Non-patronising childrens films?

Lady Chatterton

Matilda

Queen-Mise

kunst nugget wrote: »

Tbf though, those Bratz things have never made it into the house. They just look too oddnd annoying .

I don't mind the Barbie so much - some of the movies are ok.

Whereas the Bratz or Monster High will never be setting foot inside my house. Really don't like them at all.

Queen-Mise

Orion wrote: »

Barbie, along with the likes of Bratz, are things I never let my kids watch. Both reinforce the stereotypes that you must have an hourglass figure to be a real woman and that having the right clothes is more important that having a personality. There have never been either type of dolls in our house either.

There is none of that in the Barbie movies (the new ones anyway). I have seen them a lot now. There is NO emphasis on clothes or looks over personality. The Barbie's are all strong, independent, active, girls that come across some challenge, trouble. And over coming that challenge. Communication is always one of the problems
Don't know anything about Bratz.

There isn't really a specific focus on figures, fashion, love, blah de blah etc. They all have a theme, like Swan Lake. The latest one, Barbie & the Pink Shoes, is ok.

It starts off in this world and then she is transported to the 'princess & prince' world. The boys/princes keep asking her to marry them & she is 'I am 17, why would I get married, & I'm going to college. Talk to me afterwards'.
They are 2 or 3 different plots going on. And none of it is painful - in the sense that the messages coming across are so saccharine sweet or moral that you feel like puking:)

The whole theme of them has changed. The underlying messages aren't nasty at all really.
When my daughter started watching the Barbie ones - I thought they would be a lot worse than they are. And they are not, they are grand movies.
I think she likes the prettiness, dancing (loves this), and the happy ending.


And if you are cutting out kids movies & cartoons based on the women having hour glass figures - you will be cutting out an awful lot more than just Barbie & Bratz.
Practically every kids movie will have someone with an hourglass figure somewhere.

December2012

My daughters will learn from me how a woman should look and behave, more than a doll or a celebrity.

Akrasia

The films my kids love are
1. the wizard of oz
2. The Nightmare Before Christmas
3. Jumanji
4. Toy Story 1
5. The Iron Giant

We were watching Spirited away the other evening on Film 4 and my 2 year old daughter is now obsessed with the idea that if Mommy and Daddy eat too much food we'll turn into a Pig.
She fell asleep before the ending so she never got closure

It's kinda funny, hopefully no long term trauma has been caused

discus

pwurple wrote: »

Flippin' Dumbo... mother of god I had not watched that in a while. In my mind it was a nice wholesome short disney film, 45 mins max. I stuck it on the other day when she had missed a nap and was half asleep in the living room clung to her blanket. I was flat out packing up to move house so put it on for her. The poor child was traumatised! Dumbo's mammy chained, taken away and stuck in a cage. She came out to me roaring crying about dumbo's mammy. Oops.

The parental guide goes way overboard, but I need to keep an eye on the old disney ones in future.

My parents and aunties were big into letting all the kids and cousins watch those movies like Dumbo and Bambi, where people/animals were done wrong or treated unjustly. I think we may have been upset by them as children, but the positive effect was that as we grew up, it was always pointed out that we had strong and mature opinions on social justice and knew what was fair and right quicker than our peers.

ElvisChrist6

I've said it many times before: kids films, especially Disney and Pixar, these days do not give kids any credit whatsoever. They are insanely patronising. When you allow a kid to figure out a joke or there's something like death or dark humour, kids love that - ESPECIALLY dark humour. I recently went to see that film Wreck-It Ralph with my girlfriend as I'm quite a fan of classic video games, but just found it pandering to every assumption parents have about the intelligence and ability to appreciate darker subjects.

There are some great kids films all the same though. When I was a young kid, I loved Nightmare Before Christmas and still do, Labyrinth as well.

You could stream cartoons too, there are some great ones I still love:
Cow & Chicken, Animaniacs, Looney Tunes, Spongebob, Ren & Stimpy (maybe ) and very recently Adventure Time. They don't have to be subversive and make jokes that go over kids heads to appeal to other people, but you could still very much enjoy them!

The Hayao Miyazaki films are great too - mostly child-friendly, but even the ones that aren't, I wouldn't have any problem showing children. Princess Mononoke has a lot of blood in it, but it's a fantasy story and it's really not harmful.

Guys & Dolls and the likes are good too, if they like musicals. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, the Steve Martin film maybe? And then once they can sit through a serious film, throw on Withnail & I, get them into the good stuff young!

January

ElvisChrist6 wrote: »

I've said it many times before: kids films, especially Disney and Pixar, these days do not give kids any credit whatsoever. They are insanely patronising. When you allow a kid to figure out a joke or there's something like death or dark humour, kids love that - ESPECIALLY dark humour. I recently went to see that film Wreck-It Ralph with my girlfriend as I'm quite a fan of classic video games, but just found it pandering to every assumption parents have about the intelligence and ability to appreciate darker subjects.

There are some great kids films all the same though. When I was a young kid, I loved Nightmare Before Christmas and still do, Labyrinth as well.

You could stream cartoons too, there are some great ones I still love:
Cow & Chicken, Animaniacs, Looney Tunes, Spongebob, Ren & Stimpy (maybe ) and very recently Adventure Time. They don't have to be subversive and make jokes that go over kids heads to appeal to other people, but you could still very much enjoy them!

The Hayao Miyazaki films are great too - mostly child-friendly, but even the ones that aren't, I wouldn't have any problem showing children. Princess Mononoke has a lot of blood in it, but it's a fantasy story and it's really not harmful.

Guys & Dolls and the likes are good too, if they like musicals. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, the Steve Martin film maybe? And then once they can sit through a serious film, throw on Withnail & I, get them into the good stuff young!

There's no way Adventure Time was meant for children... teenagers maybe, but children no.

kunst nugget

January wrote: »

There's no way Adventure Time was meant for children... teenagers maybe, but children no.

I think it's great and my kids (5 and 9) love it as well. I wouldn't have any problem with them watching it. The Regular Show is great too. I'd happily sit down and watch a couple of episodes of either of them. Gumball's good too but it jars a bit with me after a while. It's great to see a lot of quality cartoons being made at the moment.

Das Kitty

Adventure Time is a big hit in our house.

ElvisChrist6

January wrote: »

There's no way Adventure Time was meant for children... teenagers maybe, but children no.

Ah, it definitely is, it's just not patronising in the least and rather enjoyable!

Edit: Actually, I was expecting someone to say that about Ren & Stimpy more than Adventure Time!

pwurple

I assumed ren and stimpy was a joke!