Sunday, June 5, 2011

Movie etiquette

So I often think back to my childhood and the extreme puzzlement that plagued me. Due to having very sarcastic and teasing siblings I stopped asking questions and trusted my instincts instead, which were generally wrong. Sometimes I reveal these things to my parents and they tend to stare at me for a while and go away mumbling to themselves.

Tonight I'm thinking about the movies I saw as a child. I was a kid in the early 90s, which was quite a heyday for stupid horror movies that were becoming more and more grisly in nature. I would go to kindergarten and hear the other kids talking about watching the Child's Play movies and those types of things. This was confusing. These were parents who thought it was appropriate to show five-year-olds a graphically violent movie but would then object to a bit of swearing or light nudity. 

My parents had a good handle on things, I feel. They examined movies on a case by case basis, not just blindly going by a rating system. I grew up with Young Einstein, a movie with some nudity and light sexuality, probably swearing, and lots of drinking. I also grew up watching the Blues Brothers from at least age six. That movie has plenty of swearing, crime, violence, and insanity but also great music and jokes. These were movies we could all watch together and all enjoy but wouldn't give me nightmares and wouldn't cause bad behavior since I actually listened to and obeyed my parents (they were fair and I was the youngest).

I wish more parents examined movies and TV shows on a case by case basis, instead of not monitoring what their kids watch and only getting upset later on, or painting everything with such a broad brush that there's no point.

My favorite movie as of late is Defiance, a movie based on the story of the Bielski brothers, a Polish family who start a haven in the woods for Jewish escapees during WWII. The movie is quite faithful to the real story and the real story is simply amazing. It wasn't a small band of 30 people, this woodland haven  harbored over 1,000 people at some points. I high recommend either renting it or watching it on Netflix.

2 comments:

  1. My brother, sister, and my self all grew up watching Monty Python and the Holy Grail from a very early age. It is one of my parents favorite movies and while I am sure we didn't get a good 75% of the jokes at the time it remains a family favorite to this day.

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  2. No doubt! That was one for my family. There was one other kid in school who had seen it and everyone thought we were crazy when we made references to it.

    That's one of the best things though. Understanding more and more of the jokes as you get older, starting to feel on a more even level with older siblings because you both understand the jokes, etc...

    I started watching Rocky and Bullwinkle when I was five. The best part of school was learning something that allowed me to understand one more Bullwinkle joke.

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