A question for those of us with sprogs.
Do you let them see films with a higher certificate than their age? When?
I take the view that provided I am aware of the content (and I do check) then I am master of what they watch, not a set of arbitrary criteria imposed by a bureaucrat. My view is that I know better what makes my kids tick than someone working to an "average".
So, no shagging but plenty of violence, provided it is goodie v baddie stuff with no moral ambiguity. That's my take. I'm not fussed about language (they hear worse in school) and the violence in most films is the same as some cartoons.
So, Terminator 1 - out for the shagging. Terminator 2 - in.
But what about you? I'm skewed by my folks letting me see pretty much anything (the rude bits were fast-forwarded). But I'm scarred by seeing the Evil Dead at 11.
And, more to the point:
Can my 10 year old see Alien?
And, as Christmas is coming, what about the greatest Christmas movie ever - Die Hard?
If it were up to me alone, I would let my 11 and 8 year olds watch Alien. It's my favourite film of all time and a bit of an obsession for me, so I can't wait to introduce my kids to it. Unfortunately for me (and the kids), my wife will not stand for it.
I've got her to bend the rules a little bit and, with her blessing, shown the kids Poltergeist, Jaws, Dracula (the 1979 one with Frank Langella), both Hellboy films and Space Balls, all of which are of a 12 certificate or higher (no 18s though).
Me and the eldest had a day off together recently, and while the missus was out, I let him watch Terminator 2, which he loved to bits. I've sworn him to secrecy though, as the amount of swearing in it would send my wife into an apoplectic rage. As you say though Doc, he hears worse at school, so I don't see it as an issue.
The next time me and the lad are at home alone, I'm thinking of letting him choose an 18 certificate to watch. He's expressed an interest in seeing An American Werewolf in London, which I saw when I was about 12 or 13 without suffering any trauma.
In short, play it by ear. If you think they'll be alright with Alien, go for it. My biggest concern about letting them watch Alien isn't that they'll be too scared, it's that they won't like it. I'd be mortified...
I have two kids and I have a very good idea of what will be too scary or too much for them when it comes to films
I've never been too worried about age certificates on films as long as I know it's something that they can handle, but I was brought watching pretty much anything regardless of age rating.
If we are watching something and it's getting too much then the kids just say so and the films goes off. Me and the boy have started watching the Mad Max films together and he is loving them, he's fascinated by the car.
Alien I would play by ear as that's designed to be scary and some kids find something's scarier than others but Die Hard is a fantasic Christmas movie and should be enjoyed by all ha ha
I would be less concerned about shagging and more concerned about violence.
Quote from: Old Tankie on 17 November, 2015, 09:45:25 AM
I would be less concerned about shagging and more concerned about violence.
Mm. It's strange the way modern society works in this regard, and it continues into adulthood for a great many people. Look at US mainstream films and telly, quick to censor sex and blood, but happy to rack up insane bodycounts without even thinking. I got a bit weirded out by Agents of SHIELD when the characters in the previous season just started killing everyone they went near. I always think of that episode in Invisibles, where you get the backstory of someone casually offed without a second thought by one of the main characters a few issues earlier. (Swearing only really bothers me in that words with impact are now losing them, due to overuse, but then language evolves.)
As for the films and the readiness of any small human to see them, I suppose that's down to the individual parent. Only they know their kids, and can have a good guess at what will or won't affect them. That said, there is that random element. I remember being totally spooked by a scene in Ghostbusters for years, but watched 'worse' fare when young. That all said, you'd have to have a pretty well-balanced and tough 10-year-old to get through Alien without being horrified.
The wife and I have been having this very discussion re: Alien. The Boy (9) has been lobbying to watch 'proper scary film', and Alien is top of the list(it gives the missus nightmares). I'm inclined to go for it myself - he can chicken out at any point.
Apparently his mates all watch Walking Dead (I doubt it TBH), but I draw the line there for now - it's an adult (if childish)story about what shits people are a lot of the time, as opposed to ladies being terrorised by robotic killings or monsters with acid for blood.
I'm finding myself curiously prudish about sexual content (as opposed to plain nudity) in movies, something I never thought I would be. The Neeson Rob Roy for example, one of my all-time favourite films and a corker, remains out of bounds for the kids for its particularly unpleasant rape scene,and perhaps the dialogue surrounding the Sibbald gang's woman. The sex scene in Terminator, I dunno, I'll have to review - I'm not so fussed by vanilla shagging, more by sexual violence and attitudes to women.
