Thursday, November 10, 2005

Chicken Little: The follow-up



"Chicken Little" film adds new story angle - aliens

Blogger Jaimie was true to her word. After going to see the new animated movie "Chicken Little," she reported back. Some interesting comments were generated after a previous post. She comments, in part:
I didn't see anything shocking. I actually thought he (the chicken) was really cute. It was strange because he was so small but sounded like a 33 year old man. The movie twisted into something unexpected about aliens from outer space, which my daughter seemed confused about. She didn't know whether she should be scared or laughing. It definitely wasn't Cinderella.
Thanks, Jaimie.

Movie critics gave "Chicken Little" mixed reviews. You can read one of the most balanced ones at RogerEbert.com. CNN wrote the story titled Are G-movies going to far? on Nov. 2. After the film opened last weekend, MSNBC weighed in with its review, titled 'Chicken Little' plays it too safe. E! Online has still a different take.

Perhaps blogger friend Brea made a valid point when she said, "All these things make me scared to have kids." Meanwhile, Malik offers this introspective comment:

I agree with Brea, it is a fine line. On the one hand, I give my children credit for being intelligent enough to distinguish between silly fantasy violence and images of actual aggression. I'll even let my kids see violence, as long as it has a moral context. I think kids should know that violence in self-defense and defense of others is sometimes necessary and justifiable. I think it actually gives kids a sense of security to know that although [there] are bad people in the world who do bad things, we have ways of protecting society against them. I draw the line at gratuitous sexuality of any kind though. There's no conceivable reason for a [child] to be exposed to that.

We'll let Stan, a social worker in Cleveland, have the last word:

As parents, we owe it to our children to do our homework to the best of our ability, to insure that they are being educated and entertained with images that are healthy. Otherwise we risk them being programmed and misinformed with unhealthy input. Sometimes on a subliminal level. Negative input leads to negative output. We want to give our kids a chance to be their best.


Tags: , , , , , ,

2 comments:

Deb Sistrunk Nelson said...

Jaimie, I'm like you. I'm a peace lover. However, I have learned that when it comes to confronting violence, being a kid and a parent isn't as easy as it used to be.

Somehow, you have to manage how to teach your children to defend themselves while observing the school's zero tolerance policies. In my case, I also have noticed that my daughter faced a lot more bullying from girls than my sons did from boys.

Yes, there is a lot of wisdom in Malik's remarks. As Dorothy discovered in the Wizard of Oz, we're not in Kansas anymore.

Rose said...

I have allowed my child to watch some violent films because I felt that knowledge was powerful in how you can become a victim. But the violent sex, and high level of sex for young minds is al ittle too much. As parents we have to monitor what our children watch and know when it is time to put a stop to this trash...