A letter to Kennedy/Abrams from a worried parent

Honestly this is getting messy and isnt what Star Wars is about.

 

My mother has been an elementary school teacher for 18 years and a child psychologist. I have a lot of case examples I have heard about over the years. I agree 100% with you on outside factors affecting the developmental process. But the strong influence of what movies and video games children are exposed to has a massive impact. The main group that argues this is gamers who feel defensive about their passion.

This all started with one mom commenting that she hoped Star Wars would continue its tradition of being child appropriate and quickly others stated that she was wrong in her strong parenting or that she should watch it first and then evaluate the film's appropriateness. I agree with the OP, I too believe movies that market a young audience, that have a long history of catering to the under PG-13 crowd, should remain the same.

 

*WARNING EXPLICIT & AWESOME*

 

I just love that right after I mention "Batman" in a comment, Batman shows up.


And I agree with everything you said.

Also, the original Star Wars is a pretty tough/"gritty" film: Darth Vader chokes people, he throws people, a planet is destroyed, there's decapitations, Han Solo murders a guy who was trying to murder him, there's torture, people are lit on fire and their burning skulls/remains are shown....these are all pretty "adult" things.

 

But, the only blood it actually showed was the cantina arm slicing scene, and the Wampa in ESB, and that was only put in later. All other graphic scenes are done off camera, in the original trilogy. It doesn't show Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru being burned alive, or Leia being interrogated, or ObiWan actually being killed, or innocent people on Alderron being killed, or Han being tortured on camera, or blood splattering when Luke gets his hand amputated. All of these things are implied or done off camera to avoid being too graphic for kids. This is a Star Wars tradition. Bad things happen, but it isn't shown in a realistic manner. I joked about this in another thread, but in ROTJ, during the Sarlacc Pit scene, no one actually gets cut or dismembered by Luke's lightsaber. It's like he's using a baseball bat hitting people off the skiffs.

 

I'd just like to know what videogames Hitler played, or what movies Cain watched that convinced him it was a good idea to kill Abel, or what cartoons Genghis Khan watched.

Millions of people watch violent movies all the time, yet they themselves don't go out and commit crimes, nor are they necessarily more predisposed to. It's all in what's in the individual's heart to begin with. If you watch a movie or play a violent game and it "inspires" you to go and commit unspeakable evil, it's because there's already been seeds inside you and you merely tugged on threads you already had -- the ten other people in the audience with you watched the same thing and didn't do a thing. No one can make you do anything you don't want to. The problem is you if you don't properly handle it. If you find yourself attracted to gruesome ideas/movies, and therefore inspired by them, the problem is you to begin with, not necessarily the films themselves.

 

thank you for posting this, quite informative but if i may add one more fact i could add that although im 100% Against what they did, the columbine shooters were exposed to years of repetitive psychological abuse in high school because of their sexual orientation and it totally outweighs the videogame / violent film argument. young people today know the difference between film or REAL GORE. so if you talk to me about gaming you are still right but its not just about the content of the violent game, its the negative online interaction between players using the " *ape " word more often than before. i know for a fact that even today people flip out over a famous celebrity leaking her naked photos one week short of being of "legal" age while at the same time no one asks to shut down sites like "Liveleak" where you can watch hours of REAL gore videos and read the "users" joke comments video its truly terrifying. im seeing an even more violent generation of gamers today and the availability of Real gore in the internet
is indeed a big "contribution" to what shaped their behavior.

 

No one is saying violent movies and graphic video games are the root of all evil, simply a tool that influences a percentage. Same with alcohol.

 

Well graphic doesn't equal "realistic" to me, this is the kind of great storytelling that I'm talking about: bad things happen, but the film/story doesn't revolve solely around them in great detail. We don't need to see a bullet flying through someone's head in slow motion to know they are dead -- that doesn't even happen in real life, anyway. There's a way to handle violence/heavy content but do it tastefully. Alfred Hitchcock was famous for this, and he made horror movies. Heck, this is the same approach even the Bible takes to violence. The sort of off camera, "implied" violence is often times more heavy and emotionally thematic in a lot of ways too in driving the story, even just in terms of dramatic storytelling alone -- like the scene in which Robin/Dick Grayson's parents are murdered in Batman: The Animated Series: their silhouettes/shadows are seen missing the trapeze. It's simple and effective. We don't need to see them falling and splattering on the ground and their limbs all disjointed, the story isn't about the violence -- we know Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru were murdered and had their homestead burned down, we even know how they were killed, but we don't need a 5 minute scene watching them catch on fire. It doesn't even fit Luke's point of view anyway. So again, I don't think implied violence necessarily is something that's "just done for kids", I think it's something that serves the story better overall in many instances.

 

No. Those kids that "walk into a movie theatre and unload rounds into the crowd of people" do that because they have a mental illness and severe trauma. They lack empathy and by you saying that is pretty much saying everyone on here that has posted saying they watched those violent movies growing up should be walking into a cinema to do harm to others any day now apparently.

*Edit: The Cantina is awesome. I love coming here to read news, see everyone's excitement and comradery. Unfortunatley this is still the internet so we can't see the emotion behind someone's words and this is a controversial topic so maybe a Mod should lock this thread?

 

See above^^^....my argument has consistently been that violence, witnessed in real life, a movie, or a game influences certain individuals. So why would you expose your children to such a potential danger. Since we can't look inside someone's mind and see how they are wired and how things will affect them, why risk helping to create a disturbed person when you could help them avoid the danger. This is based off of many studies linking repeated viewings of violence and it's effect on children.

