A letter to Kennedy/Abrams from a worried parent

...well this thread went to interesting places. I'm sad that the original post got a lot of negative ratings; it did not deserve to be hidden.

 

Seriously OP, stop. Just stop and think for a second.
First of all, movies are art. You don't ask an artist to make changes to their creative vision just to appease you. That is an absolutely ridiculous request. You are asking them to change the film to suit your specific set of circumstances. You must surely understand how unreasonable a request that is. Surely you also realise how asking someone to change their vision for the movie is very damaging to the film itself. It can affect tonal consistency and even the emotional impact of scenes.
Star Wars is a series aimed for everyone, if you feel that your child may be too young or impressionable to view the movie, go see it yourself and then assess. To expect a creator to embrace censorship and make changes to the movie for it to fit into your preferred rating is madness. Should everyone else suffer because your child is 8? Do you think that's fair? Maybe JJ should have brought you in at the script writing stage so you can black out the parts that you don't like?!

Censorship is never a good thing, no matter how badly you want your child to see the movie.

 

"It is a fact that video games that show graphic images of killing and murder, as well as the popular torture porn movies, desensitize people into not caring about human life" What a load of crap.

 

From an article written by Dr. Christopher L. Heffner:


You don't have to like the facts, but these are the facts that have been proven correct through years of studies.

 

I know from life experience from knowing people that they don't, and you're if you think playing DOOM (1993) makes you a expert marksman i don't know what to say about that ha ha ha. And i'm pretty sure there are studies that advocate that they don't.

 

First off, welcome to the Cantina!

I'm not a parent, but I can tell you that a movie rating is based on guidelines. A movie rating is there to set an example of what kind of content you might expect in the film. The difference between a PG rating and a PG-13 rating isn't much different in some cases. Sometimes a PG-13 rated film lingers close the content of a PG movie, other times it's closer to an R rated movie. The PG-13 rating fills the gap between PG and R. Which is a pretty significant gap. With that being said, TFA will definitely most likely be rated PG-13, but will stay on the mild end. The rating system and times have changed. All of the old Indiana Jones movies were rated PG, and they got pretty crude and gory at times. They even ripped a man's heart out on screen in Temple Of Doom. When Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull came out more recently, the violence and gore were toned down, but the rating went up to PG-13. I can't think of many mainstream action movies that have come out in the last few years that were rated PG. If the upcoming Star Wars movies were to be rated PG, they would have to significantly tone down the action. We've already seen blood on the helmet of Finn and many explosions in the second teaser. But at the end of the day, Star Wars movies have never been filled with sex, much gore, language or anything too explicit for an eight year old. And I don't think that will change much. If you're skeptical about the movie, do exactly what the rating suggests. Accompany your child if their under the age of 13. Star Wars isn't anything to be worried about. I'm not trying to tell you how to parent, or saying you're doing it wrong, but be careful not to shelter your kid too much. If their not exposed to the reality of the world soon, they will be at one point. And they may end up compensating for what they never got to do during their childhood. It's kind of like keeping a dog in a cage. Once you finally let them out, they're gone.

 

Not to sound rude but your 8 year old goes to school, that alone is pg-13. So they may curse or see blood, when he goes to a friends house or talks to his friend somebody is cursing or doing wacky stuff. Just raise him right and hope he does the right thing. Let him go see Star Wars even if its PG-13 that movie is the least of your worries in this world nowadays lol.

 

It's very misleading to imply anything has been "proven". If anyone saw bowling for columbine, as Moore pointed out, other 1st world countries with very low levels of violence are exposed to the same forms of entertainment that we are... that pretty much negates the whole argument that entertainment makes one violent right there.

There is no "one size fits all" solution to what children can be exposed to. I grew up watching rated R movies from a very young age, I had teenage sisters who were watching horror movies & my dad would watch war films & westerns. I was not in the least bit traumatized by the violence in the war films. Horror movies were a different story though... the concept of seeing ghosts terrified me (still does haha), that was traumatizing to me, but not because of the gore or whatever it was that gave these films R ratings. Actually, what terrified me more than anything when I was a kid was watching Unsolved mysteries & America's most wanted!

Has anyone seen the American scream? I think that father did a great job raising his kids, yet his daughter was exposed to the violence of the horror genre. She wasn't one bit scared, she joined him in his hobby of building haunted houses.

I've got 2 kids, the oldest one is 9... we've seen a few rated R movies together... but she was actually more scared of Harry Potter! If something inappropriate comes up I cover her eyes... problem solved.

Now I have seen kids re-enact what they've seen in films... but there's a difference between playing & violence. Frankly, when watching kids play, they are going to do dangerous things no matter what they've seen. I'd actually prefer they re-enact the Age of Ultron fight scenes instead of say... building a giant water slide ramp & experimenting with how to maximize the effects of their launch.

