My favorite story to tell about this is when I went to see Gangs of New York, and there was a little girl sitting in front of us with her parents, she was obviously scared by the violent and bloody parts, and when she said (repeatedly) that she didn’t like the movie and wanted to leave, her father shushed her with a loudly whispered lecture about how she was failing to appreciate Scorsese’s cinematic vision as auteur.
It would have been hilarious except that:
this involved a lot of talking during a movie
the little girl was genuinely upset
In general, I do tend to roll my eyes a little at young kids at movies that are not designed for kids – and I’ve got to be honest, I’m exactly sure why. I get that they’re not MY kids, what do I care if they’re up too late or whatever?
There is current research showing kids are getting less sleep in general, to their detriment, and while I don’t think that going to late night movies is the cause, my feeling is that it’s tied into a parenting approach that shifts the kids’ bedtime to when it is convenient for the parent. And I get more of an “helicopter parent” thing from the parents who bring little kids to see Batman – as if they value family time SO MUCH that they all have to go see Batman together.
Word. My wife and I didn’t go to a movie from 2007 until 2011, because we have small kids and it was difficult to get someone to watch them when we wanted to go… so we got Netflix, satellite, and made do with seeing movies after they left the theatre. It’s part of being a parent.
Or why not let mom or dad go while the other parent hangs with the kids? Or a baby-sitter?
It never occurred to me to take a baby or toddler to a movie theatre. You know, here in Austin we take being quiet in theatres pretty seriously. My kids are extremely well behaved, but they’re kids. They say stuff at random and sometimes forget they’re in a place they are supposed to be quiet.
My oldest is 4.5, and he’s gone to see Beauty and the Beast. I can’t imagine letting him see a PG-13 flick at a theatre. PG maybe, if it’s strong language (I use that at home). But nothing violent or sexual. My kid likes shit that is boring to adults, which is how it should be at his age. There’s plenty of time to get into Batman or whatever when he’s older. (He loves the Spiderman cartoons from the 60s and 80s, but I’ve had to explain to him that the Spiderman movie is a little too much for him right now.)
I think a lot of adults think it’s cool to have a kid with adult tastes, but in fact the kids are typically aping the parents’ behavior. I’m guilty of this in regards to music; I love that my son knows Police, Clash and Smiths songs and loves these bands. But I know it has a lot to do with me playing them pretty much 24/7 at our house. I don’t worry about the songs leaving much of an impression on them, though. The lyrics are hard to decipher (except for the choruses). Someone’s head getting split open, or buildings exploding, or guns going off? Much easier to remember and leaves an impression, methinks.
When I was in grad school in Michigan - my (then) boyfriend and I went to see Eyes Wide Shut. On the way out of the theater, we saw an adult man walking his (6? 7?) year old daughter (?) to his car. That was just so many different kinds of wrong I can’t begin. Completely inappropriate to bring young children to adult-themed movies. I was creeped out even if he wasn’t some disgusting pedophile.
I was raised way old-fashionedly, to the point we were not allowed to see any movie we could not get into on our own. Period. Which doesn’t carry over too much to MrTao’s boys, as we let them watch Family Guy and Bob’s Burgers, even though we know that some of the stuff that’s supposed to go over their head probably isn’t.
But I was also was raised in the atmosphere of ‘kids first, parent’s entertainment second’. So the idea of taking a kid to a movie because you can’t wait until you can see it alone is pretty irresponsible, to me. Especially nowadays, when you can see it on DVD within a few months. Seriously, wth?
lol I avoided going to the movies with my kid when he was younger as he would ask questions ALL the time… in a different language than the film is in though, so the neighbours can’t understand what he’s asking about … I think that annoyed them even more :o
The early Harry Potter films were rated 7 in Sweden, which meant they did a dubbed version for young kids as well as the English version. Somewhere along the line they started being rated 11, which meant that they didn’t bother doing a dubbed version. I went to see one of these and right behind me was a mother and her son that was underage and couldn’t read subtitles very well.
So she read every single subtitle to him in Swedish. Right behind me. In my ear.
What do you do in that situation? It isn’t the kid’s fault, but if you do anything about it you’re just going to end up upsetting him. I ended up giving disapproving stares during the film (I am a Brit after all) and then discretely had words with the mother once the film was over and my own experience had been ruined.
I was responding to part of even sven’s post which I saw as a little bit more judgemental than I liked. If you want to make it personal, feel free - I have nothing in particular planned for the rest of the day.
No its all good. If folks want to take it in that direction, who am I to try and stop them. I was mainly responding to post #8, which I didn’t make at all clear.
This. It’s not essential to go to a midnight showing of a movie. If there’s a midnight showing (other than Rocky Horror), then the movie is going to be at the theater for at least a couple of weeks. That’s enough time to organize a babysitter, or to find another parent or couple who’s willing to swap nights out so that everyone can see the movie.
It’s not necessary to see the movie on the first showing. It’s not even necessary to go on a Friday or Saturday night. Those are guaranteed to be the most hectic showings, with the most disruptions.
I don’t think the babies should be in the theaters. Just, no. I don’t want to even hear their little cutesy ass voices when I’m about to settle in for a movie. Ruins my vibe, ‘Mawwwmy, Cody is bothering meeee’.
Then, when the movie starts, when the film isn’t age appropriate, it is awkward when the gruesome or sexually explicit parts come on screen to have a four year old sitting next to you.
When I took my kid to the Disney films, my tolerance for snotty nosed tantrum throwing little peanut head kids was much higher…I knew what I was getting in to. But the grown up films are something I would prefer to be sans babes.
One thing I wanted to mention, though…I don’t believe in the whole, “It’s midnight, omg, get that baby off the streets” thing. My family doesn’t sleep nights, never did. My daughter’s doctor told me she would eventually grow out of it. She didn’t.
We have no problem taking her with us for drives or for a walk or whatever, regardless of time. The idea that crime is higher at night doesn’t deter us. That would be as bizarre as us deciding not to drive with her in the day time, since there is more traffic than at 2 pm than 2 am. My husband is confident that he can properly protect her, regardless of the hour. Eating chicken on a stick in Manhattan after midnight is actually one of their favorite things, when we make it to the city.
I noticed this, ‘good parents tuck the kids in early’ thing more often in small towns. Big cities seem to have more entire families enjoying night life together.
I love going to the movies, especially to see the big special-effects films. Since the two mini-popes have arrived I think I’ve been to a total of five in the last four years. These days the best part of going to the movies is getting a babysitter and not having the ankle-biters around.
My story on younger kids seeing inappropriate films:
Blackhawk Down, originally rated R here and then revised to MA. I had finished the book a few weeks before I saw the film and so had a good idea what to expect. I had a day off work so went to the movies. Almost no-one in the cinema when I arrive so I find a good seat.
A few minutes later a bunch of giggling 12 year old girls walk in and sit in front of me. “Odd audience for this film” I thought. I gathered from their conversation they went because Orlando Bloom & Ewan McGregor were in it. :smack:
[ul]
[li]Movie starts giggle giggle giggle[/li][li]Exposition chatter giggle chatter[/li][li]Orlando Bloom squeeee! giggle giggle giggle[/li][li]Choppers take off giggle giggle giggle[/li][li]Orlando Bloom & Ewan McGregor!!! squeeee! giggle giggle giggle[/li][li]Orlando falls out of chopper & splatters on ground giggle giggle gig…:eek::eek::eek:[/li][li]Rest of movie silence[/li][/ul]
