My boys are 7 and 5 years old. They love to draw. Their latest drawing craze has to draw Star Wars scenarios. They draw stick figures with Darth Vader helmets, recreate a decent picture of R2-D2 and everyone is holding a light saber (yep, even R2-D2).
You see, my boys have not seen any Star Wars, Episode IV – or otherwise. I wasn’t even aware they had so much knowledge until they started drawing. So, they don’t appreciate the significance of the light saber and haven’t got their heads around what a Jedi Knight is. Hence, everyone in their drawings has a light saber. I know it shouldn’t, but this really annoyed me and I felt like sitting them down to watch Episode IV: A New Hope and explain that R2-D2 can’t be drawn with a light saber and introduce them to the whole experience.
But, on reflection I decided they are only 7 and 5 years-old and I’m not sure I’m that keen for them to know yet. That is why I’ve made THE RULE.
THE RULE is that my boys won’t watch any Star Wars movie until they are 10 years-old. And, when they do I will be watching it with them. I’ve told them this. I’ve explained that it is a special movie and that when they see it conditions have to be perfect.
They know about Star Wars thanks to the epic commercialization that the Lucas Empire has embarked upon. I don’t begrudge George this, though it has created some damn awful content and stories if you ask me. It also leads to a discussion about the commercialization of geek culture and how much of it is driven by the dollar, rather than the passion these days.
And of course, my boys learn a lot from their friends at school and preschool who have watched the movie (or been exposed to said-commercialization of the Lucas Empire). This concerns me.
Given the research and work I do in the area of childhood development I don’t think young children should be watching movies with the level of violence and adult concepts like the Star Wars trilogy. Just because it is a geek movie doesn’t make it alright for children of all ages. It is a common mistake people make – geek does not equal appropriate for children. But, we also do our children a disservice if we simply use seminal movies like Star Wars as just another DVD to distract the kids while we go about the business of daily life.
Yet, it feels to me like this is what is happening.
Now, I may be romanticizing my own pop culture experiences here, but surely movies like the Star Wars Trilogy, Indiana Jones, The Princess Bride and others are core texts in geek development and should be treated differently to your standard Disney or Pixar animation (though Toy Story might reach a new level in the future).
Shouldn’t we be finding the space in our children’s lives to introduce these movies with some thought and consideration? As responsible GeekDads shouldn’t we be talking about when we will watch these movies with our children? Shouldn’t we be sharing the questions our children ask and what we will highlight to them?
John Davison (of whattheyplay.com) has been doing this through Twitter recently. Just as I was thinking about writing this piece, he was been sharing the questions his children asked after watching The Empire Strikes Back like “If he is his Dad, why does he cut off his hand?” – damn good question, I’d love to know what John’s answer was. He didn’t tweet that. It was probably much more than 140 characters.
It is the same with books of course, though we tend to give them greater reverence. In my GeekDad enthusiasm I first tried to read The Hobbit to my boys when the eldest was only 4 years old. Three pages in, it was clear they were not ready? I’ve tried a couple of times since, but have now put my 50th anniversary copy away for a bit longer until the narrative will resonate in a way that makes their experience of Tolkien’s world will be as magical and life-changing as when I read it.
My aim is to make the experience of watching the Star Wars Trilogy a special event in my children’s childhood. I want them to know more than light sabers and special effects. I want them to be thinking about the blurring of black and white, the complexity of good versus evil and I want them to ask questions like “If he is his Dad, why did he cut his hand off?” – and I want to have an answer that helps them to think about ethics and philosophy at an age appropriate level.
So, do you have a RULE? Have you saved a special movie to watch with your children? What age is going to be optimum to give my boys the experience I would like them to have?
UPDATE: One commenter mentioned Common Sense Media - it is a great site for parents to compare notes on movies, and given the discussion about violence in the movie. People might be interested that Episodes 4 - 6 in are recommended for children 8 years and up on that site. See here.
[This post originally ran in January, 2009]