Hate to say it, but Alien is full of sex - it's just implied (and will probably go over an 11 year old's head).
I saw it when I was 13 (but had been watching horror films for 5 years beforehand, starting with American Werewolf at the cinema, which scared the crap out of me at the time). I waited until my younger brother was 13 before showing him Alien / Aliens (swearing him to silence so my parents wouldn't find out I'd shown them to him).
Quote from: Tordelback on 17 November, 2015, 10:26:04 AMThe sex scene in Terminator, I dunno, I'll have to review - I'm not so fussed by vanilla shagging, more by sexual violence and attitudes to women.
Sex scene in Terminator is fine (he'll probably be more embarrassed about it than anything) - Its between two people who are in love with each other, and (for once) very plot relevant as it leads to the birth of JC.
Cheers, Pyroxian. But there's no chanceof my showing the lad American Werewolf - can't have a third generation of this family blighted by Agutter worship. Also, demon Nazis behind the curtain are a scare too far.
Quote from: Tordelback on 17 November, 2015, 10:42:34 AM
Cheers, Pyroxian. But there's no chanceof my showing the lad American Werewolf - can't have a third generation of this family blighted by Agutter worship. Also, demon Nazis behind the curtain are a scare too far.
Oh yeah, I'd forgotten about that bit. Perhaps I won't let my son watch it just yet after all...
Quote from: Tordelback on 17 November, 2015, 10:26:04 AM
The wife and I have been having this very discussion re: Alien. The Boy (9) has been lobbying to watch 'proper scary film', and Alien is top of the list(it gives the missus nightmares). I'm inclined to go for it myself - he can chicken out at any point.
There's always "The Thing" as an alternative :)
Quote from: IndigoPrime on 17 November, 2015, 10:19:49 AM
Quote from: Old Tankie on 17 November, 2015, 09:45:25 AM
I would be less concerned about shagging and more concerned about violence.
Mm. It's strange the way modern society works in this regard, and it continues into adulthood for a great many people. Look at US mainstream films and telly, quick to censor sex and blood, but happy to rack up insane bodycounts without even thinking.
I don't think it's society. I think it's instinct.
Take any group of mammals and you'll see them knocking the hell out of/pretending to slaughter each other from a very early age, (probably because the quicker they learn to defend themselves in the wild, the better), but they don't need to know how to reproduce until they're old enough.
...and the scariest bit in American Werewolf is that bit when he unexpectedly opens his eyes in the bed in the middle of the wood.
Mine are 7 and 10 and always look forward to the nights mums out with her pals and we get a pizza in and watch something they shouldn't. They call it the lads night in.
We've recently watched all the terminator and aliens and some of the evil deads, Halloweens, elm street, etc. The Thing is a particular fave in our house. I tend to stick with the older stuff as to their young eyes its obviously fake. Funnily enough they self censor themselves whenever any sexiness comes on by covering their own eyes but I think that's just cos I'm there.
I think you know your own kids and its up to you to make a judgement call. Mine are pretty immune to gore and the film that scared them the most was Gremlins last Xmas.
Next ups A Serbian Film :) Only joking next ups Dog Soldiers.
The kids are probably knee deep in internet snuff p0rn videos :lol:
On balance, we've decided to let small boys be small boys and not push this on him. When he asks, he's ready for it.
It's selfish of me to want to watch Alien with him.
Quote from: Spaceghost on 17 November, 2015, 11:06:44 AM
Quote from: Tordelback on 17 November, 2015, 10:42:34 AM
Cheers, Pyroxian. But there's no chanceof my showing the lad American Werewolf - can't have a third generation of this family blighted by Agutter worship. Also, demon Nazis behind the curtain are a scare too far.
Oh yeah, I'd forgotten about that bit. Perhaps I won't let my son watch it just yet after all...
That dream scene in the woods freaked me out too. Not the running naked, but the bit straight after when he opens his eyes, and there's that sound effect.
The werewolf stuff itself is fine. No problem. But that.... yikes...
I really like American Werewolf in London, yet I'm still reluctant to watch it because of that scene. I'm a big wuss i know. Yet I know it's mainly just the memory of being scared, blowing things out of proportion. If I watched it now I'd probably cope okay... yet I'm reluctant still...
Amusingly with the nazi scene those masks aren't particularly realistic, are they? Could be something you'd get from a costume shot... yet the way it's shot with that jump scare...
