Maleficent the Movie

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I agree that it is refreshing. I roll my eyes at all these wimpy, scaredy-cat kids running around. I'm glad we didn't go there with DD. There's nothing cute about it.

Sounds like you'll be very proud and smug when your DD is playing Call of Duty at 7 years old and thinks nothing of killing . . . not like those wimpy kids you detest, right?

I'm the poster the poster you quoted agreed with, not the poster you quoted. But... Call of Duty is a video game, saying that someone who plays a game doesn't mind killing -- with the implication being that you mean doing so in the real world to real people -- makes no sense. By that same token, is a 7 year old who plays the board game "Life" fine with becoming pregnant at a young age since in the game players end up with kids? Does playing "Monopoly" desensitize kids to going to jail and make it more likely they will do that since players in the game end up in jail? Do most kids who watch cartoons duplicate things like walking off cliffs or blowing stuff up? Of course not, because those things are ridiculous, right? Your video game example uses the exact same logic.

I wouldn't be "proud or smug" if my DD enjoyed that game, but I certainly wouldn't be disturbed as it seems you would. If her enjoyment of it stemmed from a fascination with military service or the idea of dealing with the "bad guys" I would probably encourage her interest in the military by providing real information, exploration of successful military ops both historical and more modern, trips to related interesting places, etc. Detailed discussion of what is publicly known about the bin Laden raid would be offered as something she might find nearly as interesting as the success against fictional adversaries in the game.

It's not as though such a game would be my DD's first exposure to the concepts of death, or killing, so she would know our family's thoughts on the matter. Both girls watch the news with us almost daily, and unless you completely shelter your kid it would be pretty hard to get to age 7 without having had some exposure to those concepts.

Liking a particular video game isn't something to be proud about necessarily, but it could suggest a general attitude of being brave, or of having sufficiently good safety awareness/perspective not to bothered by "scary" things that are not actual threats, or a budding interest in a military/law enforcement/defense related career, and those underlying personality traits might be something a parent would be proud of.

NP, PP you have absolutely no clue. You have no clue the impact playing a game like Call of Duty has on kids if you compare it to Life the board game. While there are hopefully drastic differences between your kids' upbringing & states of mental health and that of someone like Sandyhook murderer Adam Lanza, it's no coincidence that so many of the mass killers of the last 5+ years were noted to have played a ton of Call of Duty.

Desensitization is real and you are scarily ignorant if you continue to dismiss it as you have here.

+1 I wish these parents would listen to what you've said.

[Anonymous]

I took my kids to see Maleficent. My son (age 4), mimicked Angelina Jolie's lines the whole time; my daughter (8, almost 9) did not like the movie "because it had too much war in it"; my son (10) claimed to have not liked it "because it's a girl movie," but he secretly loved it, probably because of the fighting scenes (during which he was jumping out of his seat in excitement). I loved it, because it redefined how Disney usually portrays love. My DH slept the whole time.

[Anonymous]

It's a crazy leap to assume that a parent who lets their child see Maleficent will also let them play violent video games. Calm down. It's not a war movie. It's still Sleeping Beauty, and a more positive version at that.

[Anonymous]

I was 7 years old in 1984. In that year i saw the following movies at the theater: Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Gremlins and Ghostbusters. I remember all of my friends having seen them as well so i don't think my parents were doing anything out of the norm. I was not desensitized. I see nothing wrong with a 7 year old seeing Maleficent if they want to see it.

[Anonymous]

Common Sense Media recommends for 8 and up. I've always found their recommendations to be on the conservative side.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP, PP you have absolutely no clue. You have no clue the impact playing a game like Call of Duty has on kids if you compare it to Life the board game. While there are hopefully drastic differences between your kids' upbringing & states of mental health and that of someone like Sandyhook murderer Adam Lanza, it's no coincidence that so many of the mass killers of the last 5+ years were noted to have played a ton of Call of Duty.

Desensitization is real and you are scarily ignorant if you continue to dismiss it as you have here.

+1 I wish these parents would listen to what you've said.

I have to disagree that the PRIMARY driver for youth violence is desensitization. Mental illness is the main problem, IMO. Are mentally ill/violent kids drawn to violent movies and games? Sure. But that doesn't mean that violent games/movies CAUSE mental illness or violence. Call of Duty is one of the most popular games in THE WORLD. Millions of users. There are not millions of violent kids as a result of the game.

That being said- CoD is not appropriate for younger kids. Beyond the violent content of the game, the online portion- which is the most popular segment- is not rated and player interactions are akin to Lord of the Flies.

But again- MILLIONS of people play CoD world wide. A very tiny percentage of those users have committed violent crimes.

Correlation does not imply Causation