Watching Movies
Goonies, Dirty Dancing, The Breakfast Club, Top Gun*, Stand By Me, and Sixteen Candles are all examples of movies that I was not allowed to see growing up. My parents were very, let's say discerning, about what me and my sister were allowed to see.
I remember seeing "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" and the big controversy it caused because it just seemed too violent to be rated PG (ripping a still beating heart out of a person is pretty graphic). I feel like it was after that movie that the PG-13 rating was brought to bear on all sorts of formerly PG movies.
The movies I listed above I dare say are the cultural touchstones of my generation, yet I have still only seen them on TBS or TNT (I have never seen any of "Stand By Me"). I don't think I am any less of a 80's kid for not seeing these movies, but I am surprised at some peoples reactions when they hear how restrictive our movie watching was.
The natural questions of course is, "Am I that strict now, and will I be with my kids?"
In short the answer is sort of and yes. I tend to stay away from movies whose sole purpose seems to be rooted in sex, extreme violence, or the lowest level humor. I take each movie on it's own merits as opposed to saying that I won't see any rated "PG-13" or "R" movie. On the flip side I tend to avoid "PG" movies because somehow I think they might not generally be as good.
I don't see letting our kids watch a good portion of the movies (if they stay true to today's forms) that are typically marketed to teenagers right now. This generations touchstone films seem to be American Pie, Scary Movie, Scream, 2 Fast 2 Furious, Bring It On, Legally Blond, and others in this sort of vain. I am not trying to pick on the "millennias", and we did have Risky Business, Weird Science, Bachelor Party, and other such films, but these kinds of movies now still seem to be more raunchy than ours were. Of course I wasn't able to see them so maybe I am misinformed.
It is interesting how this has challenged me in youth ministry. I try my hardest to get good PG or PG-13 movies, and there are limited numbers of those out there (you can only show "Spiderman" and "Walk to Remember" so many times). Most of the time this feels a little silly because I cannot think of a single teenager in our group whose parents put any restrictions on the types of movies they watch. I think I am holding to a certain standard when we pick group movies, because I think it's good. Even though with some of the older teens in a smaller group I might see a rated "R" movie with them. Especially if they invited me.
So how was (is) it for you? Were you a sugar-cereal free (Honey Nut Cheerios are not sugared cereal no matter what your parents told you), no Saturday night sleep-over attending, PG movie watcher too? Or were you stocked with Fruity Pebbles and Cookie Crisp, staying up till 11:00 p.m. on Saturday nights no matter what, Poltergeist and All the Right Moves watching kid?
* = I did in fact go see Top Gun in the theater with Brett Bebe in the seventh grade. I thought I could keep it on the downlow, but as I walked to my seat I hear "Hey Jason?!" I turn around, and sure enough there are my parents. They weren't happy, and "Take My Breath Away" didn't help matters either.
5 comments:
That Top Gun tidbit at the end made me laugh. Busted by las padres! Embarassing.
I was a "sugar-cereal free, no Saturday night sleep-over attending, PG movie watcher." Actually, my parents have never been much of moviegoers so any kind of movie, including the Gs, were rare. My friends at school would talk about Footloose and Back to the Future, and I was completely clueless.
I think it's great we have a rating system...it certainly helps me pilfer through what might or might not be appropriate. But I've seen R movies (Rain Man, Schindler's List, Saving Private Ryan) that I would always choose over certain PG-13 movies.
when my sister and i were in high school we didn't have any money for entertainment and anyway there was nothing to do in amarillo. so we rented 49 cent movies at hastings, which were the b movies, foreign, independent, etc. so we saw all kinds of movies. we stayed up until 1 am or 3 am all the time. at some point, it may have even been before i was in high school, our parents gave up on trying to stay up as late as us. we watched whatever, went wherever. it was great for me because i never had any desire to be bad, but i also didn't want to be sheltered or naive about the world. the first r movie i saw was with my youth group, with dan n., tango & cash in '89, i would've been 14 or 15. except really the first r i saw was raiders of the lost ark with my mom and grandmom in '81 when i was 6 or 7. my mom put her hands over my eyes at the end when the people melt. anyway, when i was in high school i didn't think movies were worth making a big deal about because life at school should've been rated at least nc-17. my senior year i started working at a restaurant and i'm sure you can imagine it didn't get any more prudish.
Raiders of the Lost Ark is actually a PG film...
okay, i don't know what it was rated. i'm just saying we ate cereal with sugar and i never had a curfew. i saw it in the theatre, so i was going by imdb:
Certification: USA:PG (edited for re-rating) / USA:R (original rating)
http://imdb.com/title/tt0082971/
I was definitely a sugar-free cereal only (Honey Nut Cherrios were allowed), popsicles made from fruit juice, no Saturday night sleepovers kid. I remember clearly my bold statement that once I was 13, I would be able to watch PG-13 movies. My parents were quick to correct me!
rebecca
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