"Kids" content that is totally innappropriate

[Katy]

The Netflix kids cartoon movie SAHARA needs a trigger warning or a PG-13 rating.  It has tons of sexual themes (hypnotized snakes racing toward a glowing orb in a weird sperm-like way followed by a sort of slut-shaming and discussing "first times"), belly dancing, other sexual references, fat shaming, hints of racism (towards other species of snakes) and God knows what else because I stopped the kids from watching it.

 

I figured as long as I was starting a thread, we should talk about other content that should be avoided, and why.  What have you found that was marketed towards kids that you stopped them from watching?

[Guest]

The Bible Stories in Legos that some guy put together years ago.  Most of the tableaus focused on the activities of people involved in specific "acts" and not on The Story.  

 

I also ran across a devotional put out by a major Christian publisher targeted at the 8-12 crowd that was fairly explicit in talking about sexual acts.  Pretty young target age to make that assumption IMO. 

[AimeeM]

If you consider belly dancing to be a s*xual reference, I'm sure I'd need to know what "other" sexual references there are before I could agree or disagree that the content is inappropriate. And how does one determine that something is dancing in a sperm-like way? ;)

 

Some of my favorite children's books -- especially for my special needs boys -- are those that include shaming or mocking others because of differences. At least when, in the end, everything comes full circle. Excellent discussion and the entire "different but still amazing" theme is a great one for kids to learn, even if the beginning of that teaching isn't entirely comfortable.

 

With that said, the Angry Birds movie was so full of quite obvious innuendos that I couldn't believe it was a kids' movie, lol. My aunt and I took my boys, along with our teenage daughters, and our teenagers were pretty red-faced by the end of it. The boys didn't understand any of the naughty references, but the teenagers did.

 

 

Edited June 16, 2017 by AimeeM

[Crimson Wife]

Sadly, too many to mention these days. Plus giving specifics can lead to debates over which things are and are not age-appropriate and nasty accusations of -isms and/or -phobia. Not going there!

[Crimson Wife]

I had to sidestep a debate with my daughter's SLP a few weeks back about why I am not going to subscribe to Highlights magazine over their giving in to the P.C. police earlier this year.

[Murphy101]

I thought Zootopia was totally inappropriate and was horrified our church had it at a movie night.

 

I feel that way about a lot of supposedly geared to kids stuff.

[Ravin]

The thing about innuendo is that age appropriateness is built in. It goes right over the kids' heads and gives a layer of entertainment for the adults that can make a movie or show more entertaining. The same is true of pop culture references or classic TV/movie parodies often thrown in to kids' entertainment.

[bolt.]

I had to sidestep a debate with my daughter's SLP a few weeks back about why I am not going to subscribe to Highlights magazine over their giving in to the P.C. police earlier this year.

What an odd comment.

 

Are you really unaware that serious numbers of people actually *hold* the belief that all the kinds of families that exist in the real world should be represented in children's publication? In addition to the numerous children (who exist in the real world) who are being parented by non-heterosexual people -- who reasonably expect to occasionally see published representations of families like their own!

 

You can't be suggesting that so few people hold those accuracy-based values (and/or live those lives) that it requires "policing" to make them behave as if they do. How absurd.

 

The reason most people publically uphold the values of inclusion, freedom, equality, representation, and lack of shame is because they *believe them* -- not because someone is making them do so.

 

They don't believe it's "politically correct". They just believe it's correct.

 

https://www.google.ca/amp/s/www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/news/education/wp/2017/01/06/highlights-childrens-magazine-to-publish-image-of-same-sex-couple-for-first-time-after-controversy/

[Guest]

I thought Zootopia was totally inappropriate and was horrified our church had it at a movie night.

 

I feel that way about a lot of supposedly geared to kids stuff.

Really? I love Zootopia. What did you object to?

 

I had a mother upset with me once because I let her son watch a violent movie during a sleepover. He was 12ish and it was the first Jurassic Park. In a million years would I have thought that that movie would upset a parent.

[ktgrok]

I remember being shocked that one of the Kids Bop music CDs had a song in it about adultery! Something about how it didn't matter that the woman wore a ring, she should get with him anyway. And they had KIDS singing it!!!

[Tangerine]

Really? I love Zootopia. What did you object to?

 

 

If you ever want to know what is objectionable about a movie, check the Focus on the Family movie reviews.  They are...thorough...and can find objectionable content in just about anything.

 

http://www.pluggedin.com/movie-reviews/zootopia/

[TheatreMom]

When I worked at a theatre people would often call to ask if a particular show was suitable for children (or for an 8-year-old/a 12-year-old etc.). We quickly learned that there was almost never one simple answer to that question; people's ideas about what is suitable at any given age vary so much. It depends on both the parents and the children in question. Instead we would offer to describe the plot and language of the production, or answer any questions about the content.

