The Fail - I haven't seen Cars before, so we got it from the library and plugged it in tonight. We watched for 25 or 30 minutes, then I took it out. Too many things in that amount of time that I don't want to have to explain to my boys or want them to mimic. Animation doesn't always equal kid-friendly. Or at least not little W-friendly.
Now, just in case Cars is one of the best-loved movies in your house, know that I'm not judging anyone who watches it. I watch and read stuff that some of you would find inappropriate or offensive, so it all balances out in the long run. I just didn't feel comfortable having the offspring, at this point in time, spend two hours watching it. Different strokes for different folks and it's not a hill I'd die on.
The Pass - We still wanted to watch a movie and had another one from the library. It's called Ruby Bridges and it's the true story the first black girl to attend a white elementary school in the South. Silas and I watched all of it, but Devon and Naomi bailed about halfway through.
Some may think we discuss race stuff a lot in our family, due to the color scheme we've got going on, but we don't. It's just a non-issue for our family, which I realize is a blessing. However, that meant that tonight was the first time our boys had heard that some people judge based on skin color. We've talked about slavery several times, but that's been discussed in the context of wealth (poor people can't afford slaves), power (conquerors are never slaves), and a general disregard for the worth of another human being.
You know, they weren't really rocked by the idea of judging based on color. They thought it was mean and they realized the racist characters in the movie were hateful, but I think it's just a hard concept for a kid to fully grasp when you live in a happy, multi-colored family and have never experienced racism personally. I think it's awesome that our mixed kids from a mixed dad are still pretty clueless about racism! Our family is definitely blessed to live in the time and area that we do.
Anyway, Ruby Bridges was a good movie.
6 comments:
We loved Cars, but my kids are older. I can see that it might be iffy for younger kids.
We'll have to get the Ruby Bridges movie. We've actually had the opposite problem with race in our family. My husband and I are from the South and are used to living with both blacks and whites (although, going to college in the Deep South, I still saw far more prejudice than I thought existed - Ugh!). However, we now live in a rural area of Wisconsin. The only people who aren't very Caucasian around here are Hispanic and (if you go into Appleton) Hmong (a group from Vietnam).
When we went back down South when the kids were little, my son (age 2 at the time) had eyes as big as saucers when he saw the ladies who served us breakfast at our hotel. He had never seen a black person before! Thankfully, these were very understanding and sweet women who cooed over him and played with him.
We tend to talk about race pretty explicitly BECAUSE it's not an issue in our family. Our kids didn't see that even 20 years ago, when my hubby and I were in college, there was a lot of (self-)segregation down South. They have never seen or dealt with the fact that race and economic hardship seem to travel together. When we did American History last year, I made the kids watch a lot of stuff about Civil Rights, etc. because this was the only time they'd really think about it.
Of course, my kids are 12 and 15, so we talk about stuff at a different level than you do with younger kids. I will definitely check out the Ruby Bridges movie - thanks for the recommendation!
Catherine
Catherine -
I don't think Cars was a "bad" movie, but do you ever see something just rubs you the wrong way. That's what it did for me in relation to the kids. I'm sure, though, that I'd feel differently if they were older or if I'd just been watching it with Tim. :)
You'll have to let me know what you think of Ruby Bridges. Ironically, that movie had lots of really "bad" things in the context of hate and racism, things that were violent and cruel, but it didn't bother me.
I was Skyping with my sister about it last night and I think the difference is that the stuff that bugged me in Cars was made to look cool, normal, or funny, while the "bad" stuff in Ruby Bridges was clearly bad. At this point, with young kids who aren't always strong on discernment, I just needed to err on the side of caution, to make sure the things we say we don't condone in our family aren't the things we let them laugh about in a film. KWIM?
Oh, I was going to add that we've spent the last 4 1/2 years shopping at a grocery store that's kinda like the United Nations. :) We're in a pretty white state, and now in a much whiter town than we were the last several years, but they still see a spectrum of color. I can see, in a situation like yours, where you'd have to make a point to bring up race. We're not avoiding it (like we could if we wanted to) :), but we're just kinda dealing with it as it comes up.
Man, I love Cars. I can hardly wait for #2 to come out next year. But I respect you for choosing for your family. It is sooooo easy to "just do it" because everyone else is. I feel that pull to Harry Potter. My son is now wanting to see it and while I read the first book, I'm not sure I'd approve the others or the movies.
The second movie sounds like something I would only show my older kids.
My kids have watched the Lord of the Rings movies (they're now 12 and 15 - I think my youngest was 8 or 9 when we let him watch them) even though they have lots of violence because the overall morality is very clearly portrayed.
I love the Harry Potter books and movies, but made sure we read them out loud to our kids before they read them alone because there were lots of times when the main characters did things they were told by adults not to do. It ended up working out, but my hubby and I wanted our kids to know that the reality of life is that grown-ups almost always know best! (That being said, I still think that the Harry Potter books are great for kids.)
Overall, we read books with more "questionable" content than we watch movies with that kind of stuff. And the reason is that it's easy to stop in the middle of the book to talk about something. And we only read a couple of chapters at a time, so it's easy to discuss. The movies overwhelm the senses and move so quickly that it just kind of "happens", whereas reading books is more deliberate.
We're so caught up in Christmas that I haven't gotten the Ruby Bridges movie. We'll probably watch it sometime in January. Have you read the book about Claudette Colvin? My son and I listened to most of it on audiobook. She actually defied a Birmingham bus driver about race a year or so before Rosa Parks. Apparently, though, her case was not used as the test case, partly because she was an unmarried, pregnant teen. The civil rights leaders felt that they needed someone with whom the public would be more sympathetic - hence, Rosa Parks. Claudette's story is very interesting. I was unaware of how much talk and work was going on among Birmingham Black church leaders and civil rights activists before the bus boycott. I thought the bus boycott just kind of "happened" when there had actually been a lot of work in the community to prepare for some kind of action (although the actual "event" wasn't specifically planned). Anyway, the Claudette Colvin book is written for kids, although my son and I listened to the audio version.
My kids have watched the Lord of the Rings movies (they're now 12 and 15 - I think my youngest was 8 or 9 when we let him watch them) even though they have lots of violence because the overall morality is very clearly portrayed.
I love the Harry Potter books and movies, but made sure we read them out loud to our kids before they read them alone because there were lots of times when the main characters did things they were told by adults not to do. It ended up working out, but my hubby and I wanted our kids to know that the reality of life is that grown-ups almost always know best! (That being said, I still think that the Harry Potter books are great for kids.)
Overall, we read books with more "questionable" content than we watch movies with that kind of stuff. And the reason is that it's easy to stop in the middle of the book to talk about something. And we only read a couple of chapters at a time, so it's easy to discuss. The movies overwhelm the senses and move so quickly that it just kind of "happens", whereas reading books is more deliberate.
Merry Christmas!
Post a Comment