Edit: why request a lock? We are simply having a conversation. There has been mutual respect and no name calling. just friendly debate

 

i think that we need to understand that as soon as we know that the young child knows that it is only a film then he is less likely be be traumatized. so if you have any doubts go see the film alone just to be sure.

 

Exactly, and I just wanted to point out that yes, these things happen and there are violent & sick youth out there that do this, but unfortunately a lot of it is also staged terrorist attacks by criminal elements within our own governments for more control and to incite war -- war on freedoms (expression, lifestyle, bill of rights, etc) and/or other countries.

Operation Northwood in the '60s was a staged terror program the CIA wanted to implement in which there would be civil unrest and mass panic, and one of the ways they'd achieve this would be with theater shootings/shootings at other public places, the goal was to blame this on Cuba so America could go to war with them and have the support of its citizens. Fortunately, President Kennedy rejected this (although they killed him so maybe not so fortunate for him, but he did what was right), but whenever you see someone who wants to censor a liberty for any reason -- be it freedom of expression, drug usage, guns, water as a natural resource, etc, it's almost always to further a cryptofascist agenda.

The litmus test for if a thing should be allowed is whether it limits your freedoms as an individual or not, and as long as it doesn't physically hurt another person against their will in non threatening situations, then it should be permitted, whether people are attempting to use children as the excuse for censorship or not. That's not to say there aren't real parents out there who really think this way and believe censorship is a good thing, nor is it necessarily a slight against them, it's just there are better ways to handle things than saying someone else shouldn't be allowed to do something, like remembering your power as a parent, and better connecting with your kids. What is acceptable in our nation by the general public starts at the home, as communities are made up by families, and nations are made up by communities. So you be better parents to your kids and they'll be less likely to grow up and want to kill people, and some may not even want to make snuff-like horror films when they grow up and become filmmakers. All comes down to the individual, which is, to date, the most discriminated against person of our world. Remember, YOU have the power. The people that want to scare you over your kids recognize this and want to take this from you so you are dependent on them. Control something as basic as families, and you control the world.

 

I think we got a little off track... The question isn't whether violence in video games, movies and on TV can explain why lunatics commit mass-murder. The question in my mind is to what extent should we try to protect young children from being exposed to things they are not yet emotionally developed enough to fully comprehend. I see why the conversation can go all the way up to the level of this "born or bred lunatic" debate, but I think it is a bit too simplistic to suggest that we are not a product of our environment, or you are either mentally disturbed or not. There are obviously those that suffer from mental illness, and some that by genetics might be pre-disposed to it, but there are others that are more susceptible due to their circumstances and upbringing. I agree with someone above who said it is a little bit of both and a case-by-case analysis.

I tend to agree with @DarthWalker in that it is better safe than sorry to protect the kids. However, that alone doesn't justify censorship, when the task ideally should fall to well-reasoned and involved parents.

Whoa... "cryptofascist agenda"? I think this goes a little deeper than the intended debate. No, we should not restrict freedoms on our people, who have the right to choose what they want to see in entertainment, so long as it doesn't hurt anyone else. But that does not mean that we shouldn't set boundaries for the most vulnerable of our citizenry... the focus needs to be on those who are most susceptible to being hurt. Any reasonable parent knows that healthy children grow up with boundaries. You can't just leave them to their own devices and we must protect them from themselves. Although funny for adults, parenting like Adam Sandler's character, Sonny Koufax, in "Big Daddy" was meant to be a joke and would be an out-and-out disaster in real life. This fear that boundaries are a covert conspiracy to restrict freedom of the populace for some nefarious purpose is a bit too much for me.

 

I have the utmost respect for someone who takes this level of interest in the upbringing of their children. As parents we should all have the right to determine what is the best way for us to educate and teach our kids. What you describe is still setting boundaries. May not be the same boundaries someone else will set, but who am I to judge whether your boundaries or someone else's are the right ones for you and your kids?

My concern, as I indicated in a post earlier, is for the children whose parents fail to set boundaries or get involved to the level that you clearly do. In that context, I can completely understand the need for some oversight, through the rating system, as flawed as it may be, or it being a useful tool. I would just be hesitant to think that the Parental Advisory Board (or whatever it is called) is really some underhanded method of control over the masses by some devious politicians, or worse.

 

Come on use your freaking brain!

 

I'll keep this as short and sweet as possible.

A parent has every right to counsel and properly protect their child.

A child has a right to ask their parents for money, games, movies, etc.

BUT, in no way is your son not going to hear about TFA at school or elsewhere. That will mean he'll learn about a movie years before he can experience the joy and thrill of the greatest saga of all time. He'll hear how exactly someone dies, how someone lost their body parts, which scenes a creature's guts show up, where exactly Finn is bleeding from, what sort of fight Poe Dameron is in with a Wookiee, etc. Kids do that. We've all been kids before. We wanna know everything about something we like, and what we don't have permission to be involved with, we are drawn to it.

As for the letter, I totally understand the struggle, and even though I am not a parent, just weighing options for my little cousins helps me understand your concern. BUT, it just may have not been the smartest thing to post in a very popular Star Wars fan website/forum. It's going to be naturally accented with shock and outrage at the decision, because, well, we've all seen the movies and hold them very close to heart, and your decision may not align with our own interests here in the forums No disrespect at all for what you do as a parent @T.R.P., but your own decision possibly didn't need to be shared by big fans like us, and more likely on a parent support and discussion website that talks about movies I understand we all have different opinions, so it's something only you can decide for your child.