I watched Alien when I was about 10. I turned out fine.
Quote from: shaolin_monkey on 18 November, 2015, 12:29:37 AM
I watched Alien when I was about 10. I turned out fine.
Scratch that idea, so!
Quote from: M.I.K. on 17 November, 2015, 05:06:13 PMTake any group of mammals and you'll see them knocking the hell out of/pretending to slaughter each other from a very early age, (probably because the quicker they learn to defend themselves in the wild, the better), but they don't need to know how to reproduce until they're old enough.
For me, it depends on how I parse that sentence... If you meant "old enough to want to know", I might agree, but if you meant "old enough to actually reproduce", I'd argue otherwise. We as a modern society would do far better at being upfront about reproduction and sex with kids at a younger age, rather than them blundering into it. (It's interesting that the more prudish societies in this regard have the highest instances of underage pregnancies.) And that for me extends to media.
Mind you, I recall asking my mother when I was about five what "gay" meant. I've no idea where I'd heard the term. She rather frankly told me it was when two men or women love each other like mummy and daddy do. I told my friends, and other parents were horrified, and practically ostracised my mum. I then had to endure bullying as other parents tried to suck the information out of their children's heads and inject that gay meant "colourful and bright". I'm not sure how that benefitted anyone. (Teachers didn't help. They were just as furious.)
Not that the same frankness needs to be the case when it comes to
media. I'm certainly not suggesting every ten-year-old sit down and watch something stuffed with sex scenes and the like. But, as I said earlier, I'm getting increasingly uncomfortable with the unthinking nature of death and body counts on show in cinema and telly, because that's somehow normal, and yet intimate contact is to be hidden away with a cough and a harrumph. (On a similar line of thinking, it's strange to think how many people criticised Dredd as being gory and horrible and disgusting, when it was, broadly speaking, merely realistic. It showed what happened when people get shot, rather than people just falling over. Again, I'm not suggesting that all shows should be like this, but it showcases and interesting disconnect regarding death and empathy. Shooting someone's OK, but not if you see the gore. I'm sure vegetarians and vegans might have some interesting comparisons to make about the food industry there, too!)
Quote from: The Enigmatic Dr X on 17 November, 2015, 11:59:53 PMOn balance, we've decided to let small boys be small boys and not push this on him. When he asks, he's ready for it. It's selfish of me to want to watch Alien with him.
It'll be interesting to see what mini-Prime wants to watch and read when she's older. Her parents are both geeks, so, presumably, she'll be resolutely into non-fiction and want to only watch documentaries about farming or something. (Currently, she's not really into the telly at all. Vague interest in Finding Nemo, but that's about it. But stick a tablet in front of her...)
Alien was on the TV first when i was 12 and i wasn't allowed to watch it. i blagged my way in school the next day by having read the Alan dean foster novel (in secret)...but the film did scare me significantly at 14, more so than the novel.
IMHO it was because of the natural performances of the actors..the banter at the meal scene made the events so much realistic than some crazy overacting or horror intent.
Quote from: auxlen on 18 November, 2015, 07:04:29 PM
Alien was on the TV first when i was 12 and i wasn't allowed to watch it.
Oh, that premiere has stuck in my mind. All the way back to
1982 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npJd6FgsSvI)
I was 13, or 14 then, so was 'old' enough to be allowed to watch Alien. With my sister, on a little black and white portable
Back in '79, I was desperate to see Alien, and thanks to the wealth of lavishly illustrated tie-in books, I pretty much did.
Black and white portable...such love turning the big knob to get a clean signal. awesome!!!!
Yes indeed! My first viewing of Logan's Run (and the divine Jenny in adult form), emerging from the snow as I sat in the kitchen twiddling the giant dial on the tiny red portable. Some years later I would be allowed to take it up to my room, and as a consequence became addicted to Hill Street Blues.
IIRC, I was forever 'adjusting' the aerial on our first (second hand) portable telly in a futile attempt to get a decent picture.
Much like how Radio Luxemburg was forever fading in, and out.
Kids nowadays.... etc....etc...
This thread makes for really fascinating reading!
Alien ranks as one of my most favourite things ever. But I dont think I saw it until I was 18. By that point some of its visual effects were starting to look a little bit wobbly (like the flat bottoms of the creature's feet when you see them.) But it still properly terrifies me. Even now.
