HE SAID/ SHE SAID:
Pet Peeves
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___ Would somebody please tell me why the new "Spiderman" movie is rated PG-13 but has been heavily marketed to my almost 10-year-old boys? This makes me furious. Make up your minds, folks. You can't have it both ways.
___ "Star Wars" gave us a little reprieve, but I'm sure the debate in our house will heat up again soon. We've told our boys we needed to find out why the movie was given a PG-13 rating and would have to talk with other parents who have seen it before we made a final decision about whether they may see it.
___ Every few days, Luke and Garrett come home from school and inform me that yet another friend has seen the movie, and they said it was good. (Naturally, a 9- or 10-
year-old's opinion is going to allay all my fears over this!) We need a recording at our house so I don't have to say, once again, "Every family is different."
___ I was talking to some folks at church about this dilemma, and we decided that in addition to the obvious ploys of the movie industry, they have a hidden agenda to increase ticket sales. I'm probably going to have to pay to see the thing myself and then decide if my kids will be allowed to see it. If I do think it is appropriate, then I will have to pay again to take them!
___ Why can't there be more decent G-rated movies out there? We went to see "The Rookie" recently, and we loved it. Well done, Disney. Please do more like it. As we were standing in line to buy the tickets, I noticed that not only was it the only G-rated film in the whole multi-plex, but that there weren't even any PG-rated movies showing at the time. Sandwiched between the Rs were five PG-13s.
___ Life is scary enough. We don't need more violence and language thrown at our kids. Don't get me wrong. I don't try to wrap my kids up in a cocoon, shielded from all the nastiness in the world. But I don't think we need to create more nastiness just to sell a few more tickets to an older crowd.
___ Phew. I needed to get that out. I'm preparing myself to be a very unpopular mom for a while.
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___Yikes! You can tell what's been brewing at our house lately.
___The "Spiderman" debate actually points to a larger issue families with children deal with almost daily: It is increasingly difficult to raise children in our adult-oriented world.
___The irony is that this era where we benefit from more specialized attractions, attention--and marketing--to children comes wrapped in a thoroughly adult culture.
___Television is Exhibit A for this conundrum. While it's wonderful to have specialty children's shows on PBS and other networks at certain times, the overall world of television viewing is decidedly adult. When Alison and I were in elementary school, there were plenty of prime-time TV shows our families could watch together. T
oday, there are few if any prime-time shows we dare to let our children watch.
And that's not even mentioning the dangers of letting your children have free reign over the spectrum of cable TV offerings.
___ Children have been segmented into a corner of our society. And even though it's often a nice and comfortable corner, society as a whole is poorer for it.
___ Certainly, there is a time and a place for entertainment that deals with adult issues. But must such issues frame the context of society at large?
___ It is doubly ironic that Disney, maligned by some ultra-conservatives for its employment policies, has brought us one of the few breaths of fresh air this spring with "The Rookie."
___ This movie--directed by a Baylor Law School graduate, by the way--exemplifies all the wonderful virtues the theater has the potential to bring us: An inspiring message presented in an uplifting manner without being sappy or stupid.
___I'm ready to vote for "The Rookie" as Most Valuable Player for family entertainment this spring. Let's hope the cultural scouts score such a big win many more times in the future.
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