When I was a young child, my movie going experiences were always filled with fast chases, funny gags, and adventure. Honest to god adventure. When the Fratelli's pop up at the end of THE GOONIES my heart raced! When Little foot and the rest of the dino gang had the great valley in their sights only for sharp tooth to pounce at them for one final showdown I was on the edge of my (high) chair. Who can forget when all seemed lost for E.T. only to see those flowers come back to life? These moments are fondly remembered by anyone of my generation, but as of late "children's movies" seem to be void of these moments. Kids movies are for kids and no one else these days, and as entertaining as they may be they also seem to be forgotten as quickly as a bag of cotton candy. Light, fluffy, and gone in an instant, never to be remembered again. No one is revisiting CATS AND DOGS or SHREK THE 3'RD. Why is that? Does Hollywood not aspire to make great family entertainment anymore, or are they afraid to? Do they purposefully avoid making lasting memorable characters and moments for the entire family, or are they settling with the pop culture reference filled candy colored quickie’s they keep churning out these days?
"You’re dead if you only aim for kids. Adults are only kids who've grown up anyway" - Walt Disney.
Danger is an integral part in any well done drama. There needs to be a conflict great enough to warrant a story being told around it. Back in the 70's and 80's this ideology was applied to children’s films with just as much measure as the adult ones. The Fratelli family in THE GOONIES all brandished guns at some point, and often had them trained on kids. Sharp Tooth was so scary in THE LAND BEFORE TIME because we see him kill little foots mother in the opening moments of the film. The reason we care so much for E.T. is because we had to endure almost half an hour of doctors and scientists slowly and painfully poking and proding him to death, reveling in his undeserved pain.
I remember as a child being warned by my parents not to get in a car with strangers. They'd never say exactly what specifically would happen if I did and so my imagination filled in the blanks. Witches in disguise, red necks stealing kids to feed to their pet alligator and other oddball ideas came to mind. I was scared to death of what might happen. Eventually I grew up and realized I was way off course with that one, but the truth was a cold slap of reality. Pedophiles and murderers. One of my favorite books as a child was THE WITCHES by Roald Dahl. I loved the movie the Jim Henson Company made of it in equal measures. I was thrilled to see these kids my age do battle with all these evil witches who wanted to turn the world’s children into mice. Watching this film as an adult takes on an entire new meaning. The fear of losing a child is the most horrifying thing a parent can think of. There is a sequence specifically in the book and film that, upon reflection, is one of the most disturbing things I’ve ever seen. A homely mother is walking her new born baby in a stroller at the seaside hotel the story takes place at. A witch in disguise comes up and starts doting on the newborn as women often do. Just when the mother looks away, the witch pushes the baby carriage away. It goes careening down a hill toward the rocky cliffs. As the mother screams for help and our main protagonist gives chase, the witch cackles in delight. We're about to watch a child be murdered. Luckily the baby is saved. I wish I could say the same for some of the other kids in the film, who are abducted by the witches and never seen again, with heavy implications that they were killed or worse. Pretty heavy stuff for kids right? You'd never see a scene like that in today’s children’s films. Even the IDEA of that one sequence would offend most parents these days. But what a deliciously sinister idea? To take the universal truth that kids must fear strangers, but not know why, and give them a reason that’s fantastical yes, but also dangerously close to reality. If you go with a stranger you will die. I often disobeyed my parents. After THE WITCHES I decided for myself to stay the hell away from strangers. So was I really harmed or emotionally scarred? By the movie? Absolutely not. I wasn't emotionally scarred until I was older and heard about what happens to lost children on the local news. They spared no details.
"Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple." - Dr. Seuss
So what happened? What happened to the days when danger was not only an acceptable inclusion in any children’s film, but a required one? As far back as the brothers Grimm children's stories have been filled to the brim with the threat of very real danger. This threat is all but void in today’s entertainment where the biggest danger to the characters is if they are going to pass a test or if they are going to get away with a prank without their parents finding out. These are not real world dangers. These are mild every day concerns. Children may be pacified, but they walk away with no ideas or thoughts. They don’t' ask their parents any questions about what they just saw. They don’t daydream or have nightmares about the implications in what was at the theater that week. They sit. They watch. They move on. The poor parents see this act as a chore they must begrudgingly carry out from time to time. It's not that Hollywood doesn't want to aspire to make good quality family entertainment. Although the almighty dollar rules over all, I have no doubt that every project released at the very least started off with nothing but the best of intentions. The problem is they are afraid to offend.
In this day and age the most poisonous thing that can happen to anything is a negative opinion. Everyone feels like they MUST have one. And if one person thinks their kids got a little too frightened in a movie, then it's obviously to that Child's detriment. Therefore the filmmakers were irresponsible for putting it in. Then that’s a very serious problem. "But what about the children" is every pissed off parents "go to" exclamation. In my humble opinion children are faced with very real danger every day of their lives, just like every human being on the planet, they just don’t' realize how much danger they are in until they are older and more mature. Movies have the power to influence kid’s minds no doubt, but who's to say it's wrong if a movie plants seeds of maturity? What is so wrong with challenging our children and their families with ideas that they are probably already facing in their real life? I blame the parents for becoming much too politically correct. Everyone is so afraid of offending someone else that they'd rather have no stimulation at all as opposed to chancing stimulation that might be...what? Too intense? Inappropriate? Offensive?
"I asked my mum, who's a very clever psychotherapist, and she says that kids love stories about death; they need it, they need to have stories that deal with death and explain it, as a place to put their fears." - Roald Dahl
Films have a certain power over kids. They emulate what they see. They ponder what they don't. Consciously or subconscious they mull over the thoughts and ideas they are presented with. I just wish they made movies of this nature in our present time. A movie can be an invaluable resource to a child and likewise to a family. A resource that is currently going untapped I'm afraid. But the entertainment industry, like everything else, follows the trends of the times. Hopefully thought provoking and challenging family entertainment comes back into fashion once again.
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