[MyLife]

I was disappointed that the Minions were bad and looking for an evil leader to follow.

[bolt.]

I remember being shocked that one of the Kids Bop music CDs had a song in it about adultery! Something about how it didn't matter that the woman wore a ring, she should get with him anyway. And they had KIDS singing it!!!

I was surprised to hear that song on kids bop too -- I was all like, "How did they miss that?!?" Then I listened really close, and I was hearing it wrong (because I already knew the "real" words).

 

They actually shifted just a few tiny words around and miraculously changed the story about "not caring about the ring" -- the story is now that the happily married woman is "worried" about her wedding ring, from her husband, with the implication that it is valuable and might be lost or stolen. He (the singer-husband) says that he's "not worried" about the ring, because he's sure she can keep it safe. The rest of the song sounds perfectly lovey-dovey!

 

It's thin when you know the real song, but it passes the kids ears so quickly, and they aren't even thinking about the words, so, no issue.

 

I was pretty impressed that they managed to change the entire meaning of a song by replacing only half a dozen words.

[MaeFlowers]

If you ever want to know what is objectionable about a movie, check the Focus on the Family movie reviews. They are...thorough...and can find objectionable content in just about anything.

 

http://www.pluggedin.com/movie-reviews/zootopia/

I must be stupid. How is "sweet cheese and crackers" profanity?

[bolt.]

I must be stupid. How is "sweet cheese and crackers" profanity?

It's a bait towards "Sweet Je(sus)" with a switch to "Sweet che(ese and crackers)" -- and the name of Jesus used as an oath is offensive to many Christians.

[Guest]

I must be stupid. How is "sweet cheese and crackers" profanity?

Its a euphemism for "Sweet Jesus Christ", ie, taking the name of the Lord in vain.

[Tangerine]

I must be stupid. How is "sweet cheese and crackers" profanity?

 

I think that "cheese and crackers" is supposed to be distantly reminiscent of Jesus Christ.

 

I laughed at the review of Secreteriat that said, "We hear an awful lot about horse breeding."

[Murphy101]

Really? I love Zootopia. What did you object to?

 

I had a mother upset with me once because I let her son watch a violent movie during a sleepover. He was 12ish and it was the first Jurassic Park. In a million years would I have thought that that movie would upset a parent.

Mafia reference with accompanied hitmen. Nudist colony depiction. Just to start. I pretty much hated it from start to finish.

 

All my kids 5 and up have watched all of the Harry Potter films and I wouldn't let them watch zootopia again. (And wouldn't have at all if we hadn't been at church if all places. That's what I get for not previewing first like I normally would have done.) So of course this is a case parental prerogative. They have also seen Jurassic Park.

[Wheres Toto]

I feel totally oblivious.  I LOVED Zootopia.  

 

I absolutely HATED Angry Birds, but still took the kids to see it and didn't find anything particularly problematic.  I just thought it was an awful movie.

[Tanaqui]

I must be stupid. How is "sweet cheese and crackers" profanity?

 

I know some people who have left fundamentalist Christianity. To some people, euphemistic ways of cursing are just as bad as actual cursing, perhaps especially if they have to do with God. (At least one of my friends was allowed to say the f-word all she liked, but would get in serious trouble for saying "geez", because geez = Jesus = taking the Lord's name in vain.) I suppose there's a sort of logic there, though it's foreign to me as well :)

[Murphy101]

I wouldn't let them to see Finding Dory either. Or the Secret Life of Pets after we previewed it.

[Wheres Toto]

I wouldn't let them to see Finding Dory either. Or the Secret Life of Pets after we previewed it.

 

Why Finding Dory?  The plugged in link from above seems to find it okay.

[MaeFlowers]

It's a bait towards "Sweet Je(sus)" with a switch to "Sweet che(ese and crackers)" -- and the name of Jesus used as an oath is offensive to many Christians.

I figured it was but it seems like quite a stretch.

[Tangerine]

I figured it was but it seems like quite a stretch.

It's kind of like "shut the front door." Really far removed, but not far enough for some. I wasn't allowed to say poop as a kid, along with a lot of other pretty benign things, so I'm familiar with the requirement for squeaky clean language in some communities.

[Alice]

When I worked at a theatre people would often call to ask if a particular show was suitable for children (or for an 8-year-old/a 12-year-old etc.). We quickly learned that there was almost never one simple answer to that question; people's ideas about what is suitable at any given age vary so much. It depends on both the parents and the children in question. Instead we would offer to describe the plot and language of the production, or answer any questions about the content.

