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What kinda blows my mind is that there are movies that many parents of children would not want the kids to see based on content, but you sure will see the toys show up in the aisles and in the Happy Meals and whatnot. Toy makers don't respect the ratings systems. I could understand collectible action figures showing up in comic shops and such, that's for teens and older adults...but I mean the mainstream toy section at Walmart.
I actually thought of this thread when I saw the Guardians toys at Walmart recently.
At ages 12 and 15, my kids have had no interest in action figures for quite a while now...
(EDIT ^ That is only relevant because I'm thinking, when they were young enough that they liked action figures, they would have been too young to see the movie perhaps.)
There are adults and teens that collect action figures (I sent my daughter a Groot figure at college) and a toy can be neutral and playing with any toy doesn't have to follow the movie script.
There are adults and teens that collect action figures (I sent my daughter a Groot figure at college) and a toy can be neutral and playing with any toy doesn't have to follow the movie script.
Of course. I'm just saying that the explosion of merchandising is usually in support of the film, and in promotion of the film...and it's often aimed at audiences younger than the film's ratings would recommend.
I bet I could find a Guardians t-shirt sized for a 5 year old if I looked in stores. It wouldn't surprise me.
I've been to much darker films and seen small children -- I still remember going to 'Gladiator' and seeing a 6 year old down in front. I felt terrible during the really violent stuff knowing there was a kid present. The parents didn't seem to care.
I also saw a lot of kids in the recent Walter Mitty movie -- it's like because Stiller made a couple of kid's films everything he does must be all right for kids, right? Wrong.
My kids self censored. If something bothered them they wouldn't watch it. I never believed in taking tiny kids to movies due to the possibility of annoying everyone, including me. Once they were interested in something and could sit through quietly it was OK. My son saw Jurassic Park when he was 4-5 and loved it. He was watching Jaws and Godzilla before that, on VHS tapes. Sexual innuendo went right over their heads so that stuff never bothered me.
As far as rating systems go, I only cared if it was R. PG13 never bothered me and I didn't care about anyone elses ratings, any other countries, any books or websites (which didn't exist yet) or the mom on the playground who'd son was scared of Star Trek Original Series aliens. Not my kid, not my problem and I preferred to make my own decisions and not defer to someone else. I don't know why people think that's a good idea ...
your thoughts. . .any plans to see Guardians with a 5-13 year old?
My 11 year old saw it and loved it.
My view on these things: It's up to responsible parents, not busybodies. If parents think their child is old enough to see a movie and behave during the movie, then that is their call and no one else's. If a child is misbehaving in a movie, you can politely ask the parents to take care of the situation or you can talk to the theater manager.
Honestly though, I'd much rather watch any movie in a theater full of 5 year olds than in a theater with a single pack of teenagers. It's rare that I see a little kid misbehaving in the theater. It's rare that I see teenagers behaving.
I guess my stance on this is...why? What is the benefit to the kids for seeing movies like this when they are too young? Will it kill them to wait a little while? If there are chances that there may be something inappropriate, why do it? Especially when there is zero chance of there being something inappropriate if you don't see it. Kids already grow up fast enough. Why do people want to rush it?
My favorite movie when I was a kid was Jaws. I first watched it when I was 3 and I LOVED it. I was a shark for Halloween for the next three years until I couldn't squeeze into my homemade costume any more.
Some kids can handle it. Some kids can't. Worry about your own kids.
Movies back in the day were rated much more liberally. It's almost impossible to get a G rating anymore. Disney hasn't received a G rating since the '90's or early '00's. Goonies talks about cocaine and heroine, jokes about S&M, jokes about a penis and it's a beloved children's classic. There's even a faked hanging and a shootout with police. Movies haven't changed that much, only the moral outrage has changed.
Movies back in the day were rated much more liberally. It's almost impossible to get a G rating anymore. Disney hasn't received a G rating since the '90's or early '00's.
It's not that it's impossible to get a G rating, it's that studios do whatever is necessary to avoid their movies actually obtaining a G rating because they've discovered the hard way that audiences avoid G-rated films, thinking G rated means "little kids movie." A G rating is the financial kiss of death for a movie. (This is the reason so many kids movies have a few swear words here and there; they are deliberately added to avoid that dreaded G rating.) Likewise, the NC-17 rating is never used because audiences equate NC-17 with porn.
So the system is left with only three functional ratings: PG, PG-13, and R. It's a wonder the ratings system works at all, given only three useful labels.
I used to teach 1st grade and Kindergarten. I saw an awful lot of my kids at R rated movies in the theater with me. Pretty ridiculous and embarrassing to know that the inappropriate scenes I was watching were also being watched by my 5-6yo students.
Interestingly, I think many of the PG-13 movies from my childhood seem more like borderline R movies of today.
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