Saturday, April 02, 2011
KIDS' MOVIES
This takeoff on Mary Poppins is a riot, but I am using it to make a point.
Why are almost all kids' movies scary? Why do they have to have a villain? Kids like to laugh as much as anyone, but their movies are always scary or sad.
All three of the TOY STORY movies were scary and sad. Adults wept through them. Really, having the beloved toys about to go into an incinerator. Having them imprisoned? What were these guys thinking?
Many adult movies are just plan funny. Why can't we afford kids the same treat. I can hardly get my four-year old grandson to watch a movie because he just doesn't want to wait out the scary parts.
He'd rather watch the show WORD WORLD on PBS, which is about spelling. And incidentally he now thinks spelling rather than reading is the ultimate goal. I hear him muttering D-U-C-K all the time.
I know fairy tales had the same transgression. Why does this never change? Why is everyone seems to recognize that scary may not be such a good thing except film makers?
Why are kids' movies scary so often?
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8 comments:
Hey Patti,
While TOY STORY was too dark for my taste, I didn't find TS2 that way, although Jessy's song is a heartbreaker.
MONSTERS INC turned the monsters into clowns. Just as DISPICABLE ME turned the villains into clowns.
Was there anything scary about CARS? It's been too long since I've seen FINDING NEMO.
TANGLED seemed scare-free. MULAN had that really scary bad guy and that shrieking bird, but POCOHANTAS was not nearly as scary as the sequel.
Methinks many kids live in a pretty scary world. Within a movie/story, they can experience that and put the experience behind them, unlike in life.
Stephen
Frank, the combine scene in CARS, was pretty dark. In TS 2, a collector was trying to get the toys if I remember correctly. 3 was the real killer though.
Kevin swears there is something in MONSTERS INC he doesn't like, but I don't know what.
TANGO has a snake and a lot of gunplay for small kids.
Nemo has lost his Dad and a girl in the dentist office is pretty scary plus the shark.
Fairy tales are mostly scary, too. Perhaps Kid's Movies try to alert young children that Life requires sharp attention because Bad Things Will Happen.
First that trailer is a classic. That link will go out to friends.
Why are kids movies scary? partly because kids like to be scared. They'll go out of their way to do, see, or touch things that will scare them, or ick them out. It's part of being a kid.
Another part is, as Stephen said, kids live in a scary world. The unknown scares most everyone, and there's a lot more of it for kids than for adults. These kinds of movies can, if done right, show kids that being brave doesn't mean not being afraid, and that good results can still be obtained. They also show they're not alone. Scary things happen to everyone; being scared is nothing to be ashamed about.
I do wish they wouldn't make things so bleak sometimes. I liked most of EDWARD SCISSORHANDS, but after a while I starting thinking, "Enough already. Give the poor jerk a break."
I think that is true after a certain age. But under age eight and often for girls, they want relief from "scary."
*I* know what you mean, but my cildren used to laugh at me when I cried at their films. So I think it is a question of growing old and emotional.
Patti - ...and kids' movies have always been that way. I mean, there was the forest fire in Bambi, the wicked witch in Snow White, and more. I don't know, either, why it is that way, but there are dozens of examples. And George is right; most fairy tales are like that, too.
George beat me to it. But I'll say it anyway. I suspect this goes all the way back to fairy tales - especially the Grimm Brothers' versions. The early Disney movies had terrifying scenes in them. Snow White as told by the Disney crew, I think, is more of a Gothic horror story than a fairy tale. Sleeping Beauty is another example of a fairy tale cum horror story. That dragon? Nightmare material, for sure.
I can tell you that as a kid I went out of my way to find the scary stuff. I was addicted to monster movies on TV - the old 30s and 40s ones - from a very early age. Something about the unknown, the out of the ordinary, the inexplicable fascinated me. Still does.
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