This was brought up in ulthar's topic and I wanted to explore it further but didn't want to hijack his thread about the great news he had.
Skaboi had mentioned that his 2 year old is a Star Wars nut and I really found that amusing and it started me thinking. My girl just turned 5 last week and she loves Star Wars too. More specifically, she LOVES Darth Vader. She will watch the original 3 episodes just for Mr. Vader but she wants no part of the newer movies. She also really has fun watching Ghostbusters, Jaws, and Wizard of Oz. I was hesitant about the Jaws movie but my wife allowed her to watch it and it didn't scare her but she does have fun with it. These are all movies that she will ask to watch and not just sit through simply because they're on. Of course she also likes the kid movies like Shrek, Monsters Inc, and Scooby-Doo movies but this is pretty much to be expected. I have also taught her to quote some lines from certain movies, much to the chagrin of her Grandmother. Anyway, what I'm getting at here is how many of you that have now or had young children have had them enjoy typically "adult" movies such as this? I find it quite funny that my daughter likes Jaws because it doesn't really hold that much in it for kids. The other movies I can almost understand the fascination, but Jaws?
Behold: Darth Charlotte
(http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b170/odinn7/DarthCharlotte.jpg)
Post Edited (06-07-05 18:50)
Just like yours Odinn, my daughter not only has a fascination with Chewbacca, she'll also spot out Darth Vader wherever his picture appears. If we are in the cereal isle of a grocery store and she sees Darth's face, then she will announce to everyone in the store "DARTH VADER" is a deep gruff voice and points. Quite humorus.
The kid is a child after my own heart. She loves anything SF related or anything dark. My wife and I rented Lemony Snicket's Series Of Unfortunate Events a few weeks ago and Autumn sat down with us on the couch and watched it's entirety. Sure, the film was made for children, albeit older ones, but there are a few scenes you would assume would scare a young child. Alas, she loves it.
Another great example is Starship Troopers. My wife and I watched it last month on cable, and yet again, my daugther loved it. Although the film is gory, it didn't seem to bother her. Even now, she'll randomly spout off things like "The Man Killed The Mean Buggies" randomly, referring to the scene where Rico blasts the hole in the top of the bug and drops in a grenade.
Sometimes it amazes me just how much she takes in, and how adult she seems sometimes eventhough she's only a little bit over 2 years old. I have a feeling that she's going to become more and more of a film aficionado as the years go by, just like her dad.
Oh yes, I forgot...I also let her watch Hellboy since the violence is cartoonish and if you explain the monsters to her as being "silly", then there is no problem with her being scared. She really liked Hellboy and thought it was a fun movie to watch. I always have to view something first before I will consider letting her watch it and if I determine it's "cartoonish" then it's ok. However, there are many films out there that I just won't even consider. One of the things that p**ses me off is going to see an R rated movie that you know will be rough and watching parents walk their toddlers in to see it. When I saw the new Amityville, there were many kids (I mean a few years old) brought in. I want to know how they slept that night.
I don't have any kids, but I do have a two-year-old nephew. He has a great attention span and loves movies and tv. And I can't wait to start showing him stuff that I watched when I was his age (well the stuff that's available). I just hope he isn't scared by a Sleestak (from Land Of The Lost), but he likes Star Wars as well, and isn't scared of anything from any of those movies.
Post Edited (06-07-05 15:38)
I was one of those children. I wasn't suckled on disney like kids today, in fact the only disney kid-like film i ever remembering seeing in the theater as a kid was benji and that freaky raggedy ann and andy movie. I was 3 watching monster theater, i watched jaws as 5, nearly any old black and white movie or tv show I could and i watched all my parents movies in their VHS collection by the age of 7. This included fantabulous hits such as "Love at first bite", "Godzilla vs the sea monster", "King kong", "flash gordon", "Blazing saddles", "Caddyshack"....i was a nutty kid. I think it's great for kids, I feel like being exposed that early on to "adult" films made me appreciate movies more than the average person. Encourage it! Nurture it! And she'll be posting on the badmovies board 20 years from now ;-)
When I was a kid, I used to enjoy adult movies. I remember watching movies like THE BIRDS, WAR OF THE WORLDS, DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS, JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH, etc., on television when I was very young. At the theater or drive-in, I saw movies like THE GODFATHER, WILLARD, BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID, and NICHOLAS AND ALEXANDRA.
Whenever we went to see kids movies at the drive-in (which wasn't very often), I would sometimes fall asleep. I remember sleeping through BEDKNOBS AND BROOMSTICKS, for example.
True horror fans are born, not made. My 6-year-old daughter calls me Mr Dragon, has dinosaur toys, sits with me watching crappy spook flicks. But just let out a roll of thunder, or God forbid a fly shoud get loose in the house, and off she goes screamin for Mommy.
