# Fiction, Trauma, and Children **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [October 5, 2023, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-trauma-and-children/991130 "2023-10-05T03:32:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2023, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-trauma-and-children/991130/121 "2023-10-06T22:28:39Z")
I dragged my kids to Sunday school from very young. In a church I trusted. Til I didn’t trust them any more. For, reasons. They’re not scholars, but have a basic understanding of the Bible. Hopefully, as adults they’ve continued to read and understand other religions. I don’t think it harmed them in any way. YMMV ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2023, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-trauma-and-children/991130/122 "2023-10-07T12:45:28Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > I’ve never actually seen Bambi so I can’t judge on that account. Well, it’s not like, to quote Mona Lisa Vito, “BAM! A fuckin’ bullet rips off part of your head! Your brains are laying on the ground in little bloody pieces!” but it’s traumatic just the same. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/7sCqMEkgLIw/maxresdefault.jpg "Bambi Mom Dies :(") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sCqMEkgLIw) ---
**Author:** ![LVBoPeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/858c86/32.png) [@LVBoPeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LVBoPeep)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2023, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-trauma-and-children/991130/123 "2023-10-07T14:08:19Z")
We read Where the Red Fern Grows as a class in 4th grade. Absolutely traumatizing- Child death, dog death, poverty…I have always been a re-reader of books but could not do that again. I don’t think I need to because it’s burned on my brain forever. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2023, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-trauma-and-children/991130/124 "2023-10-07T17:22:10Z")
> [@LVBoPeep](#): > > Absolutely traumatizing- Child death, dog death, poverty…I have always been a re-reader of books but could not do that again. I don’t think I need to because it’s burned on my brain forever. It has been absolute ages for me too. But I remembered it not being all that traumatic until the very end where out of nowhere a mountain lion shows up and murders one of the dogs at which point the other one dies of grief. ---
**Author:** ![LVBoPeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/858c86/32.png) [@LVBoPeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LVBoPeep)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2023, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-trauma-and-children/991130/125 "2023-10-07T19:32:07Z")
There was also the ax incident…granted, it was I think the bully that bit the dust but that scene was pretty intense for 10 -11 year olds. I’m not complaining though, I’m not sorry I read it and the poverty was probably not that bad just remember feeling it was like that was all this kid had was his two dogs and they only had each other then they didn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2023, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-trauma-and-children/991130/126 "2023-10-07T20:14:57Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > Well, it’s not like, to quote Mona Lisa Vito, “BAM! A fuckin’ bullet rips off part of your head! Your brains are laying on the ground in little bloody pieces!” but it’s traumatic just the same. It’s been more that forty years since I’ve seen Bambi and that clip brought two thoughts to mind immediatly. The first is that I had forgotten just how beautifully animated the movie really is. The second is just how mild the death scene really was. Granted, I’m an adult (or so I tell my wife), so of course it won’t be a problem for me. And while I don’t remember it being traumatic as a child, I was dead inside even back then so maybe I’m not the best judge. Does anyone think that scene is too intense for a general audience today? ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2023, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-trauma-and-children/991130/127 "2023-10-07T21:33:50Z")
I was a substitute teacher for a kindergarten class when the whole school was, as a treat, invited to watch a Disney film: _Old Yeller_. All of the teachers were exchanging horrified looks, but nobody said anything to the principal. Turned out she didn’t know anything about the story! ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2023, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-trauma-and-children/991130/128 "2023-10-07T23:39:05Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > Does anyone think that scene is too intense for a general audience today? Intense, no, but when he’s left the thicket and looking for his mother… 🥹 ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2023, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-trauma-and-children/991130/129 "2023-10-08T02:40:07Z")
