When Jaws released in 1975 my parents took myself and my little sister to the drive-in to see it. I was 10. During the climax, with Quint meeting his fate, my mum tried to make my sister and I lie down in the back seat and cover our eyes, but I wouldn’t do it, and my dad stuck up for me.
Of course it turned out my mum was kind of right, but it was too late by the end of the movie. The child mortality scene earlier on was what kind of warped my brain. My mum ended up getting pretty concerned when I kept drawing pictures of people being eaten by sharks, but it was just me processing the stuff I’d seen. Ultimately it ended up with me developing a lifelong fascination with sharks and the ocean, and all that obsessive drawing was actually an important part of my development as an artist. All because of a little bit of ultra-mild childhood trauma.
That said, I do think every kid is different, and parents should take the responsibility of monitoring what their kids see and consume very seriously. Not just because some kids are more sensitive than others, but also because it’s important to cultivate empathy in children, and repeated exposure to depictions of violence and death can wear that down.
Oldefinger t1_j262a2v wrote
Reply to Movies your parents let you see? by The-Mike-drop
When Jaws released in 1975 my parents took myself and my little sister to the drive-in to see it. I was 10. During the climax, with Quint meeting his fate, my mum tried to make my sister and I lie down in the back seat and cover our eyes, but I wouldn’t do it, and my dad stuck up for me.
Of course it turned out my mum was kind of right, but it was too late by the end of the movie. The child mortality scene earlier on was what kind of warped my brain. My mum ended up getting pretty concerned when I kept drawing pictures of people being eaten by sharks, but it was just me processing the stuff I’d seen. Ultimately it ended up with me developing a lifelong fascination with sharks and the ocean, and all that obsessive drawing was actually an important part of my development as an artist. All because of a little bit of ultra-mild childhood trauma.
That said, I do think every kid is different, and parents should take the responsibility of monitoring what their kids see and consume very seriously. Not just because some kids are more sensitive than others, but also because it’s important to cultivate empathy in children, and repeated exposure to depictions of violence and death can wear that down.