"Friday the 13th": Fun for the whole family?

[lazypadawan.livejournal.com]

Debbie Schlussel posted about confronting alleged parents who took their young children, even infants, to a late night screening of "Friday the 13th":

http://www.debbieschlussel.com/archives/2009/02/the_end_of_pare.html

Back in 1984, my mom gamefully accompanied me and a friend from school to see one of the "Friday the 13th" flicks. My poor mom was practically hiding behind a seat with her eyes closed the entire movie. My friend and I were 15, or almost 15, at the time. Even then I was shocked to see a few mental midgets show up to see this with small children, some as young as six. The bloodied adventures of Jason alone would ensure nightly bedwettings for years to come, and that's not counting the less-than-wholesome language, drug use, nudity, and sex scenes.

Little kids should see movies like "Hotel For Dogs." Why are we shocked at 10-year-olds gang raping little girls or 8-year-olds committing murder if parents are subjecting their kids to violent and disgusting movies or letting them play "Grand Theft Auto?"

Comments

[coldblossom.livejournal.com]

On the same note, I went to a prime-time showing of "The Two Towers" with some friends and there was a approximately 10-year-old girl in the audience with her family (including a squalling infant) and she would go into fits everytime an orc came on-screen (which is like, most of the movie). She would quite plainly ask to be taken home because they scared her, but her parents would just yell at her to quiet down and deal. They obviously wanted to see the movie and didn't care that their daughter wasn't OK with the content.

I worked for a movie theater in my teens/early 20s and we would try to discourage people from bringing babies/small children to PG-13/R movies, if for nothing else for the comfort of the other patrons, but people didn't listen.

[la-christine.livejournal.com]

Two Towers is probably a "light R" movie given the violence and content.

I wish they'd change the rules so that children under two are not allowed in any movie and children under 13 aren't allowed in PG-13 or R rated movies.

We'd have healthier children I think.

[la-christine.livejournal.com]

First R-rated movie my dad took me and my brother to see was Rambo and that was after it had been screened by him or another adult for content. I was probably 13 or 14 years old and my brother would have three years younger than me at the time.

They would never have allowed us to see Friday the 13th in the movie theater as a minor at any time though--there's nothing of value to it.

[pastygothchick.livejournal.com]

I saw "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" when I was 6 with my brother, sister and parents. The three of us had nightmares for months. Even though my siblings and I were terrified my parents refused to leave the theater because they wanted to see the movie.

My parents watched "America's Most Wanted" with my youngest sister when she was 4. She was constantly paranoid about strangers because she knew all of those people on the show were real.

Due to my experiences, I was very clear to my youngest sister (11 years younger than me) when I took her to see a movie if she wanted to leave she just had to tell me and we'd leave. I sometimes went to see a movie to check it before I'd take her to see it. Her friends were surprised that I would call their parents before taking them to movies or letting them watch certain movies. (I was surprised how little the parents cared.)

I think the violence that children commit has less to do with the violence that they see and more to do with how little their parents are concerned with them.

[arkadelos.livejournal.com]

When I was a little kid, my parents were very concerned with what media they exposed me to. Whenever dad wanted to watch something violent, they made me stay in my bedroom and got angry with me for entering the living room. However, they never once thought the news would traumatize me, so I was allowed in the living room and watched it. the news gave me a bleak outlook on society and taught me to view the world as a scarey place. It also gave me a phobia of credit cards.

[lazypadawan.livejournal.com]

Most parents who offer their children little to no guidance are also the kind of parents who aren't mindful of what's influencing them. Bad combination!

[foxybrownsgc.livejournal.com]

Taking young children to see a slasher film like this makes no damn sense. Even when I didn't have kids and I saw people bring young kids to see stuff like this it made me wonder WTF is wrong with them? And why are they exposing their kids to this? :::shakes head:::

[pastygothchick.livejournal.com]

I worked with a woman who told me her 5 year old daughter just loves the "Saw" movies. I asked her if she watched them. She said "I can't watch those movies, they're too scary."

[mosinging1986.livejournal.com]

Aside from people who ought not be procreating, what gets me is the hypocrisy of the entertainment and advertising industries themselves.

Commercials that last a minute or two are supposed to affect adults so much that it causes them to go out and purchase things.

Yet these very same people swear up and down that an hour TV show or a 2-3 hour movie is not going to affect children (or adults!) at all?

[arkadelos.livejournal.com]

That's the same issue I have! People act like what is on television does not matter, yet if they see something racist, they will be outraged.

