Before all you left of center guys assume I am anything more than right of center let me cut you off. Cut you off and say you don't know where I am going with this. So just listen for a spell. Please.
I am mad.
I am mad about torture having to make it's way into movies this summer; movies geared mostly toward my kids. I am trying to let them be kids for a bit longer and not have to deal with the, insert swear word of choice here, world that we live in. I am not mad at the movies, Transformers and Harry Potter 5, for putting a social comment in themselves. I am mad at 'the administration', insert swear word of choice in there too, for bringing us to the place where we have to fight back against torture in my childrens entertainment time.
I want to say unbelieveable. But it isn't.
Between the govt. organization that doesn't really exist in Transformers and the much ammended wall of rules in Harry Potter 5 I think everything has been covered. (So far atleast.) I have been telling you guys we just need to hold on a little bit longer. I think I have really been saying it to myself.
Source Dorks is a pop culture blog written by a circle of friends who frequently meet to play games and geek out at Source Comics and Games in the suburbs of Minneapolis, Minnesota.
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10 comments:
You shouldn't be mad at the administration for torture in the movies. Torture has always been in the movies, it's just always been done by the bad guys. In fact, that's how we know they're the bad guys, because they torture people. And we're the good guys, right? And we know we're the good guys because we don't torture people. Good guys are what good guys do, after all.
They tortured the pants off Han Solo in Empire Strikes Back.
Thank God we can intensely interrogate enemy combatants in a way that may or may not be, but probably is, technically and/or legally distinct from torture, some statements of the Vice-President notwithstanding.
You know, so we can avoid all the hand wringing.
Cause you know, waterboarding, and other similar techniques aren't tortuous or anything like that.
Yes torture has been in movies before. Duh. But how many times has it been in movies in reaction to the actions of Uncle Sam?
umm, aren't these movies pg-13? I think at least harry potter is, and it sounds like the transformers movie should be.
I don't think you can really argue about sheltering your kids from the harsher realities of the world while at the same time bringing them to PG-13 movies.
Well, you can, as I guess you did. I guess we all get to be a bit hypocritial now and then
Andy.
Are you saying that PG-13 is some sort of cutoff? PG-13 can very well be for kids. I have seen G and PG movies with parts in them for the adults that bring the kids.
Your question holds up if the rating system is the be all end all. But the rating system isn't. Parents are.
Also, in my book, stories of corrupt government are worse than stories with life and death. I'm that wierd relative that brings kids to funerals so they can learn that part of life and not be crushed by it later.
And oh, Andy, I took my kids to see these movies that aren't based in reality to have fun. Not be politicized. You know, movies about huge sentient transforming robots! Movies about owls that bring mail, broomsticks for transportation and pictures that move! So I can "argue about sheltering your kids from the harsher realities of the world while at the same time bringing them to PG-13 movies" when the movies are obviously not about the real world.
You are correct that we all get hypocritical now and then. This just isn't one of those times.
Only a Sith thinks in absolutes, Tim.
My wife has dragged me to all of these, and I have to say, this was the first one I really enjoyed. The main kids are growing up, which make them seem more like human beings. The dialog is more realistic. The themes are more complex.
I liked the bit of subtext, and I think I still would have liked it even if I had taken kids to it. I don't think that the average 12-yr-old sees the quill pen torture scenes and the references to the "administration" and makes the leap to Bush & co. without help. So I think if you want to keep it in the realm of fantasy for your kids, you definitely still can.
The film was, however, without question dark and scary throughout. The films are growing up with the kids, which is refreshing.
"Are you saying that PG-13 is some sort of cutoff? PG-13 can very well be for kids. I have seen G and PG movies with parts in them for the adults that bring the kids."
G and PG movies often have parts in them for the adults. I am not sure how this relates.
Yes, PG-13 is some sort of cutoff. It is one of 4 cutoffs, 5 if you count X.
Of course such ratings are not an absolute, there is plenty of grey, and there may be mitigating circumstances, for example a movie about the holocaust may get an R rating for voilence, and be allowable by the parent while another movie that gets R due to violence, but it is just a generic action movie, is not.
However, the rating does give you some sort of baseline for knowing what you are getting into, and based on the difference between the ratings and the actual age of the child in question, different amounts of care must be taken
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