Mae loves the Muppets. I have the Muppets CD and one season of the show on DVD so she knows a bunch of the songs but mostly she loves them because of their Bohemian Rhapsody video on Youtube. Animal, of course, is her favourite. So it was a no-brainer that we would take her to the new Muppet Movie. The plan was that we would take her on her birthday, which is smack between Christmas and New Years, and thus a pain in the ass to make special. But then last weekend she went to a schoolmate’s birthday party at the Cineplex. The movie was going to be Happy Feet 2 and I had no desire to endure it so I decided it was Howard’s turn to take her to the party while I stayed home and cleaned house for the next day’s family dinner.
At about 3:30 I got a call from Howard, “The theatre changed the movie and now their going to see the Muppet Movie. If I leave right now I can come and get you since I know you want to see it.” Obviously I dropped everything and waited eagerly by the door to get whisked to the theatre to enjoy this gem with my family and a bunch of six-year-olds, if you think I’m being sarcastic you grossly underestimate my love of all things Henson.
Before you take your small child to this movie, especially if yours is sensitive like mine, remember that this is not targeted specifically at kids and so the trailers are slightly terrifying – also, they’re very very loud. Mae spent the coming attractions with her hands clamped over her earmuffs and her face buried in my arm. Suffice it to say that by the time the movie started she was already off to a bad start.
What I had neglected to tell Mae was that Muppet movies are not just a long version of the show. She was not expecting real people and she was not expecting any long form narrative structure. I spent the first thirty minutes of the film repeatedly answering the question “Is this really the muppet movie??” One time even when Kermit was staring her in the face.
Around the thirty-minute mark we reached Jack Black’s cameo [spoiler alert]. Having weathered a rather large explosion set by Gonzo (“mommy why did they blow that up?”) Mae was keeping the faith that this was, in fact, the Muppet movie when Jack Black cold cocked Jason Segal. This was immediately followed by a wail of terror and sorrow and sobbing demands of “I want to gooooo!” Not watching TV, Mae has had very little exposure to violence. What little she has seen has involved puppets and cartoons. This sudden act of violence of one real person against another was terrifying and incredibly upsetting for her. I spent the next half hour consoling her in the lobby of the theatre.
As I sat there rocking her and watching her tear damp face paint smear all over my chest I looked at Howard and said, “Well thank God we didn’t do this on her birthday!”
And this is why I don’t understand why sex is censored so much more heavily than violence. A sex scene I can explain to my kid. It might be uncomfortable but it is a natural and healthy part of human existence. But this? How do I explain to my kid that sometimes it’s funny when people hurt each other? Don’t get me wrong, I’m totally going to go see it on my own but I truly wish someone would explain to me why we seem to be so much more comfortable exposing our kids to violence than to sex. To the people at the movie theatre I ask, what on Earth makes you think that the Muppet Movie is a logical substitution for a bunch of five and six-year-olds expecting to see a cartoon about dancing penguins?
In the mean-time what the hell are we going to do on her birthday now?
Thank you for this. I have been wondering if I should take my daughter (almost 4) to the Muppets. I have a huge problem with her seeing violence and we are pretty careful about what we will let her watch. Even just that one scene makes me feel like this is not a movie for her right now.
ReplyDeleteI get so frustrated about violence in kid's movies. I don't understand why that is viewed as acceptable. I, too, don't mind sex scenes, that's a part of life, but violence is so hard for kids to understand.
Don't bother w/ Happy Feet 2, heh, I LOVED the first one, but not only was the second one not as good, but the three little kids run off without asking their parents and have no consequences for it. I know that sounds kind of minor, but it was a big deal in the movie and it really bothered me. I really felt like it wasn't a good model for my daughter. AND the cartoon was a Tweety and Sylvester, sooooo violent! I was appalled! I looked at my partner and we just had our jaws open because I forgot how violent they can be. And we watched this stuff all the time as kids, so weird!
It's funny because Mae can deal with some cartoon violence, she loves the Powerpuff Girls, but she understands that that is all pretend and the stuff of make-believe. It's one thing to have bad guys and superheroes fighting but to see regular people hitting each other makes no sense at all to her.
ReplyDeleteWe have a hard time finding movies to watch but she loved Mary Poppins and the Winnie the Pooh movie.
My daughter absolutely loved the Winnie the Pooh movie!
ReplyDeleteShe also loves just about anything by Hayao Miyazaki, her favorite being Totoro. They are sooper cute and don't really have anything that makes me uncomfortabe.