You’re taking a baby to see WHAT? Kick Ass? I’d kick your ass for that
Posted by Craig on Saturday Mar 20, 2010 Under Being a dad, Bits, bobs, odds, sods, Dad stuff, Reviews
Graeme Rose sent me a tweet yesterday and I was a bit busy at the time. All I saw was a reference to the film Kick Ass and groaned (long story, will explain at the end*). When I actually saw what he was talking about, I couldn’t believe it – a cinema in Dundee is giving parents the chance to take under-18 month old kids into this ultra-violent film.
The Dundee Contemporary Arts is inviting people in with under-18 month old kids to see Kick Ass on May 6. (That TBA at the end isn’t for the certificate BTW, I think it’s telling you that the words t*t, bas**rd and ass probably feature lots in the movie.) (Yes, that was a gag.)
For those who don’t know, Kick Ass tells the tale of a teen who decides to become a superhero – but without the powers – he gets beat up, tries again, gets filmed on YouTube, becomes a celebrity and then discovers there are other vigilantes in town, including a foul-mouthed, ultra-violent little girl. I did a review here.
Now I know it’s great that parents get a chance to see films in the cinema. I appreciate that. I would just find a babysitter, but not everyone is that fortunate that they can find at least one person in this world to watch their child for two hours or so.
But this is not a film to take kids to for a few reasons:
1) Under-18 months or not, kids still pick up on stuff. And if this is anything like the comic, there will be some very choice language.
2) It’s violent and if you have a kid watching the screen, do you really want that going into your kid’s head?
3) What are you doing letting someone so young watch a screen anyway? (this one, I’ll admit is just me. Many people have no issue with young kids and TV)
Now it’s nice that the DCA is helping to promote a film created by a Scot, I applaud the idea of cinema for parents, but the concept’s a bit weak here. I accept that it might be cost-prohibitive to build a softplay for the kids so adults can go and watch the movie for a while without the cries of a child.
But this is not a movie for wee ones.
(I still remember the kids aged 6-10 going into see The Dark Knight. Not many lasted past the scene with the pencil. And again, what were the parents thinking…)
Now Graeme thinks someone at the DCA just went ‘oh it’s based on a comic, it will be OK’ but they haven’t. The text for the event states:
It has everything you’d want from a traditional comicbook adaptation but it also has a wicked foul-mouthed sense of humour.
Whoever picked this, knows exactly what the film is. Now this might just be a PR stunt – shame on me then – but if not, it’s incredulous. No doubt some people will say I’m being over-protective and so on, but I don’t think so. This is a very violent/strongly-worded film. You let a kid watch this, you might as well let them watch anything. Good luck with the psychiatry bills.
*As you may have guessed – here’s my review of the movie script from back in 2008 – I didn’t like Kick Ass as a comic or a script. It’s nothing against Mark Millar, he’s a very nice guy, has written some really good stuff and I wish him all the best. Kick Ass though, just didn’t appeal to me. Even worse, I can already see some of the stunts that will happen around this film, the inevitable Daily Mail outrage and so on.
March 20th, 2010 at 1:33 am
I think I’d forgotten about that bit at the bottom and was giving DCA a bit of a doubt/escape route, but it is a strange choice of film cause of the content.
More “WTF are they thinking?” than any “moral” reasons was why I tweeted it.
March 20th, 2010 at 1:39 am
I’m with you on that one. I’m not so much going moral on them, I just don’t think it’s the right sort of film to show a kid. Heck, I don’t like my 5-year-old even being in a room when something like Hollyoaks or Eastenders is on.
March 21st, 2010 at 9:15 am
Strange choice… unless, as you say, it’s just a stunt.
March 24th, 2010 at 9:18 pm
I took my four month to see Shaun of the Dead some years ago. He watched the credits with interest, fell asleep and woke up in time for the end credits. Wouldn’t take an older child, though.
April 1st, 2010 at 7:18 pm
hi,
As a mum of a 2 month old baby the dca’s baby promotion is the only way I get to see films at the moment. I arranged to go to the dca with my friend today to see I love you phillip morris only to find when I got there that it had been cancelled because of your blog post. While I accept that you have some sort of need to share your opinions on parenting with the www, it’s my choice what I allow my child to see or otherwise and absolutely nothing to do with you, so please in future could you just but out and let me be the one to make decisions about my child. About Kick Ass- I am seriously interested how you can review a film from a script. Its a bit like giving a review of mozart after having read the sheet music….
April 3rd, 2010 at 11:38 pm
Hang on Caitlin, why am I being blamed for the cancellation of I Love You Phillip Morris when I’ve never written about it? (In fact, I only learned about the film last week, well after I’d written about Kick Ass).
And actually, it isn’t your choice what you let a child see in the cinema. There’s age guidelines and restrictions.
As for baby promotions being the only way to see films, I completely sympathise. I’ve missed out on a few things because I’m a parent and I know from single parent friends that it can be very frustrating missing out on things when there’s no one to help you – or even give you a breather for a few hours, so things like the DCA baby promotion are a great idea. But you know what, when you become a parent things change. You have to miss out on certain things. Some things – like films – you can catch later (online or on DVD). Some things – like events – you miss them once and that’s it.
But that’s part of being a parent. Does it suck? Normally. Is it fair? More than likely not. But you know what? You’re a parent and that’s the breaks. You have a child, that’s one of the responsibilities that comes with it.
And yes, as you point out, it’s completely up to you as to what your child sees and hears. I just wouldn’t let my kid hear the word ‘cunt’ – which is in the film – or see something very violet, which was my point.
As for the review of Kick Ass, when I reviewed the movie script, the finished comic wasn’t out (I think it was at issue 5) and filming hadn’t started, so this was a chance to review what was going to happen with the rest of the comic and see how it panned out as a film. There’s plenty of sites that do movie reviews, I did the odd story on scripts back when I was a journalist if there was something interesting in them. Did I ever say it was the final edit of the film? No. It’s quite clear that it’s a review of the script, nothing more, nothing less. But from a movie script you can get an idea of the plot, the dialogue, characterisation, story and so on. If you know who the actors are as well you can imagine if the script plays to their strengths, so you can learn a lot. Again, doesn’t compare with seeing the final film – just like seeing a trailer doesn’t – but between what I had read of the comic, the film script and what I know from buying a lot of Mark Millar’s other works, I was able to work out that this wasn’t for me – either as straight drama, a satire or something inbetween, it just wasn’t for me.
Do I dispute anyone else’s right to see it? No. But did I think it was apt for wee ones? No. And, as this is a blog for my thoughts on all things parenting, I chose to write about it.
April 4th, 2010 at 1:10 am
Caitlin, I meant to add: this blog is primarily for friends and family (who are all over the globe, so writing here is easier than 40 phone calls), other people are also welcome though as it’s always nice to see how others parent and see what I can learn/pick up. It’s also a good way of not feeling alone or left out of things, as in its own way, it can be a wee social network.
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