[lazypadawan.livejournal.com]

Hollywood and Madison Ave. love to take credit for the "good" it supposedly influences but don't want any responsibility for any negative influences.

i must be a horrible parent

[sekhmetsat.livejournal.com]

my kids have been watching questionable things for many years now... it all stared when they were toddlers, and i let them watch "xfiles" with me when it was still creepy (like the worm man)....then they watched the "alien" movies at very young ages (we used to play a game called "face suckers" because watching them squirm in my stomach reminded me of the chest-bursting scene, causing them to giggle hysterically to this day when they are mentioned)... not to mention the newer darker Gojiras/Godzillas...

i've been called a bad parent because i encouraged them to take their sibling rivalry out in ultimate tournament....

yes, they've played the hated gta...

yet, my kids get straight a's. people tell me constantly what good kids they are.

Re: i must be a horrible parent

[arkadelos.livejournal.com]

Parenting, and the development of the human personality, are incredibly complex processes. Culture influences attitude and behavior; parental roles influence attitude and behavior; basic temperment influence attitude and behavior. None of these factors should be ignored or overlooked. Most people cannot see all the sides and angles to an individual's personality and development. There is a lot more to proper upbringing than just grades or just video games. It is important not to focus and make judgments on just one aspect but to look at the bigger picture of culture and society.

Re: i must be a horrible parent

[foxfire74.livejournal.com]

Looking at this, what stands out to me is "I let" and "we used to play" and awesome stuff like that. IMO it's all in the involvement, and if you were right there with them a good chunk of the time, you obviously did a good job.

And letting them work out sibling rivalry via video games? Awesome. If my kid ever winds up with competition, I am so stealing this.

Re: i must be a horrible parent

[scarletwalk.livejournal.com]

You're not a horrible parent (in fact, it seems you're quite the opposite of horrible), because you were there interacting with your children while you let them play those games and watch those movies. You've turned TV time and video game time into family time. That's great!

Also, all children are different. From what you described, your kids could handle that stuff. There are kids out there who can't, and it unnerves me when I see parents taking them to see R-rated movies despite the fact that they're screaming their heads off out of fear.

[fenerkulesi.livejournal.com]

I've always been into horror movies. I went to see The Mummy when I was in fourth grade, and I was able to call half the stuff that happened. I was eight at the time, and I was/still am fine. In fact, that's one of my most favorite movies.

If I ever had kids... I don't know what I would do. I would handle that situation when it came up, I guess. The only thing that I can think of that seriously scared me as a kid was Slappy the Dummy from Goosebumps...

[arkadelos.livejournal.com]

I never thought of The Mummy as a horror movie, more like an action/adventure movie. Of course, it had a plot and was not the plotless bloody/sexual fest like other movies.

[peri81.livejournal.com]

I don't think it is proper to take kids to such movies. Than again I do not agree taking kids to the movies if they can not sit still for more than an hour.

As my sister-in-law told me 8 is the new thirteen when I told her about seeing Iron Man and how before the movie started it sounded like a nursery and the guy next to me brought two kids both under five.

[slm76.livejournal.com]

My sister in law has taken my 5 year old nephew to see Iron Man, Spiderman, etc. I cringe every time I hear about the newest movie they've seen. I think part of the problem is that they're based on comic book characters so some folks automatically think it's okay to take your wee ones to see them.

[slm76.livejournal.com]

Dontcha know, parents aren't there to parent. No, the government does the parenting these days. Parents are to be 'friends' to kids.

/sarcasm

Baby Mamma and Baby Daddy obviously didn't get the memo that their lives stop when the baby is born. As for WSMs 1 and 2, I hope they enjoy the endless sleepless nights when their kids have nightmares.

I would have demanded a refund if my viewing was constantly interrupted... from the parent.

[onceuponapillow.livejournal.com]

I actually work at a movie theater and am constantly amazed at the crap people take their children to see. Yep, horror movies and raunchy sex comedies are now fun for the whole family.

One father actually brought his teenage son and seven(I assume) year old daughter. The boy expressed dissapointment because Saw V had already started. I tried to hide my shock. The father and son then proceeded to buy tickets for a comedy with plenty of sexual content -I can't remember the name.

I was amazed that the father was actually going to see such films with his children and even more amazed that he didn't even have the decency to send his little girl to one of the children's movies showing -he could have easily asked a staff member to keep an eye on her. I myself would have been happy to do it.

[fi-harkness.livejournal.com]

My first R-Rated movie was Freddy vs Jason. I went with my friend Kelsey and we were immediately pissed off at the amount of crying babies and 4 year old children. (And the giggling as a huge set of boobs filled the screen) At 17 and 15 (my father bought her ticket after her mom said it was okay)We were the oldest people in there besides parents of the babies. @.@

while were are talking about this it bugs me liberal agenda

[01524dnvyfeclfs.livejournal.com]

Ok while i have to voice my thought here am i the only one who thinks hollywood stars have to much say in politics? I also think it is wrong I am a huge sw fan and a older one grew up Republican, and yet my sw tears me up I spent over 1,000 dollars on autographs posters, and movies , books and for them act like republicans don't like sw cause they better have voted democrate.

well they had almost lost a fan i been collecting this stuff since i watched empire strikes back in the early 80's i was 9 years old and it was in school.