 

 

This is so true. We had an issue one summer with our swim team because we showed a movie that depicted adoption badly in the eyes of some parents who had adopted. I think the movie was Tangled, but I can't remember. I know my own daughter was really freaked out by Tangled with the idea that the witch was supposed to be Rapunzel's Mom but not her real Mom but an evil Mom. I could understand why they didn't want their kids to see it but I wouldn't have thought about it being a problem myself (it was before my daughter had seen it). 

 

I like Common Sense Media reviews. They are very thorough but I like that. Often, it's stuff that I'm ok with but it's helpful to know if there is something that might be a problem for one of my kids. The thoroughness makes it easy to figure out if it's a problem for your family rather than just a generic "PG". 

[Guest]

The thing about innuendo is that age appropriateness is built in. It goes right over the kids' heads and gives a layer of entertainment for the adults that can make a movie or show more entertaining. The same is true of pop culture references or classic TV/movie parodies often thrown in to kids' entertainment.

 

But it's not necessarily. If you have a smart kid, at 4 or 5,  who sees what gives a laugh and has a memory like a steel trap, you end up with them repeating it even if they don't "get" it, trying to be funny. I know, because I have one of them. We have to be very careful with what he's exposed to that way, and I highly doubt he's close to the only kid like that. 

 

I personally appreciate movies that are geared towards kids and don't give thoughts to entertaining adults. But 90% don't. Instead they care more about the adults than the kids. It seemed to shift sometime around when all of the Judd Apatow movies came out......it's trickled down or something I guess. Whatever it is, it's making it harder and harder to find appropriate movies for the younger set, and they don't understand why they can't see the new movie out even if it's rated PG. But there is just soooo much out there that just isn't really geared towards kids. They're more worried about entertaining the parents. I wish they wouldn't, because most people should be able to suck up 1.5 hours of something for their kids. 

 

We cave sometimes, like on Sing. I really think there were a zillion songs they could've found besides I Like Big Butts. It actually pissed me off that of ALL the pop songs in the world, that's the one they had to include. But the rest of the movie was actually pretty good, so we gave it a pass because there isn't much else as an option and MIL was desperate to take them. But I wish we didn't have to compromise. Most else out there though is even worse. I just think it's sad. I was impressed that the Smurfs movie actually was something not trying to cater to grown ups. Props to them. 

[ktgrok]

I was surprised to hear that song on kids bop too -- I was all like, "How did they miss that?!?" Then I listened really close, and I was hearing it wrong (because I already knew the "real" words).

 

They actually shifted just a few tiny words around and miraculously changed the story about "not caring about the ring" -- the story is now that the happily married woman is "worried" about her wedding ring, from her husband, with the implication that it is valuable and might be lost or stolen. He (the singer-husband) says that he's "not worried" about the ring, because he's sure she can keep it safe. The rest of the song sounds perfectly lovey-dovey!

 

It's thin when you know the real song, but it passes the kids ears so quickly, and they aren't even thinking about the words, so, no issue.

 

I was pretty impressed that they managed to change the entire meaning of a song by replacing only half a dozen words.

Oh wow! Good to know!!

[MaeFlowers]

It's kind of like "shut the front door." Really far removed, but not far enough for some. I wasn't allowed to say poop as a kid, along with a lot of other pretty benign things, so I'm familiar with the requirement for squeaky clean language in some communities.

Some of dh's family is like this. When ds was little, he was afraid that everything was a bad word because of it. He would whisper to me, "Mom, is boat a bad word?" It took him time to discern what words were actually bad because they had so many off limit words.

 

To each their own, but its just too much work for me.

[Murphy101]

Why Finding Dory? The plugged in link from above seems to find it okay.

It's got a pretty screwed up POV for adopted/abandoned children to interneralize. Granted my kids aren't in either category, but I still didn't think it a healthy depiction of a very sensitive topic.

[Guest]

It's got a pretty screwed up POV for adopted/abandoned children to interneralize. Granted my kids aren't in either category, but I still didn't think it a healthy depiction of a very sensitive topic.

I'm confused. Nemo's mom dies and he is raised by a loving father?

[Tangerine]

It's got a pretty screwed up POV for adopted/abandoned children to interneralize. Granted my kids aren't in either category, but I still didn't think it a healthy depiction of a very sensitive topic.

When I went looking for what was offensive about Finding Dory, I found all sorts of posts about how lovely the pro-life message was. I didn't notice if any of them were people with adopted children, but it is interesting that people can read that plot line so differently.

[Caroline]

I'm confused. Nemo's mom dies and he is raised by a loving father?