> [@Babale](#): > > It has been absolute ages for me too. But I remembered it not being all that traumatic until the very end where out of nowhere a mountain lion shows up and murders one of the dogs at which point the other one dies of grief. I think we all cried at the end of that story when it was read to us in fourth grade. But I wouldn’t call it traumatic, just sad. Kids can by and large handle sad. The things that really mess kids up are never what you would expect, like the flying monkeys in Oz, or some random moment in Labyrinth. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2023, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-trauma-and-children/991130/130 "2023-10-08T03:20:32Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > The things that really mess kids up are never what you would expect, like the flying monkeys in Oz, or some random moment in Labyrinth. When I went to see Star Trek: Nemesis in the theater, there was a dad and his young daughter, maybe 8 at the most, sitting behind us. Since it was a Star Trek movie, I didn’t think much of it, but early in the movie Shinzon assassinates a bunch of Romulans and it was a pretty intense scene scaring the hell out of that little girl. When I was a kid, while watching the _Wizard of Oz_ my father confided in me that the flying monkeys had scared the hell out of him when he was my age. I just looked at him and asked, “Why?” Nothing about the Wizard of Oz was ever scary to me and that includes the witch and the tornado. When _Night of the Living Dead_ came out in 1968, there was some controvery because kids were going to the theater to watch it. Apparently it was fairly common for kids to go see horror movies in the afternoon, but we’re talking 50s and 60s creature features which were pretty tame. Roger Ebert wrote “There was a little girl across the aisle from me, maybe nine years old, who was sitting very still in her seat and crying.” I saw the movie when I was ten, about 18 years after it was released, and I didn’t really find it frightening at all. Partially because it was in black & white I’m sure. So, yes, it’s kind of funny what will and will not scare kids. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2023, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-trauma-and-children/991130/131 "2023-10-08T05:39:30Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > When I was a kid, while watching the _Wizard of Oz_ my father confided in me that the flying monkeys had scared the hell out of him when he was my age. I just looked at him and asked, “Why?” Nothing about the Wizard of Oz was ever scary to me and that includes the witch and the tornado." The tornado was the thing from **The Wizard of Oz** that scared me because I knew they were real. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2023, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-trauma-and-children/991130/132 "2023-10-08T05:53:28Z")
My grand kids were scared about Dorothy being alone in scary woods with a crazy insane witch after her. I remember being mildly disturbed by the monkeys. Not enough to not watch anymore. Where the Redfern grows was terribly sad to read. The movie was kinda silly. The Yearling got to me. Cause he had to kill his friend Flag. ---
**Author:** ![InternetLegend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/internetlegend/32/13154_2.png) [@InternetLegend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InternetLegend)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2023, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-trauma-and-children/991130/133 "2023-10-08T06:18:10Z")
I had to take my daughter (yes, the same one who was traumatized by _Bambi_) out of the theater when I took her to see _Snow White_ because she was too scared by the scene where the evil queen orders the huntsman to kill Snow White. This means that, for her, the story was about a girl who was killed by her stepmother. The first few times I tried to read _The Monster At The End Of This Book_ to her, she refused to let me read past the page where Grover tells you to close the book. If I hadn’t talked her into it, she’d still think there was an actual monster. When I think about it, it’s a wonder she still speaks to me. ---
**Author:** ![Jebbilene](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jebbilene/32/3414_2.png) [@Jebbilene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jebbilene)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2023, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-trauma-and-children/991130/134 "2023-10-08T06:29:24Z")
At the daycare where I work, we were reading the book _Owl Babies_ to our 2 year-olds. In the book, the baby owls wake up and their mother is not there. They get scared and worried. The mum comes back, and everyone is relieved and happy (yes, that’s the whole book). It is pretty on point for 2 year olds. One of the children, though, had had to spend a lot of time in hospital, away from his mother. This book really got to him. All he could say for the next 40 minutes was “mummy gone”, over and over. He wasn’t crying but he looked really shocked. It was impossible to comfort or distract him,. He just kept repeating “mummy gone”. Luckily, it was near the end of the day, and his mum turned up to collect him. My room leader said that we wouldn’t read that book again, but I thought maybe it was actually good for him, to have a chance to discuss and work through events that had clearly had a big impact on him. But maybe she was right that it was too intense. We also had a book on the shelf that we never read, with any of our kids, about the experience of a refugee family. It was pretty scary, soldiers with machine guns, barbed wire refugee camps, families being separated. The thinking was that if we did get a refugee child at our day-care who had lived that kind of experience, well, maybe it would be helpful for them to see it acknowledged. Or maybe revisiting that stuff would have given them nightmares. So, anecdotes aside, I think if Disney is making a G rated movie, they should keep it pretty light. Children don’t learn emotional resilience from watching movies. It depends more on a lot of other factors, imo. And if children need help dealing with trauma, they should probably be getting individualised attention from specialists. ---
