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Judging media

Backroads

By Backroads,
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Backroads

Backroads

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Today we went out on a family outing to see a recent movie of a PG-13 rating despite not having any children 13 and up. This was a movie my children wanted to see, having thoroughly enjoyed other movies of its kind. A friend of mine had actually walked out for about 5 minutes (until her husband texted her it was okay to come back in) of this movie, which led to me hemming and hawing and wondering if I should take my kids to see this movie. I went on various sites and forums and spoke with others (including aforementioned friend who happens to be insanely sensitive to certain things) including several ladies from my ward. 

After sifting through the information I was given and talking with Husband about it and usually hearing that if kids can handle similar movies and admitting they've been around a lot of other PG-13 movies in our household and I maybe tell them to shut their eyes at this one part, we decided to forgo my original plan to see the movie first without children and through caution to the wind. 

In the end, my kids loved it (as did myself and Husband. I mean no harsh criticism of the film itself). I instructed them (the kids) to close their eyes at the scene I was warned about, and generally found that as far as the visual stuff I was worried about, it was not nearly as gruesome as I feared. (I'm not sure where to put that on a line for anyone else, just that I was fearing one thing in my mind and was relieved to see something else).

And yet, I wish I had been warned about other things. The worst stuff in the movie was definitely implied rather than showed, rather left up to the imagine to get worse the more one thinks about it. It's difficult to decipher just how much my kids properly thought about such things as it seemed they pretty much were going off the face value stuff, based on our post-movie conversation. But for my sake at least, I wish I had been warned about the scene that upset me the most. It was a scene that had been brought up in my research, but not once had it been one of the ones with a warning label. 

I found an article about said movie written by a dad who took his own kid (a few years younger than my non-toddler) who afterwards was concerned about what he had just shown his child. He pondered on the spectrum of family-friendliness and unfriendliness and it was a good article. But even then he talked specifically about the have-your-kids-close-their-eyes scene.

So, graphic violence. That is so often a solid, easy line. Tons of harsh language. Another often solid, easy line. The scene that upset me, while still rather awful, doesn't quite fit the solid, easy line. It was part of the story. It drove some stuff forward. I certainly appreciate it in a story-telling perspective. I don't know if it upset my kids more than it upset me, but it was something that I would have liked to have been warned about to at least make that judgment call for my kids (and probably myself).

To go back to my pre-film research, the stuff most friends and random interweb people thought was the worst and most disturbing was, again, mostly implied rather than shown. As far as the plot went, great stuff for storytelling and in my case, stuff I don't think my kids really thought much about beyond the obvious.

This all leaves me obviously thinking more about the movies I take my kids to, but it also leaves me wondering about the stuff we worry about in media. It's not that I don't appreciate drama and wild escapades in my escapist entertainment, but I am amazed at the various things people find "the bad part". 

There it is, my random thoughts on the upsetting part of a movie I probably should not have taken my kids to but they'll probably be streaming anyway in a few months (another thing that's probably important to tackle with media) while I pick a few bones with a few gals in my ward. 

 

 

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Vort

Vort

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40 minutes ago, Backroads said:

This is one I usually check, but it still feels like the scene-that-bothered-me-most just wasn't recognized.

Often people will not see what they don't want to see. When I saw the Tom Hanks movie Big, I was greatly disturbed that the plot revolved around the sexual relationship between a young woman in her late 20s and a thirteen-year-old boy magically put into his 30- or 35-year-old self's body. I voiced this concern once on an LDS-oriented discussion list (not this one, I'm sure), only to be shouted down by the other list members. One participant in particular took great pains to separate my comments from anything that any normal Latter-day Saint would think.

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Backroads

Backroads

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1 hour ago, Vort said:

Often people will not see what they don't want to see. When I saw the Tom Hanks movie Big, I was greatly disturbed that the plot revolved around the sexual relationship between a young woman in her late 20s and a thirteen-year-old boy magically put into his 30- or 35-year-old self's body. I voiced this concern once on an LDS-oriented discussion list (not this one, I'm sure), only to be shouted down by the other list members. One participant in particular took great pains to separate my comments from anything that any normal Latter-day Saint would think.

I remember watching that as a kid because my parents were nostalgic, and even as a tween I was weirded out.

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Backroads

Backroads

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4 minutes ago, pam said:

I had no idea.  I don't even remember the last time I went to a movie.  

I feel rather out of the movies myself. But my Cinemark club thing keeps reinstating itself no matter what I do so we've been trying the movie thing now and then.

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Backroads

Backroads

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2 minutes ago, Godless said:

Yep. I haven't seen it yet, but I've heard some of the feedback.

I know my one friend would have appreciated more precise warning than she got. But even the she admitted she still went on knowing it might upset her.

Edited by Backroads
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Ironhold

Ironhold

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3 hours ago, Backroads said:

Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3, which I believe was @Godless's theory.

*Many* advance reviews indicated that the film was unusually dark and brutal for the Marvel franchise, and was rather pushing it for PG-13. 

I'm an entertainment writer IRL, so I have to pay attention to these things.

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Jamie123

Jamie123

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14 hours ago, Backroads said:

Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3, which I believe was @Godless's theory.

I only ever saw the first one. I took my daughter to it. She was about 8 and totally loved it - especially the little raccoon character.

(I am thinking of the right movie, aren't I? I remember there was a talking tree in it too.)

Edited by Jamie123
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Backroads

Backroads

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15 hours ago, Ironhold said:

*Many* advance reviews indicated that the film was unusually dark and brutal for the Marvel franchise, and was rather pushing it for PG-13. 

I'm an entertainment writer IRL, so I have to pay attention to these things.

And this is one of the reasons I was talking to people: heard it was dark, it upset Friend, etc. 

I'm not still sure how to judge it on that rating scale (you likely have a better frame of reference than myself). I personally thought Multiverse of Madness pushed the envelope further.

So, yeah, I was definitely wondering about taking the kids to it and trying to get a better feel for exactly what that meant.

Visually I'd say I found Multiverse of Madness darker, at least as far as stuff one could see. Thematically this one was darker and more disturbing. 

@Ironhold still has better training on me to decide. 🙃

Overall I really enjoyed it and as a person who tends to enjoy Marvel movies (not the greatest of art but I know what to more or less expect and find it entertaining) I thought it was their best film in years, but it really did get me thinking about what goes into ratings and that those advance reviews were definitely into something.

Edited by Backroads
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Backroads

Backroads

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3 hours ago, Jamie123 said:

I only ever saw the first one. I took my daughter to it. She was about 8 and totally loved it - especially the little raccoon character.

(I am thinking of the right movie, aren't I? I remember there was a talking tree in it too.)

Yup, that one. My kids grew up watching the first two on various movie nights with us and love them. Loved the cartoon series. Hence wanting to see this one. 

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