I think she's talking about how Dory got separated from her parents.

[Guest]

I think she's talking about how Dory got separated from her parents.

Didn't she just get lost?

[Caroline]

Didn't she just get lost?

I don't remember exactly. I didn't find the movie offensive and my kids have all seen it.

[vonfirmath]

Didn't she just get lost?

 

Ah. I heard something about it. That it turned out to be HER FAULT she got lost.  Could lead abandoned/adopted kids to believe it was -their- fault they do not have their birth parents.  At the time, there were people saying to be careful if you have adopted/foster kids because of this.

 

Here is a good article about it:

http://thefederalist.com/2016/07/01/i-wont-let-my-kids-watch-finding-dory-but-you-should/

Edited June 17, 2017 by vonfirmath

[OneStepAtATime]

Didn't she just get lost?

Yes.  She just got lost, really lost.  I'm not following the objection to Finding Dory. 

[Guest]

Yes. She just got lost, really lost. I'm not following the objection to Finding Dory.

Yeah, and her parents went through this really complicated shell hunting thing to get her back. I'm confused.

[Murphy101]

I'm confused. Nemo's mom dies and he is raised by a loving father?

Note that Nemo is a different movie from Dory. ðŸ˜

 

Eta: also note that I really liked Finding Nemo. 🙂

Edited June 17, 2017 by Murphy101

[Guest]

Note that Nemo is a different movie from Dory. ðŸ˜

Right but I'm still curious.

Edited June 17, 2017 by Moxie

[DawnM]

Huh, I guess I am just a liberal mom then, I don't find any of these objectionable.  And Zootopia gets high marks from Common Sense Media.

 

I don't know anything about SAHARA but it looks like it didn't get good ratings anyway and my kids are no longer interested in these types of movies.

 

My friend was very upset with the Lego Batman movie, something about sexuality, but I haven't seen that either.  My kids have, they are teens.

 

I don't know of too many cartoons we didn't allow when they were young.  I thought some of them were stupid, and I  hated all the fart jokes, but I didn't find it particularly offensive.  

 

Now, if there were any hint of racism, that would upset me greatly, or making fun of someone with no redemption for the character, but otherwise......

[Guest]

Huh, I guess I am just a liberal mom then, I don't find any of these objectionable. And Zootopia gets high marks from Common Sense Media.

 

I don't know anything about SAHARA but it looks like it didn't get good ratings anyway and my kids are no longer interested in these types of movies.

 

My friend was very upset with the Lego Batman movie, something about sexuality, but I haven't seen that either. My kids have, they are teens.

 

I don't know of too many cartoons we didn't allow when they were young. I thought some of them were stupid, and I hated all the fart jokes, but I didn't find it particularly offensive.

 

Now, if there were any hint of racism, that would upset me greatly, or making fun of someone with no redemption for the character, but otherwise......

Me too. My kids watch lots of things. DH introduced our 11yo to Malcolm in the Middle and Simpsons. I'm not excited about that but it doesn't bother me too much.

[Guest]

Huh, I guess I am just a liberal mom then, I don't find any of these objectionable.  And Zootopia gets high marks from Common Sense Media.

 

I don't know anything about SAHARA but it looks like it didn't get good ratings anyway and my kids are no longer interested in these types of movies.

 

My friend was very upset with the Lego Batman movie, something about sexuality, but I haven't seen that either.  My kids have, they are teens.

 

I don't know of too many cartoons we didn't allow when they were young.  I thought some of them were stupid, and I  hated all the fart jokes, but I didn't find it particularly offensive.  

 

Now, if there were any hint of racism, that would upset me greatly, or making fun of someone with no redemption for the character, but otherwise......

 

The print/internet media attempted to hype a bromance with homosexual overtones with Batman and Joker, but it wasn't mentioned in Plugged-In or Common Sense Media reviews that I saw and I always read both because I worry about overly sexual innuendo of any sort as young as my kids are. We went and saw it the day it opened and we thought it was a good movie- in fact we own it. I didn't see any of that at all- I think they were just trying to hype up something for people to get upset about it. Or else maybe I'm dense and it flew over my head? The only complaint I had on that movie were all the funny parts were in the trailers! :) 

[Onceuponatime]

Cars 2. I took my youngest to see it when it came out, because the first Cars movie was fun and he loved it. It was awful. There were car murders! Even if the deaths were "off screen," there was no doubt what had happened. The little girl behind us started crying. The movie was rated g, it should have been pg.

