# Movies: Child Heroes who are Killers **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 17, 2011, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-child-heroes-who-are-killers/596577 "2011-09-17T00:45:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2011, 9:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-child-heroes-who-are-killers/596577/61 "2011-09-20T09:13:51Z")
> [@astro](#): > > Why? Why does killing of another person necessarily have to be “traumatic”? While movies and TV love to show show people (especially police and soldiers) wallowing in angst over killing others I don’t really think that’s how it plays out in the real world. If anything I would imagine children to have less angst than adults at killing as they are less morally and ethically informed. Not the case. Not the case at all. It fucking _breaks_ them as human beings. So broken that it’s really hard to fix them, _if_ they get the chance to be fixed. [Here](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children_of_War)’s a good documentary on the subject. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2011, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-child-heroes-who-are-killers/596577/62 "2011-09-20T09:17:08Z")
> [@MarcusF](#): > > Even if some (many) modern, Western adults who kill suffer pangs of guilt I don’t see that this has to be the case with children. Kids are maleable - if respected authority figures - Aslan, Mother/Father, etc - say its ok, its ok. I disagree than any kid older than, say, 6, is this much of a moral blank slate. Are you a parent or otherwise regularly interacting with young kids? > [@](#): > > As to whether the child grows up to be “borderline evil” and too casual about killing as an adult, surely this depends on the message the authority figure(s) put over. Massive difference between, “Killing is fun, the weak are fair game to kill if expedient” and “Killing a person is significant but may well be necessary to defend your self and others.” I don’t think it makes that much of a difference - some child soldiers are indoctrinated, others are just slaves, but all are traumatized. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2011, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-child-heroes-who-are-killers/596577/63 "2011-09-20T23:58:23Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Not the case. Not the case at all. It fucking _breaks_ them as human beings. So broken that it’s really hard to fix them, _if_ they get the chance to be fixed. [Here](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children_of_War)’s a good documentary on the subject. I haven’t seen the documentary myself, yet, but I have to note that the wiki page says it’s not just about children who kill in battle—it’s about children _who were kidnapped, tortured, and forced into a slave army,_ sometimes made to attack and sack their own families. Not only would that particular situation break anyone, I’d argue that it was probably _specifically designed_ to break them. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2011, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-child-heroes-who-are-killers/596577/64 "2011-09-21T22:05:02Z")
> [@JoelUpchurch](#): > > At least all of the people that Hit Girl was killing were actually bad people and Kick Ass himself seemed pretty appalled by the violence. Yes, Kick-Ass was totally appalled by Hit Girl, and the audience was supposed to be, too. I know it totally shocked me to pieces when she first shows up. The first thing she does is skewer a guy with her sword, and proceed to hack the rest of the thugs to bits. It’s the juxtaposition of her happy-joy attitude with the extreme violence that is the point - she has been totally fucked up by her dad and his brainwashing. That’s the point, how bad it is, not to celebrate how tough she is. > [@Biggirl](#): > > I’m trying to remember. Does Natalie Portman kill anyone in The Professional? > [@Alka\_Seltzer](#): > > Don’t think so, though IIRC she does shoot someone with the sniper rifle. She shoots one man with a paintball. No actual kill or injury, though practice for the real thing. She sets out to go to the police station and kill the man who killed her family, but doesn’t do it. IIRC she can’t bring herself to shoot. > [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > Doesn’t Mattie speak about bringing Chaney back for trial in Fort Smith? Certainly, she’s prepared to kill him if need be, but I don’t think she would say that she set out with the purpose of killing him. She is seeking justice and retribution. She wants him brought back to Fort Smith to stand trial and _then_ be hanged. But she’s willing to shoot him when he won’t surrender to her, because she knows he’s a violent and deadly man - he killer her pa. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2011, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-child-heroes-who-are-killers/596577/65 "2011-09-22T13:53:32Z")
In [The Adventures of Captain Marvel](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0033317/) , Billy Batson shoots several people with handguns, and, at one point, mans a machine gun. This was in 1941, when Bad Guys were assumed to deserve it. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2011, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-child-heroes-who-are-killers/596577/66 "2011-09-24T07:21:06Z")
> [@Ranchoth](#): > > I haven’t seen the documentary myself, yet, but I have to note that the wiki page says it’s not just about children who kill in battle—it’s about children _who were kidnapped, tortured, and forced into a slave army,_ sometimes made to attack and sack their own families. Not all the child soldiers are press-ganged, some were just recruited on ideological grounds, or were running away from other things, but they’re all broken. > [@](#): > > Not only would that particular situation break anyone, I’d argue that it was probably _specifically designed_ to break them. Agreed. But so is conventional military training, in a milder way. I’d argue that in the real world (which was what this parenthetical is about), no child is going to become a killer without some form of breaking and indoctrination. Like I said, they’re not moral _tabulae rasa_. ---
**Author:** ![Alka\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Alka\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alka_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2011, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-child-heroes-who-are-killers/596577/67 "2011-09-24T09:28:17Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > She shoots one man with a paintball. No actual kill or injury, though practice for the real thing. Thanks, I was mis-remembering that. I thought she wounded him with a real bullet. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-child-heroes-who-are-killers/596577.md?page=3)