On Monday, I went to see "How to Train Your Dragon" with my 8-year-old niece and 6-year-old nephew. While the ending wraps everything up, it didn't have the typical Disney ending. The point of the movie that every decision you make has consequences, and I think that was a little traumatizing for the kids. Of course, they are pretty sheltered, so this is probably one of the first things they've seen that's had anything more sophisticated than muppets or princesses. (I'm not knocking any of those - I have The Muppet Movie soundtrack.)
It got me to thinking about my own childhood and how different my parents approach to movies and television was. From as early as I can remember, I was watching horror movies and extreme violence. The first drive-in movie I went to was "The House That Dripped Blood" and I couldn't have been more than 6. I watched "Dark Shadows" daily and I think I saw every Roger Corman movie that was ever made by the time I was 10. In fact, I went with my brothers to see "Jaws" in the theatre and that was in the 4th grade. So the dragon movie probably would have been a walk in the park for me.
That's not to say that my parents didn't have limits. Anything that was considered "sexy" was decidedly off limits. So I've never seen an episode of "The Dukes of Hazzard" or "Three's Company". I caught one episode of "Charlie's Angels" when I was babysitting.
Why the violence was OK, but the implied sex was not, I don't understand. I guess it's that crazy Southern conservatism. Sometimes I do wonder what they were thinking, especially since I couldn't sleep without a light on until I got married. Of course, now I have dogs. Anything that gets passed them -- supernatural or not -- is probably apocalyptic anyway.
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Interesting. I grew up in the North, and while "morals" were a big thing there, I think my parents were just the opposite. Sexy was okay but violent wasn't. Hmmm.
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