Question for parents

[lorelei3dg]

--- In HPFGU-Movie at yahoogroups.com, "Carol" <justcarol67 at ...> wrote:
>
> I'm wondering how parents of younger children (say, eight and under)
> feel about the increasing level of violence in the books as it will
> probably translate to the films. 

Lorel says:
My son is 9 now. We've been reading the books aloud each night for 
years - whenever we'd finish the series, he'd ask me to start over 
again. I tend to feel that each parent has to decide what their own 
child can handle. My son loves the Lord of the Rings, and after 
previewing each film in the series, I let him see those in the 
theater. He was only 3 when FOTR was released, but with my previewing 
and talking to him ahead of time, he was able to handle and enjoy the 
films immensely. I've done the same with HP, both books and movies.
 
Carol:
In HBP, for example ... <snip>... Snape killing Dumbledore ... <and 
snip>... that
> terrifying cave scene, which will definitely be in the film. 

Lorel:
My son was shocked at the moment of DD's death, but more at the 
manner of it - we had several long discussions of Snape's character 
and what that scene meant - but he was not frightened by that scene. 
OTOH, the cave *setting* really creeps him out, and we always stopped 
reading at the beginning of that chapter, saving it for the next 
night when we'd move on to the resolution of it before going to bed. 
I don't think the visual will bother him, though, because he thinks 
it will look a lot like the Dead Marshes of the Lord of the Rings 
trilogy, which he saw when he was 4 y/o.

Carol:
> Then, in DH, we have not only the Battle of Hogwarts, but Hermione
> being systematically tortured and two terrifying scenes involving
> Nagini (the first one revolting as well as scary), and at least four
> onscreen violent deaths (Wormtail, Dobby, Snape). Charity Burbage's
> death, which needs to be shown to set the tone and establish the 
Snape
> red herrings, may not be violent n itself (an AK), but she's hung
> upside down first (disturbing in itself) and than fed (offpage and, 
I
> hope, offscreen) to Nagini. 

Lorel:
My son did NOT like hearing of Hermione's torture, mostly because he 
was afraid she'd die. Once they escaped he was fine with it - and 
knowing that ahead of time will make the moment much less intense for 
him on-screen. Now, Dobby's death had us setting the book down and 
crying for a while before we could move on. This will be the hardest 
part of the movie for him, but again, knowing it's coming will help. 
He really understood that the violence was a necessary part of the 
plot, given the world and Voldemort's evil. He also thought that 
Teddy losing both parents was horrendous, but liked the parallel 
between him and Harry as orphans, each situation turning out so 
differently. I'd say he gets the greater context, which is why I was 
OK with reading the book to him, and therefore also OK with him 
seeing the movie.

> Carol:
> I can see a PG-13 rating for HBP, but the violence in DH is almost R
> level. At any rate, I don't see how it can be faithfully translated 
to
> a screenplay (minus the slow parts) and still be suitable for 
younger
> children, especially that first Nagini scene when she emerges from 
the
> corpse of Bathilda.
> 
> There's a difference, too, between reading about these incidents,
> imagining them for ourselves, and seeing them vividly depicted on 
the
> screen. Some of these scenes seem to me to be too intense for 
younger
> children. 

Lorel:
I agree that the visuals may indeed be too intense for many children. 
I'm curious about the ratings for those last movies, too.

Carol:
But, then, some parents show Freddy Krueger movies to
> five-year-olds, so maybe I'm just being squeamish and old-fashioned.

Lorel:
It's funny that you'd say that, because my son echoes your view! He 
was appalled at the number of students in his school (including 
Kindergarteners) who wore horror-themed costumes to school this week. 
I saw many, many Scream masks, and a few Jasons and Freddies myself. 
What are those parents thinking??? I was amused to hear my son 
carping about it as well. :)

Carol:
My own view is that the
> movies should not be edited to make them suitable for younger 
children
> (we need most if not all of those scenes), 

Lorel:
YES YES YES - I get so tired of parents whining that HP is a 
children's series and became too scary for their kids. Well, as JKR 
has always said, it was not intended solely as a kids' series. It's 
her story, and I admire her guts in making it darker as Harry and Co. 
matured. The movies should definitely do the same. I would have been 
deeply disappointed if they had not done so to this point, and expect 
to see the grim, difficult stuff onscreen.

Carol:
but they should definitely
> come with a warning label since HP still has a reputation as a 
series
> for children. There's a huge difference between the first two films
> and the last two, especially DH.
> 
Lorel:
Warning labels sound good; it's too bad that many parents will ignore 
tham and still complain. 

> Carol:
> So, what do others think that the writers and directors should do
> (edit out the violence and sophisticated plot elements for the sake 
of
> younger viewers or keep them for the sake of coherence and
> authenticity) and what do parents intend to do about younger 
children
> who want to see these films? Or you can examine the question
> theoretically based on the ages of your children right now as 
opposed
> to the ages they'll be when these films come out.
> 
Lorel:
My views are probably crystal clear at this point! :) I fervently 
hope that the darkness and violence - needed elements to maintain the 
sophistication of the later books - are not diluted in the films. It 
*should* be up to the parents to take responsibility for their 
children: to know what their kids can handle, to take the time to 
preview and prepare their kids as needed, and to delay viewing of the 
film (to the smaller TV screen or even wait years) if warranted until 
their own children can handle it.

What a great question! I look forward to reading other responses as 
well!

Lorel