Saturday, July 16, 2011

Lesson learnt.

Most of the time, I am pretty picky about what I let my children see. If a new movie is out and our children want to see it, I generally look at Decent Films to read the review. Sometimes I have disagreed with the review but still, I think it is better to be cautious with movies that I haven't seen myself. Generally speaking, if there is any movie that doesn't get a big thumbs up from Decent Films, I will watch it before I let my children watch it.

Last night, Brigette, Amelia and I had a girls night. I let Brigette choose the movie and she chose Life as we know it.

If I had seen it before, I would have said, no that is not suitable for Amelia. As it was, if it was a movie that if Brigette really wanted to watch it, I would say okay but we will watch it together and look at it critically.

I think the thing that I disliked about the movie was the story line. The story line is about a couple that are married with a new baby. The couple dies and leave two friends as guardians of their baby. They do this in spite of the two friends disliking each other. They also do it without asking their friends if they are willing to do it.

I see several problems with this. Firstly, the job of choosing a guardian should never be taken lightly. Steve and I spent several days discussing it when Daniel was a baby and have since discussed if the person we have asked is still the right person for the job should Steve and I die. It is something we put a lot of thought and prayer into.

I also would never put someone down to take care of our children without their permission. How do I even know they are willing to take on such a huge responsibility without speaking to them about it?

There were several lines in the script that were just tacky and many of the interactions between the cast were just totally unrealistic. There were a lot of stereo types as well. I am going to have to talk with both Brigette and Amelia about the movie and many of the things that were implied and presented as truth.

After this experience, I have decided I am not going to watch a movie with the girls that I haven't seen myself before or that doesn't get a thumbs up from Decent Films.

4 comments:

Nancy said...

Therese, I saw this movie on the plane going over to Rome back in May. I thought it was rather dumb and very unrealistic....but then, most moview are.
Anyway, I agree that it was probably not appropriate for young impressionable minds...especially when there are so many GREAT things to watch.
I think you are a terrific mom....you inspire me to be better about such things. Hugs to you!!

Rachel said...

Sounds like one of those movies that is trying to take a desperate situation and put a funny twist on it. They always sit badly with me. The death of parents, and the resulting orphans, is never a funny situation. I wish hollywood would wise up and portray things with some realism.

Michele said...

very good post therese. as a kid, my movies thankfully, were limited as we did not have a tv. my mother was very careful about what she let us watch, even in the 70s the movies were tacky.

iam grateful she let us watch movies when we could. she even accompanied us to the theater when one was out that we could afford to go to.

my mother was always cautious about things like that. she was even so with my daughter. i can't thank her enough for being the wonderful mother that she was.

if half the parents today were more like you, and my mother, then society as a whole would be better off.

Unknown said...

thanks for your link to decent films, I usually use Dove, but quite like this reviewer as well now!

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