Yeah, but you said:
That's why I mentioned the risk of being over-protective. It strikes to me as a bit too much on the cautious side, but that's just me. It's your kids, so no biggies.
Age to allow child to watch Star Wars for first time
- Thread starter Tom Hendricks
- Start date
I'm sure it's because I need to get to sleep but that final statement is just cracking me up.
All these parents ( and I know one ) refusing to show them Episode I first... or at all..
Probably cos it's crap.
I first saw Return of the Jedi in 1983 or 1984 so I would've been maybe five. My little girl is four and I'm considering showing it to her soon. She already knows about some stuff from it like Yoda.
There's things in Clone Wars that I'd be more concerned with a four-year-old seeing than in Star Wars or Phantom Menace.
I don't know, I find ROTS too dark for my own tastes.
It was vvery dark, but then IMO it wasn't any darker than the old Warner Brother's or Tom And Jerry cartoons many of saw as children.
Content is one thing - style is another. Bugs Bunny contains violence, but it is violence with no consequence. And it's, you know - DRAWINGS.
Seeing an actual person have their legs chopped off while crying and screaming in agony is a very different prospect.
I saw Star Wars when it first came out, so I was seven. I had a nightmare about the stormtroopers that was so vivid that I still recall it to this day.
You can shrug that sort of thing off - I did before I had kids. But when your little one is sobbing in your arms at 3 a.m., afraid to go back to sleep, you realize it matters a great deal.
All these parents ( and I know one ) refusing to show them Episode I first... or at all..
Probably cos it's crap.
Can't let the kids get those nerd cooties on them. They might have an original thought.
Nobody cried in agony after having a limb chopped off and it's kind of funny that the stormtroopers would borther you more than Obi-Wan taking off a person's limb in the cantina or the charred remains of Uncle Owen and Aunt Beu.
Anakin was set on fire and his lungs were damaged beyond repair, but then how else do you explain Vader condition in the OT? I'm not suggesting the child see it alone and a parent can edit a movie as they see fit.
I definitely wouldn't go that far. The cartoons don't have the same feel at all IMO, and the fact they're cartoons not live action also diminishes their impact. Even as a kid, cartoons were cartoons and I knew never to take them seriously. A live-action film was always more effective in making me suspend disbelief and therefore become affected by it. For example, when I saw Superman III - obviously something I knew was fictional and cartoonish in nature - I got frightened when the computer merged with the evil sister at the end.
Now, I'm not saying fear per se is necessarily a bad thing for a kid to experience from a film, but it can be taken too far. Given that the tone of ROTS is genuinely dark in the second half, especially the killing of the younglings bit, I think that takes the film away from particularly young children. Once they're a little older, fine. The scene with Anakin in the lava is also a bit much for young kiddies, I think.
When I first saw Ep. III it was a midnight showing and there were oddly enough plenty of pre-teenagers there. The movie was dark I won't disagree with that, but at home as long a parent is watching the movie along with the child the movie can be edited and scenes skipped, one of the few pluses of seeing a movie on DVD instead in the a theater.
Does anybody remember the retelling The Empire Strikes Back in Reign OF Fire? It was being staged for some young children and by that point there were no more movies thanks to the dragons, so when they got to the scene were "Vader" chopped off "Luke's" hand the children screamed. Then the guy playing "Luke" brought his hand back out of his sleeve to show the kids that he's OK and he didn't lose his hand. But the scene cute though it was, was a though provoking scene, truthfully if a movie is meant to be "PG" or "PG-13" a child should see it with an adult.
That would be my point - it's hard to predict what will stick in a child's mind and frighten them. I still can't quite figure out why my daughter was so freaked out by Darth Vader without his mask - but that's what inspired her nightmares.
It was the agony being portrayed that was the point - that's hugely different from seeing Tom get his hand hit with a hammer and it throbs for a second.
Dark was the word used and the cartoons are dark, but you can see the same level of violence from a Three Stoogies movie. It is a dark movie but I don't think a parent has to wait until their child is a teenager to see it as long as they're there to explain things.
ETA: Steven Moffat said once that he allows his son to see James Bonds movie but he edits them so much the boy thnks all Bond does is check into hotels and eat meals, as though he's more an international food critic.
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This is brilliant.
Last year, my 3-year-old niece expressed interest in seeing Star Wars. If I recall correctly, it was because she had seen part of the Family Guy SW episodes and told her mommy that she wanted to see the movies they were based on. (Yes, my sister lets her watch FG; I love FG, but good god, I'm not particularly happy with the idea of a 3-year-old watching it)
Anyway, I brought the DVDs to show her A New Hope and, well, she lost interest pretty damned fast.
She's four now, and I'm seriously considering purchasing the prequels on DVD (I only have AotC on DVD and I don't have RotS at all) and letting her watch Episode I. I really do think it'd be more up her alley.
But no AotC or RotS until she's at least seen Empire. I want the reveal about Darth Vader to be a surprise.
Anyway, I brought the DVDs to show her A New Hope and, well, she lost interest pretty damned fast.
She's four now, and I'm seriously considering purchasing the prequels on DVD (I only have AotC on DVD and I don't have RotS at all) and letting her watch Episode I. I really do think it'd be more up her alley.
But no AotC or RotS until she's at least seen Empire. I want the reveal about Darth Vader to be a surprise.
Dark not just in atmosphere but also the level of violence and its targets. We never see Moe in prolonged hopeless agony after betraying Curly's friendship or have Larry killing the kids at the orphanage. Even the Clone Wars cartoon has had people's chests impaled from behind and scenes of torture. While I agree kids don't need to be sheltered until they're teens I don't know if four-year-olds are all ready for that kind of thing.
If you do please.. please.. please.. start with A New Hope in its original theatrical version.
Beg, borrow or steal to get a copy (even the lowgrade official DVD of it) and let it see like many of us post30s people who have known a version before Lucas' changes.
I can't remember what age i was back then but i remember that despite all their outdated technologies they still have a magic to them and you can feel all the work and love of filmmaking that went into them.
It is this version that will stick with me through all my life and it will be a monumental day for me when Lucas decides to shell out the money to get them properly cleaned up and transferred to BluRay (or whatever medium that comes after) and get shown up when sales break all other Star Wars sales before.
Beg, borrow or steal to get a copy (even the lowgrade official DVD of it) and let it see like many of us post30s people who have known a version before Lucas' changes.
I can't remember what age i was back then but i remember that despite all their outdated technologies they still have a magic to them and you can feel all the work and love of filmmaking that went into them.
It is this version that will stick with me through all my life and it will be a monumental day for me when Lucas decides to shell out the money to get them properly cleaned up and transferred to BluRay (or whatever medium that comes after) and get shown up when sales break all other Star Wars sales before.
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