To be honest, I'm really glad I never saw it at an earlier age, like some of my old school pals did. Some of the ideas in the movie are keep-you-awake-at-night scary.
Quote from: HdE on 19 November, 2015, 10:47:08 AM
But it still properly terrifies me. Even now.
There's something fundamentally, primally scary in Giger's design. I was at the Bristol con a few years ago, and there was a guy in a
really good Alien costume* — the first time I saw it was in my peripheral vision, coming up a corridor from behind me. All the hairs on my neck stood up and I felt a clench in my stomach before I even properly registered what the costume was.
Cheers
Jim
*Clever design. I'm pretty sure he** was wearing its head like a hat, and the tail was articulated and (I think) the tip was attached to the shoulder 'fins' with fishing line, so that it snaked out horizontally behind him.
**Or she, now that I think about it.
Not an awful lot I can add other than, despite what the BBFC tell you, it is not against the law to allow people under the age of what ever to view certain films, only for retailers to sell them to people under what ever age.
From personal experience, me and dad decided to let the siblings (10 and 8) watch the Mad Max movies. And you know what? How Mad Max and The Road Warrior still retain their 18 ratings I do not know, as they're positively innocent compared to some more commercially viable titles given 12A's right now (Spectre was particularly unpleasant). Thunderdome could get a PG, I bet! Even Fury Road is fairly tame.
Quote from: Spikes on 18 November, 2015, 07:34:43 PM
Quote from: auxlen on 18 November, 2015, 07:04:29 PM
Alien was on the TV first when i was 12 and i wasn't allowed to watch it.
Oh, that premiere has stuck in my mind. All the way back to 1982 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npJd6FgsSvI)
I was 13, or 14 then, so was 'old' enough to be allowed to watch Alien. With my sister, on a little black and white portable
That's exactly when I saw it, as a 10 yr old, also on a b&w portable!
My mum let me stay up to watch it with her as a special treat. It didn't scare me in the slightest, but I loved the film from that moment onwards!
Quote from: Hawkmonger on 19 November, 2015, 11:35:36 AM
And you know what? How Mad Max and The Road Warrior still retain their 18 ratings I do not know, as they're positively innocent compared to some more commercially viable titles given 12A's right now (Spectre was particularly unpleasant). Thunderdome could get a PG, I bet! Even Fury Road is fairly tame.
MM 1, 2 & FR do have sexual violence in them, which tends to attract the higher ratings.
Thunderdome I have no idea - I thought it was a 15 at the time it was released and was surprised to find it was an 18... It's crap after the first half-hour though :(
The sexual violance is mearly implied (albeit somewhat heavy handidly) in MM, and the same act is pretty obscured in TRW. I'd say we've seen worse in 12A's from the last several years.
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 19 November, 2015, 11:10:26 AM
Quote from: HdE on 19 November, 2015, 10:47:08 AM
But it still properly terrifies me. Even now.
There's something fundamentally, primally scary in Giger's design. I was at the Bristol con a few years ago, and there was a guy in a really good Alien costume* — the first time I saw it was in my peripheral vision, coming up a corridor from behind me. All the hairs on my neck stood up and I felt a clench in my stomach before I even properly registered what the costume was.
Cheers
Jim
*Clever design. I'm pretty sure he** was wearing its head like a hat, and the tail was articulated and (I think) the tip was attached to the shoulder 'fins' with fishing line, so that it snaked out horizontally behind him.
**Or she, now that I think about it.
Strue!
I went to the Aliens 'ride'/walk/run thro' thingy at the Arches in Glasgow many years ago. There was a great bit of theatre set within a Lift, where the doors open and a huge Alien grabs a (planted actor!) occupant of the lift. Strangely, one of the lifts at work is very very similar and its always there in the back of my mind just as the doors start to slide open.
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 19 November, 2015, 11:10:26 AM
There's something fundamentally, primally scary in Giger's design. I was at the Bristol con a few years ago, and there was a guy in a really good Alien costume* — the first time I saw it was in my peripheral vision, coming up a corridor from behind me. All the hairs on my neck stood up and I felt a clench in my stomach before I even properly registered what the costume was.
Oddly enough, I never found the Alien itself scary. I mean, yeah, it has the kind of presence in the movies that makes you go 'oh SHIT!' whenever it appears. It was always the Facehugger that properly brought me out in a cold sweat.