Swearing is a different story... I sort of agree with you on that point but I don't think we'll be hearing S*** or F*** in Star Wars... even if there's an R rating involved. Unfortunately I'm the more guilty party in that regard... I've lost my temper in traffic & accidentally unleashed "f***ick a**hole!". But when driving with 2 kids in the car & someone does something to place your family in danger then it's hard not to unleash a plethora of expletives.

 

You are correct. I probably did misspeak by stating this is all proven 100%. I personally do believe that exposure to violent movies and video games does make certain individuals gravitate towards violence, therefore I choose to shelter my children as much as possible. The old saying goes, you can't stop a bird from flying over your head, but you can stop it from building a nest on it.

 

Firstly, that's not a fact. It's a theory based off a study circumstantial to the subjects. The article clearly states "certain".

Also, that article was part of the propaganda sponsored by churches and anti-gun movements looking a for reason to defend it's foundations, instead of blaming the social parenting and schooling structures that leaves behind outcasts.

I played violent video games. I listen to metal. I'm atheist. Yet, I'm probably one of the first here to take a bullet for your family.

But let's leave that aside, and explain the whole course of mankind's history where there weren't any first person shooter video games or Predator films up until 30 years ago, yet humans are continuously lost in this conquering bloodlust from international to religious wars, to residential disputes to vendictive crimes?

People become violent from their social interactions. We're all products of our parent's teachings, of the rules at schools, and what the presidents and pastors say on TV. In addition to that, there's also genetics. No matter how hard any human tries, our genetics comprise of savage instincts when needing to defend ourselves or what we believe, as is the code in nature where animals are territorial of their land and kind. People are exactly the same, just socially territorial of opinion and attention from interaction denied or obtained, and that's what sparks violence. Not a film. Not music. Not a video game.

 

Whatever works for you.

 

I believe that first line.."people become violent from their social interactions". Knowing this, what do you suppose happens when you increase the exposure to more violent activity and graphic images than a normal interaction through 1st person violent video games and movies? Doesn't logic suggest it would increase the chances of stimulating this type of imitating behavior? Children in 3rd world countries, who don't have access to TV, but have a real life every day interaction with violence more then likely will repeat these observed behaviors; which is why we see 12 year olds in certain geographic locations on the street corner holding an AK47 and no one blinks an eye.

I don't believe in anecdotal evidence as reason to dismiss thousands of studies all with the same conclusion. One can't simply say "I watched violent movies as a kid and they didn't affect me so therefore there is nothing wrong with all children being exposed to the same thing". It's a case by case scenario, but most cases will show that exposure at a young impressionable age to such violent activity helped to influence negative behavior later in life.

 

Yes. Yes. Yes. Couldn't have said it better.

 

Another study done over 4 years...

 

Obviously, we are all going to disagree about what is appropriate for children, depending on their age. And I agree 100% that ultimately it comes down to real parental involvement in discussing, educating, and monitoring what it is that children are exposed to. I applaud all of those parents here that are taking an active role, whether allowing their children to watch or not.

But herein lies the problem. Far too many parents are not involved, for various reasons. Some are single parents working multiple jobs to make ends meet, so they can't be there every hour of the day. Others are simply lazy. Most fall somewhere in between. The more interesting question to me is, what do we as a society want to do to protect all of the children, with absentee parents or otherwise? Do we just write off all of the kids that have crappy parents? I'm not advocating out-and-out censorship. But I do believe that we have an obligation to one another in a civilized society on some level. That sense of obligation to one another is what I see missing, at least in American culture, as most clearly evidenced by the abhorrent level of uncivilized political interaction by both our representatives and our citizenry. There is simply no respect showed for people with opposing views. And that is wrong.

Anyway, I think there must be some balance in weighing creative freedom with societal obligation to protect the most vulnerable citizens... and the rating system, as flawed as it is, had that as its original purpose. These are difficult topics, but I am happy to see (mostly) intelligent discourse on the subject. It at least signifies that we are thinking about the issues critically, and for that I am thankful.

 

It's not like that. It's genetics and upbringing. Go to any psychologist in person, not internet propaganda articles, and they will tell that violent cases are from violent interaction from parents, peers, friends, relationships, belief indoctrinations.

If a child is brought up that war is the only way of survival where like in your point he's holding a AK47, like a child is brought up that being a accountant is the only way of survival, it's still the same thing, social interaction. It's not media exposure.

 

If children don't want to act out what they see on TV, then why do they sell toy lightsabers, Thor's hammer, Capt. America's shield, and Batman's utility belt? If television has NO effect on a child's behavior, as some suggest, then children would not care. If it works one way, it works the other way too.

 

Jeeeeeezzzzzz......this is horrible! Look at what lack of info has brought us to! Maybe I'll start a thread about what kind of transmission fluid x-wings use just to get away from the social commentary. This syfi space fantasy is my escape from this blast people!!!!