After watching the movie Cars 2 in the theater, I was worried that children who have seen this film would be mentally and emotionally confused and upset because of the violent content. And that bothered me. Since then I have thought a lot about violence in children's movies and how unacceptable it truly is. I question why violence is needed and incorporated into a movie intended for children. I question what it is teaching these children. And I question what they are taking away from the movie and how it is impacting their lives.
Here is how it started...
This past summer I was a nanny for twins who are four years old. These kids, Andy and Annika, are OBSESSED with the movie Cars. They watched the movie on a regular basis. They have Lightning McQueen everything: shoes, blankets, backpacks, books, everything. The only thing Andy liked to play was with cars from the movie Cars. He has Lightning McQueen, Tow Mater, Sally, Mack, Doc, King, Luigi, Fillmore. You name it, he has it. So you could say a majority of my summer revolved around this movie. Of course we were really looking forward to the release of the new movie, Cars 2, and were excited to go and see it.
After it was released in theaters, I began to hear some crummy things about the movie. I heard that it was violent, characters were being killed, and there was a little bit of language not appropriate for younger children. After hearing these tidbits of information, I had to decide whether or not to bring Andy and Annika to this highly anticipated movie.
I started by reading reviews of the movie on Common Sense Media and I was getting reviews like some that follow...
1. "This movie is extremely violent. I can NOT believe it got a G rating. There are so many guns, machine guns, bombs, etc. Many cars die, one is tortured and killed, and they try to kill Lightning McQueen. With the original Cars having such a huge little kids following, I really don't know what Pixar was thinking, taking it in this direction. They have shown such talent with other films, like they could pull off anything. They could have done the Bond theme without the violence, it could've been a lot of fun. Why did they have to stoop? I'm really disappointed in Pixar. This is a really bad kids movie."
2. "Let me start by saying I HAVE seen the movie. I have never reviewed a movie here before but was so disturbed by this movie I felt as a parent I have a responsibility to other parents to warn them about this film. THIS MOVIE GLORIFIES GUNS IN A WAY THAT SHOULD BE DISTURBING TO ANY PARENT! I do not understand how it got a G rating. I took my 6 year old and my teenage sons and at one point in the movie even my teenager leaned to me and said "mom maybe we should leave. He (the 6 year old) shouldn't be watching this". I am shocked and saddened that Disney took characters meant for kids (that our family loved) and turned them into something else. Scenes of torture, intense gun violence, explosions, death of cars, and the constant reference to tomater as the idiot and fool was not what I thought we were going to see. My child was afraid at times and did say he liked the movie but "the new cars were scary and mean". This movie is not for kids and is the first movie I have seen in a very long time that I feel this strongly about. We have waited for this movie for months and even more than disapointed I am alarmed that this amount of violence was even in a kids movie. DO NOT SEE!"
After reading some of these alarming reviews I communicated with the twins' mom about seeing the movie. We decided that Andy and Annika should not see the movie. Needless to say, the twins were VERY disappointed.
The curiosity was getting to me and I had to see the movie now. So naturally my boyfriend and I went to see Cars 2. After seeing the movie all I can say is thank God I did not bring Andy and Annika to it.
Cars 2 was filled with violence and magnified it. My boyfriend liked it. But he is almost 20 years old. He liked the high speed chases, explosions and gun fire. What 20 year old guy would not like that kind of movie? But that just proves my point. A four year old should not like or even be watching movies that a 20 year old guy likes because of the intense violent scenes. So that leads me to question why violence would be in a children's movie anyways.
Cars 2 seemed to be an attempt at a kid-friendly James Bond action movie with a sense of thrill. It included...
- high speed chases
- Tow Mater being equipped with guns
- gun violence
- cars being tortured
- a fist fight between spy cars
- a car being burned alive (evident torture)
- and it implied that a car explodes
I believe there are three extensive problems with the violence in Cars 2 and violence in children's movies in general...
- The rating system. Cars 2 was rated G for General Audiences.
