<rant>
I took my 10 year old son to see G.I. Joe. He did not last ten minutes into and said he wanted to go home; he was scared. I really wanted to see it but it would mean nothing to me if he did not enjoy it with me. Besides, from what I could tell of the first 10 minutes it did seem a little intense and violent. My son has a pretty good moral compass and a self guided ratings system, he can tell if something feel too intense for him and will immediately walk away or express his desire to do so. This is an excellent tool to have in a society whose moral fabric has been decaying for decades.
So here I am thinking to myself about all this when I realize that the toys and imaginations of my childhood are being turned into vicious, obnoxious, sexualized and overtly violent nightmares for children that are the same age as when I played with them. I guess I should not be surprised, Hollywood had lost its way many years ago; maybe even before I was aware that Hollywood existed. But it still angers me nonetheless.
When the first Transformers movie came out I was excited because I thought it would be super cool to see these robots who 'more than meet the eye' come to life on the big screen and blow us out of our seats. While the first movie was mediocre, my preview of it suggested that I should not bring my eight year old son to it because it was pretty intense, the language was a little vulgar and it could have done without the adult overtones; bummer, he would have liked seeing something this cool. Then the new Transformers movie came out this year. My son being two years older suggests he might be able to handle it now. Like a good dad, I pre-screened the movie and within the first 20 minutes I was certain I was not taking him. The Transformers were certainly more than meets the eye, ear and sensibilities at this point; the vulgarity just got worse as the movie went on. Disgusting!
And now G.I.Joe. To be fair, I have only seen the first 10 minutes, if that (and to be even more fair, I did not pre-screen like I did with Transformers...my bad). Of what I saw, it was pretty intense as well, and a bit geared to an older audience I think (I realize that the movie is PG-13, I realize this about Transformers as well). I am sure it will do well at the box office and have a good run; I will likely rent it at Red Box for one dollar.
Here is what disturbs me: The marketing of these movies goes well beyond previews and posters, it's the happy meals and the toys too. My son sees all this cool new stuff coming out and sees that it is tied to a new movie and gets pumped. I get excited with him because I see my childhood memories FINALLY being made into the movies that I enacted out in my head and visualized through my toys; these are my finest memories coming alive! Then my son sees the rating and I think his heart sinks because he intrinsically knows that this will be too much for him. My heart sinks too because it is one less thing that I can share with him in this cool visual way.
When I think back to when I played with my G.I. Joes, I do not remember having PG-13 scenarios in my head with them. I remember shooting at the enemy, sure. I remember a few Joes dying from a long fall from the window and I remember Destro having a severe issue controlling his Kung-Fu grip on the Joes. But I do not remember burning someone's face-off, terrorizing a whole city and having attitude, stereotypes or bad language with my Joes; I had not lost my innocence as of yet.
I ask THIS of Hollywood: Why should I let YOU take my son's innocence away through what were so cherished memories for me???
</rant>
<addendum>
It occurs to me that rather than sharing with my son about these memories in a visual and media related way, I should be more open to sharing them in the same way that I played with them, imaganitively! I should try to encourage him to use HIS imagination more and not rely on the monster that is Hollywood to do this for him.
</addendum>
