Are Scary Family Movies too Scary for Kids?
Back in 1984, Steven Spielberg released his latest masterpiece: Gremlins. It looked like a cute movie, and was rated PG. Well, it turned out to be rather “intense” (1984), to put it mildly. This followed on the heels of his collaborative effort with George Lucas, Raiders of the Lost Ark in ’81. It was their little homage to the Saturday morning serials of the past, and was – overall – a great picture. But, several people complained regarding the very “intense” ending where the villains literally melted onscreen. As a little side note, Lucas’ film Star Wars (now called Episode IV: A New Hope) originally got a G rating, and he requested it get a PG. It was felt that the G rating would scare the teens – his primary target audience – away.
As a result of these and other films, the film industry came up with the PG-13 rating in an effort to better inform parents as to the content of movies. Today, they even go one better with giving a breakdown as to what sort of cinematic elements: sexuality, violence, language etc the movies contain.
Yet, films have been scaring the daylights out of kids for decades. It’s said that the manager of the Radio City Music Hall reported a lot of pee-stained seats following the release of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Apparently, Disney had come up with a very scary film, and that was followed in 1940 with Pinocchio. Here again, the transformation scene where Lampwick becomes a donkey – and lets out a mournful wail for his mother – is equally terrifying. More recently, in The Lion King, the death of Mufasa is shown onscreen, as opposed to Bambi’s mother dying off-screen.
For myself, the movie Jaws scared me out of the water for years! While my results are not scientific, there are countless studies that are. In the study “Tales from the Screen: Enduring Fright Reactions to Scary Media”, researchers Kristen Harrison and Joanne Cantor looked at over 150 college students and found that a full 90% reported a fright reaction from seeing a scary movie in their childhood. Just over a quarter of them said they still had “residual anxiety”. As recently as 2006, the Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital of New York-Presbyterian and Columbia University Medical Center did a study and presented their results to the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. They found that very young children – those under 5 or 6 – really shouldn’t be exposed to scary films. Furthermore, they also said that the ratings should only be used as a guide for parents.
Ironically, while Americans are quite comfortable about letting their children see violence, any type of sexual content is highly frowned upon. In Europe, they have the exact opposite feeling – love, romance, and even a degree of sexuality is all right, but they are very strict about the level of violence they let young children see.
Ideally, you should see a movie before letting your child see it; so that you can judge as to whether or not they can handle it. Now, all the studies and reports and rating guides in the world can’t tell a parent what they really need to know: how will their child react to a film. As mentioned above, ideally, you should see it first. Yet, there’s that word: ideally. Well, we don’t live in an ideal world! With movie tickets running $10 (or more), the economy tough, and people short on time – how can you possibly see every movie that your child wants to see? Well, you can’t. This is where friends and family, and websites that give you feedback from other parents can be a godsend.
Also unfortunately, a lot of recent movies have had ad campaigns that target the family audience without being completely honest about their content. The Spanish film Pan’s Labyrinth was portrayed as being some sort of fantasy story wherein a little girl meets all sorts of mystical creatures. Well, she does, but it all takes places against the backdrop of the Spanish Civil War, which is shown in very graphic detail! Her stepfather is a commander in the government army, and he tortures, beats and murders people (men and women) – all of it onscreen. Now, while certainly not as severe, Coraline has done the same in its ads – they point out the fun and playful fantasy aspects of the movie, yet gloss over some of the darker and more disturbing elements.
Some people also criticize the movie Marley & Me for giving the impression that it’s nothing more than a playful family film, and not being honest about its ending. Spoiler alert here: Marley dies at the end. Now, such a detail can rightly be said to be worthy of non-disclosure in the ads – it is after all the conclusion to the entire story, but some younger children can be very upset by the death of an animal. Similar concerns were voiced about the movie Finding Neverland – because the mother dies at the end. For that matter, the fantasy film (with a G-rating mind you!) Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium has a death scene: he dies near the end. Yet, in all three cases, merely because the story deals with death, it does not necessarily mean it’s unsuitable for children. A story with a sad ending is quite different from a story with a downer ending – goodness knows there are plenty of those around these days! Those are the films with the bleak, depressing (the filmmakers call them “edgy”) endings. Showing a story where people learn to deal with loss is perfectly fine, so long as there is a support system – family, friends etc – to help them deal with it.
To a large extent, it comes down to knowing your child. Some eight-year-olds can watch such horror films as Alien and The Haunting, and not bat an eye. When King Kong first premiered the scene where the men are shaken off of the log bridge was followed by a graphic depiction of them being devoured alive by giant spiders and crabs. It was considered so intense – even for adults – that it was cut, and has never been restored; the footage lost. Now, granted, with a lot of those films, they are less visual and more psychological, but there are other more recent films – The Shining and Nightmare on Elm Street movie and its sequels, for example – that some kids are fine with. On the other hand, some ten and twelve-year-olds can be so tender-hearted as to weep or scream seeing The Matrix or Coraline.
The final judge of which child can handle which movies is the parent, but it’s always best to err on the side of caution. Yes, your child may complain and say you’re the meanest mommy/daddy on the face of the earth, but the psychological damage done by seeing something they’re not ready to handle can not be undone. This isn’t like a skinned-knee or a sprained wrist – it won’t heal and go away over time. Whereas, give the child a few more years of growing, and they can deal with it. After all, it’s not like your child is going to get younger!