Edited June 17, 2017 by Onceuponatime

[Tangerine]

Cars 2. I took my youngest to see it when it came out, because the first Cars movie was fun and he loved it. It was awful. There were car murders! Even if the deaths were "off screen," there was no doubt what had happened. The little girl behind us started crying. The movie was rated g, it should have been pg.

I have a friend who is an advocate for military spouses who had a similar reaction to the Planes spinoff for the same reasons.

[TheReader]

 

 

But it's not necessarily. If you have a smart kid, at 4 or 5,  who sees what gives a laugh and has a memory like a steel trap, you end up with them repeating it even if they don't "get" it, trying to be funny. I know, because I have one of them. We have to be very careful with what he's exposed to that way, and I highly doubt he's close to the only kid like that. 

 

I personally appreciate movies that are geared towards kids and don't give thoughts to entertaining adults. But 90% don't. Instead they care more about the adults than the kids. It seemed to shift sometime around when all of the Judd Apatow movies came out......it's trickled down or something I guess. Whatever it is, it's making it harder and harder to find appropriate movies for the younger set, and they don't understand why they can't see the new movie out even if it's rated PG. But there is just soooo much out there that just isn't really geared towards kids. They're more worried about entertaining the parents. I wish they wouldn't, because most people should be able to suck up 1.5 hours of something for their kids. 

 

We cave sometimes, like on Sing. I really think there were a zillion songs they could've found besides I Like Big Butts. It actually pissed me off that of ALL the pop songs in the world, that's the one they had to include. But the rest of the movie was actually pretty good, so we gave it a pass because there isn't much else as an option and MIL was desperate to take them. But I wish we didn't have to compromise. Most else out there though is even worse. I just think it's sad. I was impressed that the Smurfs movie actually was something not trying to cater to grown ups. Props to them. 

 

re: the bolded, my youngest taught me that lesson......we watched Arthur Christmas when it first came out on DVD, however many years ago, and this kid doesn't always "get" inferred stuff, but he does latch on to "what gets the laugh" --- the one single line he repeated, over and over and over and over from that movie, was the grandpa's line that "It used to be impossible to teach a woman how to read!" 

 

Oh my word, he thought that was hysterical.....

 

We're much more careful with him (or were) than we were with our older boys.....

[Guest]

I had to sidestep a debate with my daughter's SLP a few weeks back about why I am not going to subscribe to Highlights magazine over their giving in to the P.C. police earlier this year.

 

This bothers me.

 

It seems to me that what you are trying to say is something akin to: "I am annoyed with Highlights because they are showing families whose composition doesn't match my family and/or my ideas about what family *should* be"   with the assumption that they are doing so because there was forceful pressure on them to be "politically correct".

 

I completely support your decision to choose media for your children which shows them the world you want them to believe in and see as normal.

 

Can you not see that what you decry as PC policing is the exact same desire, only by folks with a different vision of the world and a different definition of normal?  Your desire to control the content is just as much "policing" as any other expressed preferences.

 

...and the magazine authors and editors are either presenting their own depictions of "normal" or making a calculated decision about which visions of "normal" best reflect the experiences and preferences of their likely markets.

 

And it sounds as if what you really resent is that your perspective is rapidly becoming that of an ever shrinking minority.

 

I'm a Jew, I'm used to being a minority.  And I am here to tell you it is okay.  ...it isn't always fun and it absolutely can be frustrating to not see yourself or your values or your lifestyle represented.... but if you stop and think, you will see that your type of normal is in there too.  It just isn't the *only* type being depicted, the rest of us get to be of equal value too.  ...and that doesn't have to take anything away from you.   Really. 

[Guest]

This discussion reminds me of when ds15 was little. He (ok, *we*) loved SpongeBob. Big, puffy heart 💖. My cousin wouldn't allow her three kids to watch it. She said it was because of the episode where sponge bob 'cusses' and it's bleeped out constantly. I just laughed. That was our favorite episode! If she'd watched the show to the end, she'd seen that he wasn't actually cussing at all, but she heard the 'bleeps' and turned it off immediately. She's a great mom, no judgement from me at all. We, too, were pretty conservative with tv watching when ds was little, but there was no way we could say no to SpongeBob. 💖💖💖

I knows woman who wouldn't let her kids watch SB because Bikini Bottom = sexuality.

[meena]

I knows woman who wouldn't let her kids watch SB because Bikini Bottom = sexuality.

 

I know a woman who wouldn't let her kids watch SpongeBob just because she was totally annoyed by the sound of his voice

  

 

 Okay, so, that woman is me  :leaving:

[Tangerine]

I knew someone who didn't let his kids watch SB because it was "amoral." I've never seen an episode, so I have no idea how to assess that. I knew no "Beauty and the Beast" people because of the...beast/lady issues.