Movie Selma for 12 yr old?

[Anonymous]

Hi. Wondering if anyone who has seen the movie Selma can comment on whether it would be appropriate for a 12 yr old to see (with parent)? Thanks!

[Anonymous]

http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/439178.page

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/439178.page

thank you

[Anonymous]

Yes, it's a great movie for a 12 year old.

[Anonymous]

Of course.

By that age they've almost certainly covered the civil rights movement in school history classes.

Then again, I'm not exactly very conservative about what movies my kids see. Except for obvious restrictions on going to R rated features in theaters, it wouldn't really occur to me to ban a child that age from seeing most movies. If it was something truly controversial or objectionable we would just discuss it afterwards.

[Anonymous]

I saw it with my 12 year old. We took the entire family. I cried. Had to explain to 12 year old why. We talk a lot about voting because people died for the ability. It helped bring that message home.

[Anonymous]

It's an excellent movie but very, very violent. I'm grown and still covered my eyes in places. I've taken my kids to see a fair number of R-rates movies, but I would not take a 12-year-old to this one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, it's a great movie for a 12 year old.

I concur.

[Anonymous]

I think it is appropriate. I saw it with my 13 year old and it surprised me how much she was confused at some of the context issues like: Who was Hoover, why would the FBI be able to do that? What is that flag with the x.. so I would be prepared to give some historical background.

[Anonymous]

Some of the violence is pretty startling, but yes, I'd take a 12 year old. Great learning experience.

[Anonymous]

This was a point to consider from the other thread:

Maybe while we debate who is "too young" we shoud consider that many AA children much younger than 8,9 or 10 have had to face these issues without the luxury of a parent filter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This was a point to consider from the other thread:

Maybe while we debate who is "too young" we shoud consider that many AA children much younger than 8,9 or 10 have had to face these issues without the luxury of a parent filter.

This is true. Another point to consider too: I must say as a white mother of a non-white child (not black, though), I think long and hard before I expose my son to these types of movies too early. He hangs onto obvious themes and can't see more nuanced ones. It would be very likely he'd come out of Selma (at his age, not older like 12 or so), really hating white people. He will see skin color before he understands the fact that it's not skin color that's bad, but oppression, discrimination, and violence are.

[Anonymous]

Yeah, it's fine. It's very informative and there's about five seconds of audio moans and a some visible violence, but i'd much rather my kid see that onscreen than on the street and unprepared (or worse, not at all.)