I had baseball cards to. My favorite is ROTS Revenge of the sith, I have my room plastered in it and I am old middleaged woman.

I still am a huge fan. But I get bugged about it, more bugged about my favorite hollywood stars acting like.

Hey my fans better vote democratic , this was why i no longer am i barbara striesand fan.

Shoot sorry for rambling here, i just had to say how i finally felt i been holding this all in for sometime now. thanks. Worse movie ever to me broback mountain.. not suitable at all for nothing but the garbage can...

[mprice.livejournal.com]

Wow. I guess the days of hiring a babysitter have gone out the window along with these people's brain cells.

I wouldn't allow my son to play certain video games until I felt he was mature enough to handle the content. (I also monitored where he went online.) I couldn't afford to take him to the movies and rented videos instead.

I remember one instance when my sister and I rented a movie we'd never heard of because Richard Burton was in it. It couldn't be that bad, right? It turned out to be soft porn! Thank God my son was way to young to understand what was really going on. All he thought was the ladies were sick because they were in their nighties a lot. We never made that mistake again!

[athousandsmiles]

I guess the days of hiring a babysitter have gone out the window along with these people's brain cells.

I think the problem these days, more often than not, is that it really is hard to find trustworthy babysitters. I worry about someone harming my children, so I only trust a very small number of people. Most of those have busy schedules themselves. Of course, my solution is to just stay in, rather than dragging my children off to inappropriate movies. ('Cause I still have most of my brain cells.)

I'm reminded of a story I saw on some talk show once, where a mom was stuck in traffic with her three year old. The people in the vehicle ahead of them were watching porn. o_0 She said she had to tell her daughter that sometimes when two people love each other, they like to wrestle. Naked. LOL

[athousandsmiles]

Sheesh! I don't even let my kids watch Spongebob. (Which I actually had to block with my parental controls, because my mother-in-law was letting them watch it every time she babysat, in direct defiance of my orders.)

[scarletwalk.livejournal.com]

I vowed to myself that if/when I have kids, I won't bring them to the movie theater until I'm absolutely sure that they can handle it. Little kids just can't handle sitting still like that for an hour and a half to two hours regardless of what the content of the movie is. I've seen little kids get fussy during a Winnie the Pooh movie before.

I remember the time when my mom and I went to see Star Wars Episode III on the midnight show (we're both big Star Wars fans). This mother brought her toddler in to see the movie, which outraged my mom and I. Who in the world would bring their toddler to see Star Wars at MIDNIGHT?! The poor kid was obviously tired, and she was very afraid of the loud noises. All the mother did was cover her mouth. My mom and I spent most of the movie expressing disgust to each other. It was pathetic that the mother couldn't even sacrifice a midnight show for her kid.

I'm a huge Spider-Man fan, and I saw all three movies on their midnight shows ... But I'm not a parent yet. Once I become a parent, I don't plan on doing that anymore. I'll wait for the DVD if I'm unable to see it in theaters. I think I can do that for my kids. People need to know what responsibility is. Good lord.

The first R-rated movie I went to see was The Matrix: Reloaded. I was 17 at the time. Now, I had seen a few R-rated movies prior to that, but never in the movie theater. When I was a little kid, my parents didn't let me watch any R-rated movies until I was 13. I used to be very squeamish about violence back in the day, so I think my parents made the right decision.

[lazypadawan.livejournal.com]

Why couldn't the mom just have a sitter? If I was desperate enough to go to a midnight show, I'd find a way.

[dark-weezing.livejournal.com]

I must be the oddball, as, yes, I saw the original Friday the 13th films when I was 14, or so. Should I have? Probably not, but it was a different time and different movies, then.

There were a lot of things they couldn't do, because of censors. Therefore, they had to be creative (which is why standards are good, despite the Left's screams for "art"). Which is why I liked Jason X, as I believed it good satire, surprisingly. This remake? I have no use for it, or most of the New Line fare, save for X. Frankly, I hate modern movies, anyway.

However, I'm an odd man, and I consider myself very lucky that I wasn't warped from those movies. I didn't go kill teenage girls or don a hockey mask, for it would be stupid and wrong. Again, I was lucky. Problem is, we live in an anything goes society and irresponsible filmmakers. And releasing it before V-Day, that's just wrong.

I'm sure I'll chided for this, but it was a good experience. Though, if I had a kid, I wouldn't do what I did, which is the lesson, right?

[lazypadawan.livejournal.com]

14 is different from being a tween or under the age of 10, though. The original "Friday the 13th" is pretty tame compared to some of the slasher movies that came right after it, much less today's Eli Roth/"Saw" era of pornographic violence.