BUT - did you see that post I made on Facebook a while back, Jim? Funny story:
I'd been working all through the night to get a big (and top secret) project done. About 6:00AM, I went into the kitchen to make myself a cup of tea so I could wind down and finally relax before getting a few hours decent kip.
I fished the milk out of the fridge and turned around, only to see THE ALIEN ITSELF standing at the upstairs window of the house opposite. And it full on reared back and made menacing motions as I saw it. My brain misfired, and forgetting for a moment that it could not POSSIBLY be real, I ended up wearing half a carton of milk.
The rational explanation?
The guy in the house opposite works crazy hours. He was putting in an early morning gaming session on Alien Isolation, on his MASSIVE TV, which literally fills the visible space though his window. So that's how I saw a moving, conceivably 'life sized' alien in my sleepy little Devon village.
I have never felt like such a prize chump.
Just like to point out that a ten year old in this day and age is going to be bored shitless watching Alien. One of my favorite movies, but it requires some concentration for the full effect and as nothing of any great excitement happens until a third of the way in, I would think my daughter would never speak to me again if I made her sit through it. While we might marvel at Ridley Scott's ability to create atmosphere with endless shots of an empty, cavernous spacecraft, little people just get bored with that shit. There are a LOT of scenes with people just sitting around talking. Look, I thought I was going to have a great father-daughter bonding night when she agreed to watch Predator with me last year and she couldn't take it. Thought it was boring and stupid. The cheek! Anyway, I've thought about showing her Alien myself but figure I'll wait so she can properly appreciate it for all that it is.
TEN YEARS OLD
i would suggest when the female care giver of the household is away! then its good DAD parenting.
I stumbled across thread and plenty of interesting comments are found here. I suppose parent censorship goes from parent to parent. In my case, well, at the risk of being called hypocrite, I'll definitely be wary of showing such "risky" film(s) to my kids. I am childless, btw, but I know exactly that I definitely wouldn't allow my kids watch several movies that I did in my youth. In that regard, I am perhaps a bit more strict than my parents, who were somewhat loose, but not full-on loose. Although, my memory is shaky and I really can't remember what movies were on the telly, that my folks had to switch the channel. Maybe they personally didn't like it, anyway. But like I say, they weren't so much restrictive. Predator is one of the first films I remember, I was perhaps 9 and was blown away by the film. I remember that I stayed pretty late to see it (well, perhaps 10, 11pm was then pretty late for me at that age). When Arnie was covered in mud and Predator creeping in front of him. Alien I saw a bit later, I think I was 11 or 12 and loved that too. Not so much the characters, but I liked the visual. And the third act was mind-blowing, when Ripley is running down the ship's corridors to escape the beast. Just wow. Also, it looked as pretty much a fresh movie to me and that was in the early 2000s.
In retrospect, I say that I probably watched the movies that in majority were the ones I should watch, during my growing up. Schwarzenegger, a bit of Bruce Willis and other sundry actioneers. With a bit of touch of sf and horrors/thrillers. Although I can't say I was a big movie buff them well, not until I was around 14. Movies that I remember as disturbing or freakish from that period were The Last Boy Scout (whose language stunned me), for similar reasons Internal Affairs (also, it was my first experience of what means to be an actor as I saw Richard Gere in some movie previously where he was so totally different than his heartless character in Internal Affairs); Fire on the Sky is the first movie that I wanted to escape screaming. I am talking about the alien experiment part at the end. When I was a bit older (perhaps 16-17), I saw Cronenberg's Videodrome and also wanted to run away when the corpse started disintegrating in very gory fashion. Oh, and Darkman creeped me out too. Shot as it is a living nightmare.
Quote from: Satanist on 17 November, 2015, 06:04:25 PM
Next ups A Serbian Film :) Only joking next ups Dog Soldiers.
Lol. This post reminds me on a thread on IMDB, back when IMDB had forum too. In which someone asked if ASF is the perfect film for a father and son to watch together. Perhaps the best case of trolling I've ever seen :)
Food for thought, Milstar. But your serious tone is hamstrung by this beauty of a comment.
Quote from: milstar on 04 May, 2021, 07:08:03 PM
Lol. This post reminds me on a thread on IMDB, back when IMDB had forum too. In which someone asked if ASF is the perfect film for a father and son to watch together. Perhaps the best case of trolling I've ever seen :)
Quote from: The Enigmatic Dr X on 04 May, 2021, 07:23:42 PM
Food for thought, Milstar. But your serious tone is hamstrung by this beauty of a comment.
I do my best.