# The most fucked-up movie ostensibly aimed at children **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 9, 2009, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-fucked-up-movie-ostensibly-aimed-at-children/505827 "2009-08-09T11:42:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![bramma23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@bramma23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bramma23)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-fucked-up-movie-ostensibly-aimed-at-children/505827/101 "2009-08-10T15:03:15Z")
Roger Ebert has a pretty scathing review of the video game vehicle The Wizard with Fred Savage, Beau Bridges, and Christian Slater. He specifically finds that it sends kids a terrible message about running away. [http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19891215/REVIEWS/912150304/1023](http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19891215/REVIEWS/912150304/1023) ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-fucked-up-movie-ostensibly-aimed-at-children/505827/102 "2009-08-10T15:03:20Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > Heh I was going to mention that the original Grimm fairy tales and the like were as wierd and horrible-grotesque as anything one could imagine; kids have more or less _always_ liked that sort of thing … 😉 Yeah…the idea of putting Where the Red Fern Grows on some “banned” (even if it was personal, and not for everyone) list is creepy to me. My parents never controlled anything that I read. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-fucked-up-movie-ostensibly-aimed-at-children/505827/103 "2009-08-10T15:19:26Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Good goddess but you’re touchy. The OP asked that we not turn this into a debate about The Incredibles, so I linked to a past thread where the topic was discussed. I thought people who were interested in arguing the subject might want to continue the debate there, or that they might find it interesting as a reference. It did not occur to me that you would think you are being repressed. I take it you’re not familiar with Smashy. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-fucked-up-movie-ostensibly-aimed-at-children/505827/104 "2009-08-10T15:24:39Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > Perhaps you read too much Freud. Listen to the way they are screaming at each other. ![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/2noq4itRq3Y/maxresdefault.jpg)https://www.youtube.com/embed/2noq4itRq3Y?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque He flat out states that he ‘must keep his feet on the ground’. This is what his father has told him to do. He must disobey his father and scream his mother’s name, in a rather orgasmic fashion. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-fucked-up-movie-ostensibly-aimed-at-children/505827/105 "2009-08-10T15:25:59Z")
> [@Zebra](#): > > Listen to the way they are screaming at each other. > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2noq4itRq3Y&feature=related](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2noq4itRq3Y&feature=related) > He flat out states that he ‘must keep his feet on the ground’. This is what his father has told him to do. He must disobey his father and scream his mother’s name, in a rather orgasmic fashion. I thought the point of the Oedipal complex was that you resolve it by NOT killing your father and screwing your mother but by identifying with your father. Or something. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-fucked-up-movie-ostensibly-aimed-at-children/505827/106 "2009-08-10T15:39:22Z")
I never said it was resolved the “proper” way. [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwbITVY9rkc) look at about the 2:50 to 3:00 mark. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-fucked-up-movie-ostensibly-aimed-at-children/505827/107 "2009-08-10T15:42:56Z")
> [@Zebra](#): > > I never said it was resolved the “proper” way. > > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwbITVY9rkc&feature=related](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwbITVY9rkc&feature=related) > look at about the 2:50 to 3:00 mark. So what makes it an Oedipal complex? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-fucked-up-movie-ostensibly-aimed-at-children/505827/108 "2009-08-10T16:02:28Z")
> [@badbadrubberpiggy](#): > > I have no idea. I personally don’t feel that just because a movie/book features death that it is inappropriate for kids. Where the Red Fern Grows made me cry my eyes out in the 3rd grade - but I loved it and re-read it many times. Roald Dahl books like the Witches and George’s Marvelous Medicine had awfully scary characters, but I still loved them. Scary things aren’t only for adults. When I was a kid I read pretty much all of Dahl’s books with my mother. If I have grown up warped, I don’t think that’s the reason. His stuff is really not scary, it’s just twisted. I’m sure I cried my eyes out at Where the Red Fern Grows, but I mean, they killed a dog - what other reaction is a kid going to have? 😛 > [@](#): > > Some posters seem to be saying "that scared _me_ as a kid, therefor it’s not appropriate for any kids. Pretty much, yeah. Death is not incomprehensible for school-age children. Four and five year olds, maybe not - but at eight or ten? Come on. By that point, the odds are fairly good that one of your grandparents or great grandparents dies, or your family dog or cat, or at least a freaking goldfish. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-fucked-up-movie-ostensibly-aimed-at-children/505827/109 "2009-08-10T16:06:47Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > When I was a kid I read pretty much all of Dahl’s books with my mother. If I have grown up warped, I don’t think that’s the reason. His stuff is really not scary, it’s just twisted. > I’m sure I cried my eyes out at Where the Red Fern Grows, but I mean, they killed a dog - what other reaction is a kid going to have? 😛 Yeah. His adult stuff is even twisteder and some of it is a bit scary but I was raised on a steady diet of Dahl and by the time I got to about high school, I was devouring his Tales of the Unexpected. A lot of these responses make me wonder what books are “appropriate” for kids. Like, are you protective parents going to screen them to make sure they’re not too sad? And if not…what’s the point? I’d rather have cried at Little Ann and Old Dan dying than felt nothing. ---
