was in the mind of the listener or user. Hearing "dirty" words as a small child took the thrill & naughtiness out of using them, and as a result, I was one of the few kids in my neighborhood who didn't.

[+ deej]

When I was probably 12 or so, my folks took me to see a summer-stock production of "The Unsinkable Molly Brown". Dad said afterwards he got a little worried where a dance number was going (dance hall girls dancing like dance hall girls) because I was sitting there, but he waited it out and nothing dirty went on, as they say.

 

Little did he know the damage that had *really* been done! I became a (gasp) MUSICAL THEATER QUEEN! LOL

[foxy]

I'm completely against repression of information for children be it sexual or anything else. I do think to allow "popular culture" ( a contradiction in itself) to be the prime educator is a mistake. Look around and see where it's brought us.

[Rick Munroe]

Good point. In my case, my father made conscientious decisions to let me see certain things, and in that way, he was guiding me, not popular culture.

 

Deej, when I was only 5 years old, my parents took me to see Rita Moreno in The Ritz on Broadway, partially because my older brother and I loved to watch her on The Electric Company on PBS. If you're not familiar, The Ritz is a comedy that takes place in a gay bathhouse and most of the characters wear the standard white towel wrapped around their waists. So, your parents took you to see something that turned you into a theater queen, and mine took me to see something that turned me into a slut (although I don't like bathhouses!).

[foxy]

I saw "The Ritz" and remember early on in the show when one of the actors dropped his towel and went into one of the rooms. First time I saw a bare ass on stage. Pretty exciting stuff! Of course I was an adult and able to handle such information.

[Epigonos]

I taught school for over thirty years and never ceased to be amazed by what students were capable of taking in their stride. Kids tend to react the way we do. If we are shocked and appalled they are shocked and appalled if we react with nonchalance they react with nonchalance. One of my proudest teaching moments came in my high school art history class when, midway through the school year, I was showing a slide of a nude male statue and a office monitor walked into the classroom took a look at the screen and snickered. Before I could react one of my student said in a disgusted tone of voice "Oh for god sakes grow up". It is really impossible to over emphasize the fact that kids, of all ages, are constantly watching adults to see how we react to things and then they studiously follow our example -- for better or worse. Damn teaching was fun and never, Never, NEVER dull.

[+ deej]

I love "The Ritz" and I'm TOTALLY jealous that you saw Rita Moreno in it! (LOVE HER!) Haven't seen the show, but I've studied the score.

 

I grew up in a cultural wasteland, so theater was a truly novel experience when we drove the 60 miles to a summer-stock theater in South-central Illinois. But even that set me on a path... ;-)

[Guest carter07]

Carter

 

At least you didn't grow up in west-central Illinois, speaking of cultural wastelands.

[Rick Munroe]

>I love "The Ritz" and I'm TOTALLY jealous that you saw Rita

>Moreno in it! (LOVE HER!)

 

Well, if you really want to be jealous, I left out the best part: my parents took us to wait by the stage door to get our Playbills autographed. First we got Jack Weston and Jerry Stiller (I really didn't know who they were and didn't really care too much about meeting them) and then Rita came out with her hair covered in a brightly-colored kerchief and she was so gracious and sweet. I was a very shy child (really!) and was kind of terrified to see a TV star in person so I just stood there and handed her my program with my mouth hanging open. My brother asked her to say her trademark line from Electric Company ("Hey you guys!!!!!") and she laughed and did it (but not as loud as she did it on TV). Like I said, I was only 5 so somewhere along the way I misplaced that Playbill along with my trading cards and whatever else kids collect. But I still have the memory and I think of it each time I go to a show on Broadway and see people waiting outside the stage door.

[+ deej]

The insulting part is that you were 5 years old.

 

My lost childhood "thing" is a game card from a Cubs game signed by Ernie Banks and Ron Santo. (And a few others.)

 

If I only knew...

[Rick Munroe]

>My lost childhood "thing" is a game card from a Cubs game

>signed by Ernie Banks and Ron Santo. (And a few others.)

 

Are they famous athletes? I know nothing about sports. Cubs are baseball or basketball? :o

[+ deej]

Baseball. One of the oldest franchises in MLB, definining "underdog".

 

http://www.dfapam.com/cubsevents.html

 

(it's a little dated)

[Rod Hagen]

After seeing Pier Paolo Pasolini's "Salò o le 120 giornate di Sodoma" (and several other grotesque films out of the Continent) I'm not sure I agree with this common sentiment about European aversion to violence on film.

 

http://imdb.com/title/tt0073650/

 

 

p.s. Epigonos, the Pitt film your thinking about is Seven. Disgusting yes. The reason people flocked to it, in addition to the Pitt-Eye-Candy, was the performances by both Morgan Freeman, and, more importantly, that asshole Kevin Spacey. The gore was over the top, but the twist at the end was deliciously disturbing.

 

Now in a book, most people wouldn't flinch over this kind of storyline. Most people. It's been done many times, the killer simulating the 7 deadly sins. But books leave images to the imagination. The question is, are we willing to accept those images on screen when it is (and often when it isn't) germaine to the story?