Previewing movies; When will I learn?
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| Tue, 07-25-2006 - 3:02pm |
We've always previewed stuff before letting the boys watch it. Every once in a while we neglect that important step, and end up regretting it.
The other day, DH bought a Wallace and Grommit "The Case of the Were-Rabbit" on DVD. The boys enjoy "A Grand Day Out", "The Wrong Trousers", and "A Close Shave," so we thought, "why not?"
Okay, so we put it on, and both kids are watching, with no obvious ill effects. Then there is this scene where a little bunny, who has this clampy thing around his neck, starts to change into a were-rabbit, in a rather creepy way, with his face kind of bulging out. It scared Nathan, my NT almost-5 year old. He couldn't finish watching it, but since David was enjoying it, the only option was to send Nathan upstairs. It was a million degrees up there because we've been having a ridiculous heat wave...but he was alright with it.
So, we finish watching the movie, and then, like an idiot, I put on some of the special features. One of them is a short called, "Stage Fright", and it's done in the style of a silent movie. I kept thinking that it looked like something that would creep David out, but he appeared to be okay with it. If you've seen it, does this make any sense? I can't really explain what exactly is "creepy," but it just is. It's a good little movie, from an adult POV, though.
Turns out, last night he couldn't sleep because he couldn't get the creepy images out of his mind. I tried my best to help him learn to deal with it, but I didn't have much luck. It was after midnight when he finally got to sleep.
DH and I have tons of DVDs and videos. Well, okay, DH does. I'm not much of a movie person. But there's almost nothing the boys can watch. It's mostly stuff that would be okay "except for the one scene." Even stuff that is rated G seems to always have something in it that is scary to one or both of my boys. We stay away from Disney moview in general because of our experience with that.
Has anyone watched "My Neighbor Totoro?" by Hiyao Miyazaki? (Director of Spirited Away). It's a gorgeous move. I LOVED it, and was sure my boys would too. There's a big troll (Totoro) who has huge teeth, but he's a total sweetheart. The little sister reminds me soooo much of Nathan. There is no evil villain, which is a plus for me, being totally sick of the whole "good guy/bad guy" culture we shove down our kids' throats. Still, Nathan was scared by Totoro, and wouldn't watch it.
If DH and I had previewed the Wallace and Gromit movie, I'm not sure if we would have shown it or not. Maybe. I guess mostly I'm just annoyed that there is this unwritten rule that every kids' movie has to contain something creepy.
Sigh! Thanks for listening to my rant. LOL!

Oh, I *just* posted that message about how my delicate sweethearts can't handle creepy images on TV. That very minute, they came upstairs, continuing a conversation about "some guy who is putting crazy things in someone's coffee." Nathan, my little angel, says, "And then he put in a half-decomposed head with the eyeballs falling out!" GIGGLE GUFFAW!!! Then David had something equally lovely about poop, and a detailed description of how it was to be acquired.
Isn't that just precious? ;)
Yeah, I realize this is different that seeing images on TV, still it's kind of ironic.
Evelyn
(Nathan continues, gleefully announcing, "And then, he put in an old SOCK! And he made sure it was STINKY!!)
LOL, for my kids it's a matter of 'suspension of disbelief'. They can't do it. If the show is 'obviously' not realistic (vampire shows, SciFi, etc) they can see just about anything and it doesn't faze them. They just sit there arguing about how this or that special efect was done.
But they can't handle things like the show 24 because it's too realistic, too believable. They think it's a reality-TV show. DH watches it and always does so in our bedroom with the door closed. Well, a few weeks ago our 6yo DD went in to ask him something and came out screaming "LA was just hit by a nuclear bomb! Auntie Jo is dead! Oh noooooooo..." It took us almost an hour to calm her down and make her believe that it was just make-believe and that LA hadn't really been wiped off the face of the earth. To make matters worse, said auntie was out of town so we couldn't even call her to prove it. But the next day we got a hold of a friend who lives there and he asurred her over the phone that he was okay and that LA was still intact, it really was just make-believe.
And this is the same girl who after accedently watching Jason-X wanted to know "how they got the lady's head to talk after they cut it off her body".
~SG1-Niner
Something creepy, or some random act of violence that's "funny" or a really, really annoying phrase that you have to hear for the next two weeks with barely a breath between. Kivrin liked the Wallace and Grommit shorts, but the we didn't make it through the first 20 minutes of Wererabbit. The bunny sucking machine was all she needed.
Mary