**Author:** ![cruel\_butterfly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5daacb/32.png) [@cruel\_butterfly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cruel_butterfly)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-fucked-up-movie-ostensibly-aimed-at-children/505827/110 "2009-08-10T16:17:16Z")
_The Watcher In the Woods_. A Disney “real people” movie that still freaks me out just a little bit to this day. The special effects are pure cheddar, and the young blonde who plays the lead isn’t the best actress. The rest of the cast is pretty good, especially Bette Davis who plays Mrs. Alewood, whose daughter disappeared twenty years ago under mysterious circumstances. There are several “make-you-jump-out-of-your-skin” moments, and a slow realization that the “circumstances” were supernatural in nature. I can’t watch it in the dark. And I haven’t ever wanted to go alone into any sort of “woods” since I saw it. I can’t be the only one. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-fucked-up-movie-ostensibly-aimed-at-children/505827/111 "2009-08-10T16:36:32Z")
> [@SmashTheState](#): > > And the bit about the ungrateful masses clawing down Atlas from his pedestal, causing the Earth to tumble from his glorious shoulders? About the ungrateful masses not knowing what’s best for them, being easily misled by the collectivist Syndrome and his promises of sharing the power? Uh, Syndrome never promises the masses that he’ll share power with them. It’s only something that he mentions privately as a rationalization for his actions. The fact that you’re having to distort what actually happens in the movie to support your thesis is a strong indication that your thesis is wrong. ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-fucked-up-movie-ostensibly-aimed-at-children/505827/112 "2009-08-10T17:47:35Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > A lot of these responses make me wonder what books are “appropriate” for kids. Like, are you protective parents going to screen them to make sure they’re not too sad? And if not…what’s the point? I’d rather have cried at Little Ann and Old Dan dying than felt nothing. I really think it depends upon the particular kid. I am not a parent, but I was kid who read Old Yeller and it did _not_ go well. It’s not that it’s inappropriate for kids, but it was definitely inappropriate for ME at the age when I read it. A little parental discretion would have been desirable. I also think it was a little cruel that I had to read Where the Red Fern Grows in school (not just for school, but actually in the classroom when I read it) because it was such an emotional experience with lots of crying and snot which becomes even worse when a classroom full of your peers is staring at you. ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-fucked-up-movie-ostensibly-aimed-at-children/505827/113 "2009-08-10T18:22:24Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > A lot of these responses make me wonder what books are “appropriate” for kids. Around the same period (8 yo?), I read many of these supposedly mistargeted books listed in this thread, like Red Fern, Witches, Jungle Book etc. You know what got me? There was a novelization of Robin Hood, where later in his life he dies when, under what passed for medical care at the time, a nunnery nurse lets too much blood from him. A hero dying helplessly, not from a battle, or a disease, or a forest fire, or a tragic mistake, but simply from trusting and placing his life to authority figure who killed him out of the pure ignorance of the times. That screwed me up bad, and I balled my eyes out for months afterward whenever I would think about it. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-fucked-up-movie-ostensibly-aimed-at-children/505827/114 "2009-08-10T18:24:00Z")
> [@GargoyleWB](#): > > **I balled my eyes out for months** afterward whenever I would think about it. I’ve heard of pointless death being squicky, but geez! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-fucked-up-movie-ostensibly-aimed-at-children/505827/115 "2009-08-10T18:25:12Z")
Heh. Sometimes I think that reading a lot of books has desensitized me. Like, someone dies, oh well. Someone better will come along. I can’t remember the last time a character’s death in a film, TV show, or book really got to me. Well, okay, there were a couple of Sopranos deaths…but nothing else comes to mind. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-fucked-up-movie-ostensibly-aimed-at-children/505827/116 "2009-08-10T18:29:27Z")
Isn’t part of the reason for tragedy in kid’s lit to, if you like, “desensitize” kids? They will after all experience tragedy in real life at some point; learning to deal with it in the safe form of literature may be a good thing. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-fucked-up-movie-ostensibly-aimed-at-children/505827/117 "2009-08-10T18:31:11Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > Isn’t part of the reason for tragedy in kid’s lit to, if you like, “desensitize” kids? They will after all experience tragedy in real life at some point; learning to deal with it in the safe form of literature may be a good thing. I think so. I’ve read a lot over the years, and often I’ll encounter people who read a book and talk about being utterly devastated over it, and I’ll kind of feel like…a little bit bad that I was so flippant about it. I actually started another Cafe Society thread about it [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=527609). ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-fucked-up-movie-ostensibly-aimed-at-children/505827/118 "2009-08-10T18:38:49Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > I’ve heard of pointless death being squicky, but geez! 😛 Bawled! Bawled! Argh, I never do that–but I just did that :smack: ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-fucked-up-movie-ostensibly-aimed-at-children/505827/119 "2009-08-10T18:51:24Z")
IMO you’d be doing pretty well to get more messed up than the opening scenes of Wall-E. Seriously ? Your protagonist is the last survivor of a dying breed, canabilising the bodies of his dead friends so that he can carry on a doomed Sisyphean task on a dead planet ? And you want Disney to fund this, right ? ---
**Author:** ![raspberry\_hunter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@raspberry\_hunter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raspberry_hunter)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-fucked-up-movie-ostensibly-aimed-at-children/505827/120 "2009-08-10T19:24:57Z")
I’ll be a dissenter on Gremlins and say that I was _not_ happy as a kid watching it, and felt like I had been sucked in by the little cute mogwai (or whatever it was called). But I was pretty weenie as a kid when it came to movies. _Bridge to Terebithia_, however, I absolutely loved (and still do). I think I was much more accepting of awful things happening in books than in movies. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-fucked-up-movie-ostensibly-aimed-at-children/505827.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-fucked-up-movie-ostensibly-aimed-at-children/505827.md?page=7)