- Movies lead to extended merchandise so when considering Cars 2, a violent movie creates additional violent merchandise.
- Children will accept anything they see in the movies as the truth, especially if the admired lead character (For example, Lightning McQueen or Tow Mater) says or does something.
First, Cars 2 was rated G. I have always assumed G stood for general audience which would imply it is appropriate for all ages. To me appropriate for all ages is no violence, no sex, no harmful language and no abusive behaviors. After watching Cars 2, either I did not understand what "rated G" really meant or the Motion Picture Association of America really screwed this one up. To make sure I was not going crazy, I looked up what "rated G" means, or furthermore, what it's supposed to mean. According to the MPAA...
"G — General Audiences. All Ages Admitted. A G-rated motion picture contains nothing in theme, language, nudity, sex, violence or other matters that, in the view of the Rating Board, would offend parents whose younger children view the motion picture. The G rating is not a "certificate of approval," nor does it signify a "children’s" motion picture. Some snippets of language may go beyond polite conversation but they are common everyday expressions. No stronger words are present in G-rated motion pictures. Depictions of violence are minimal. No nudity, sex scenes or drug use are present in the motion picture."
As it expresses, violence should be minimal and that is just not the case in Cars 2. Many parents and guardians of young children depend on these ratings to judge whether or not a movie is appropriate for their child because quite frankly, you cannot usually tell from the trailer. It is disappointing to know that you cannot always trust them. It also mentions that no other themes should be present that "...offend parents whose younger children view the motion picture." And as we saw earlier, there have been far more incidents of this offense besides the two examples of reviews I have listed. It looks like Pixar got the benefit of the doubt when it came to rating Cars 2.
Next, movies lead to selling merchandise so when considering Cars 2, a violent movie creates additional violent merchandise. How many times have you walked around Target or Walmart and seen Cars stickers, Cars video games, Cars books, Cars clothing, Cars school supplies etc? It was not a bad thing to buy your kids merchandise from the first Cars movie because it was a kid-friendly movie with a exceptional message. I question if it is acceptable for kids to be playing video games with guns and explosives in it or to be wearing a t-shirt with explosions in the background- all things that Cars 2 merchandise would include. I believe a violent movie would lead to violent merchandise that is not acceptable for children.
For example...
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| Tow Mater equipped with guns on this toy car. (http://www.disneystore.com/cars/toys/mn/1000012+1000208/) |
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| Explosions in the background on this t-shirt. (http://www.disneystore.co.uk/t-shirts-clothing-accessories-disney-pixar-cars-2-finn-mcmissile-spy-t-shirt/mp/40822/1000235/) |
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| This is a picture that is waiting to be colored in my own Cars 2 coloring book. I am 19 so I can handle coloring this but there are explosions and firing of weapons in the background and we're expecting little kids to color this? It almost makes me sick. |
Lastly, children will accept anything they see in the movies as the truth especially if Lightning McQueen or Tow Mater says something or does something. Basically, kids believe what they see and hear. Do you want your kids mimicking words like "idiot" and "fool?" Because Cars 2 used them like they're no big deal at all, kids who have heard these insults will use them in that same context: like they're "no big deal." If that doesn't get to you, what about the fact that kids may want to play guns and war after seeing this movie. They will want to play with toy guns or they will use their hands as guns. They will be making a firing sound with their mouths. When parents tell their children to find a new game because that one was "too violent" the kids could very easily respond, "Why can't I do it, Tow Mater did it." That would give birth to a conversation that could have been prevented if there was less violence in children's movies.
After having to tell Andy and Annika that they could not see Cars 2 because it was too violent, it made me aware of violence in children's movies and and it began to worry me. If violence was not present in children's movies, it would make the G rating more trustworthy, it would produce less violent merchandise targeted at children and it would allow children to reflect more of what they see in a movie without it being inappropriate. I truly care about children and think removing violence from children's movies would help to keep their innocence and help them stay a kid for as long as possible...and that, my friends, is important.