**Author:** ![themapleleaf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/themapleleaf/32/14349_2.png) [@themapleleaf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/themapleleaf)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2023, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-trauma-and-children/991130/135 "2023-10-08T19:03:43Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > My husband, a clinical psychologist, made a similar complaint in a psychology forum and was lambasted for being “ableist.” No, we have a situation where young people are increasingly unable to cope with life, but the problem isn’t a lack of parental death in kid’s cartoons. It’s complicated, but it involves parents sheltering children from risk and accountability, indulging their desire to avoid anxiety triggers, and failing to teach them problem solving and other skills needed for resilience. This. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2023, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-trauma-and-children/991130/136 "2023-10-08T19:54:46Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > It’s complicated, but it involves parents sheltering children from risk and accountability, indulging their desire to avoid anxiety triggers, and failing to teach them problem solving and other skills needed for resilience. That seems reasonable. I kind of see the disire to prevent children from seeing a scene like the death of Bambi’s mother as part of the trend of shelting them. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2023, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-trauma-and-children/991130/137 "2023-10-08T20:37:58Z")
And then our children are looking over our shoulders as we play very violent video games. Watching the news during 9/11, Jan. 6, or saints preserve us, this horrible war in Israel as we speak. I wasn’t worried about the grandkids seeing CNN yesterday. But they are showing bloodied dead bodies today. Too much reality? Bambi seems tame. A nice Disney cartoon movie is a better choice today. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2023, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-trauma-and-children/991130/138 "2023-10-09T00:22:10Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > When I went to see Star Trek: Nemesis in the theater, there was a dad and his young daughter, maybe 8 at the most, sitting behind us. My husband and I went to see _Shazam!_ not long after _Avengers: Infinity War_ came out. This was before _End Game,_ so as an audience we were in narrative limbo. The eight year old kid sitting beside us was _wrecked_ by the funny, upbeat _Shazam!_ Right before the climax he cried out, in genuine consternation, “Oh, no, they’re all going to die just like the Avengers!” _Infinity War_ broke that kid’s faith that the good guys always win. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2023, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-trauma-and-children/991130/139 "2023-10-09T01:24:43Z")
By the way, just a caveat concerning inferences about the Bambi remake in particular: A lot of people online (me included, arguably) seem to be trying to draw a lot of conclusions from what is AFAICT [an extremely small amount of information based on a vague description of some screenwriting choices from somebody who may not even be part of the project anymore.](https://www.forbes.com/sites/conormurray/2023/10/04/new-bambi-cause-conservatives-to-cry-woke-because-remake-may-go-easier-on-bambis-mom/?sh=1016c3e75d59) > [@](#): > > […] a mere suggestion that the movie might back off its famously sad scene—the death of Bambi’s mother— caused right-wing critics to pounce out of fear the movie will be too “woke.” > > - Screenwriter Lindsey Anderson Beer, who isn’t even attached to the movie any longer, [told](https://collider.com/bambi-live-action-disney-lindsey-anderson-beer-comments/) _Collider_: “Not to spoil the plot, but there’s a treatment of the mom dying that I think some kids, some parents these days are more sensitive about than they were in the past.” > > - Beer suggested the writers wanted to remake it in a way kids today could “relate to a little bit more,” stating some audiences may just not be able to handle the death of Bambi’s mother. I’m very unclear as to how much more “bowdlerized” or “sheltered” that revision’s intended to be, in comparison with the 1942 movie scene that DesertDog cited in [post #122.](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-trauma-and-children/991130/122) ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2023, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-trauma-and-children/991130/140 "2023-10-09T02:35:16Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > _Infinity War_ broke that kid’s faith that the good guys always win. “I can’t believe you took me to a movie where the good guys lost!” – Mrs. Odesio after watching _Infinity War._ A few of my coworkers said their children were a little upset by the movie as well. Breaking a kid’s faith that the good guys always win isn’t a bad thing in my book. At the very least it makes movies a bit more exciting if you don’t know the good guys are going to win. I promise I don’t steal candy from babies in my spare time. (It’s more of a full time job.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-trauma-and-children/991130.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-trauma-and-children/991130.md?page=8)