Nadine and I were spelling "movie" and he had asked as if that was what we were talking about. The bit of progress aside, the recent institution of family movie night has raised some challenges as we ponder what types of movies he is ready for.
We have watched movies off and on for quite a while, making cautious selections from our collection of animated films and each time carefully confirming that a movie is rated-G and then going a step further to check on IMDB to review what parts of the films cause concern. There are instances where language, behaviour, violence or some other combinations of events and scenarios in a film cause parents some concern.
Given Disney's propensity for killing off mothers, I have had my own experience trying to cover Gabriel's eyes during the start of Finding Nemo where Coral and Marlin encounter the barracuda and have been wary of how he has dealt with deaths in the movies that he has seen so far. He has not been particularly scarred by any of those events, especially if it occurs to the villain in a movie. A few weeks back when he was watching The Princess and the Frog he remained rapt as the villain of the movie met his fate at the hands of some shadowy and threatening New Orleans-themed voodoo ghost types who sought mafia-variety payback. He slept to bed that night without interruption or drama.
He was not shaken by the scene nor by other deaths or peril that he has seen in the movies that he has watched. If I recall correctly, and my mother would be the only one to correct me on this, I was not that particularly troubled by the death of Bambi's mother when I saw it. I haven't seen the movie since it made its rotation in the Disney catalogue at that point of my childhood in the early to mid-1970s but while I remember the scene spoiling the mood of the movie, I ultimately was able to accept it as part of the course of events.
Gabriel, however, is particularly sensitive to the movies that he watches and can get caught up in what he is watching. When we took him to the cinema for the first time, for Inside Out, he was particularly emotional when Bingbong was left behind in the memory dump... (oops, spoiler alert?) and we assured him that Bingbong was not really dying, not in the literal sense of the word. He has been quick to point out when he is relieved to have a happy ending or when the bad guys were particularly unpleasant, as was the case in The Minions.
As we make the movie viewing more of a routine, we are that much more conscious of what we choose to show him and I find myself that much more sensitive to what he has already seen. Apart for my aversion for the character product purchasing mania that the Cars movies have induced, I find myself looking that much more critically at the violence in the second instalment's James Bond tribute. After holding off on The Incredibles, despite its G-rating, and concluding that the Star Wars series is going to be years down the road, I'm conscious of already introducing him to, oddly enough, G-rated violence that has influenced him more than I would like.
I am not making him watch My Little Pony for the next ten years, but I feel more compelled to carefully vet my choices for all of those little things that I ought to be conscious of rather than simply contenting myself with my appreciation of a film's quality and artistic merits. I've been conscious of things that peeve me, but there are so many other things to bear in mind. The movie nights will continue of course and I look forward to the occasions when, years from now, I'll introduce him to my favorites. In the meantime, I'll try to ensure that we talk about the movies that we watch rather than rush him off to bed at the end of the show.
No comments:
Post a Comment