I gotta break her of that habit.
Susan said - <>
I going to have to completely agree with you there. Even though I did watch 'kids movies' way back when, I watched far more regular movies. What that did for me was that I realized that actors are individuals who's career is acting and that they aren't the characters they play.
The Burgomaster wrote:
> When I was a kid, I used to enjoy adult movies. I remember
> watching movies like THE BIRDS, WAR OF THE WORLDS, DAY OF THE
> TRIFFIDS, JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH, etc., on
> television when I was very young. At the theater or drive-in,
> I saw movies like THE GODFATHER, WILLARD, BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE
> SUNDANCE KID, and NICHOLAS AND ALEXANDRA.
>
> Whenever we went to see kids movies at the drive-in (which
> wasn't very often), I would sometimes fall asleep. I remember
> sleeping through BEDKNOBS AND BROOMSTICKS, for example.
>
Same for me. But i kinda liked the battle scene against the phantom nazi's at the end of bedknobs and broomsticks ;-)
Both my 5-year-old and 3-year-old daughters LOVE Godzilla. In fact, "daddy-daughter movie night" starts with the eldist asking "Which Godzilla movie are we going to watch tonight? Is Mothra in it?"
She loves to watch Mothra and the 3-year-old loves Mechagodzilla.
They both have their own Godzilla toys too. Tonight, we watched "Godzilla vs. Megaguirus." I forgot how slow it started out. They got to asking when the fighting was going to start. When it finally did, they were captivated and cheered for Godzilla as the battle went on.
I did fast forward through the part where the couple gets killed by the creature. I do want my daugters to get some sleep tonight. My eldist was telling a bed-time-story to the youngest after the movie. It went from getting her computer fixed to help find Godzilla, to Mothra checking into a hotel, to daddy doesn't wear lipstick. They sound perfectly fine to me.
My daughter does a voice impression of King Ghidorah that is frighteningly realistic
My almost-three-year-old daughter loves Darth Vader. She does the breathing thing and just laughs and laughs.
Her favorite character in Finding Nemo is "Shark-Bruce." She has some creature cards with lots of 'monsters' (some real, some mythical, almost all with big teeth), and she's called the one with the Great White "Bruce" ever since we bought Finding Nemo.
She is scared of quite a few things, but she is very gutsy in that she will face her fears. The Dark Crystal scared her the first time she watched it, but a couple of days after that, she would not rest until she watched it all the way through. I was doing some housework and had the extension ladder out. I let her climb up a few rungs, and she got a little scared. After climbing down, she wanted right back up, and climbed higher. The other day, she climbed the ladder all the say into the attic (Mommy was there and was supervising, ;) ), though she was scared, she did it.
For a while, she was very frightened of a Halloween mask in a catalog. She would skip that page. I kept laughing at it (not her), and telling her the mask was 'just silly.' She got to laughing at it, too.
I've been trying to teach her that 'fear' is okay, but paralysis from fear is not necessary. She seems to be learning that with movies as well as real life.
I was a little worried that Return of the King would be a bit too violent for her to watch, but she fell asleep (we watched it at home). That's about the only time I've ever seen her fall asleep during a movie.
BTW, Odinn, I love that picture. Very Cool.
Thanks ulthar...she just got that Darth Vader voice changing mask last week for her birthday. When she first saw it on tv, she told me "I need that!". She got it and walks around saying some funny things ("Luke, I your father").
I have found that quite often if you tell a child something is "silly" and laugh at it, they will usually wind up seeing it the same way. It has worked numerous times for me and I'm talking about a kid who is too scared of too many things. Movies don't generally bother her but real life type of things way too often scare her which kind of upsets me. I had hoped she wouldn't be scared of so much.
Post Edited (06-10-05 12:28)
The first film I ever saw was "Shane." Of course, I was too young to remember seeing that.
The first film I do remember seeing is "Bambi." No, not the original release. I may be old, but I'm not that old. The re-release.
After that, during the next six years, I remember my parents taking my younger sister and myself to see seventeen films at the local theatre.
There was the usual Disney fare. Which even after forty years are still some of my favorite films.
Nikki, Wild Dog of the North
Swiss Family Robinson
In Search of the Castaways
If not children's films, then family films such as . . .
Roy Rogers
Have Rocket Will Travel
Son of Robin Hood
tom thumb
Snow White and the 3 Stooges
And a selection of films that can hardly be equalled for variety.
Trapeze
Bitter Victory
The Fly
The Sheepman
Tank Force
The Vikings
The Gun Runners
A Hole in the Head
Operation Petticoat