"Kids" content that is totally innappropriate

[Guest]

Yes, it was Sahara on Netflix. I think it was the first third. We definitely didn't watch the whole thing.

The strange dance is around minute 32. I didn't think it was overly sexual but very trippy. And they did turn the snakes into sperm which was odd but the whole dance was odd.

[Murphy101]

I confess I was surprised to learn that people don't know this. On a classical education board no less.

I know this and wasn't referring to politics when I posted but apparently I couldn't make that clear and then didn't feel like belaboring it further.

 

I don't think I'm a liberal mom wrt movies because my kids watch something another parent doesn't because I'm certain they allow something I do not.

 

I know there are parents that give a free for all access to anything and everything possible on TV. But I'd use a different term than liberal for them bc I don't think those parents (like mine were) are actually interested in giving liberal access to anything. They are just neglectful parents who don't care or notice to me.

[LMD]

I confess I was surprised to learn that people don't know this. On a classical education board no less.

And here in Australia our conservative party are called the 'Liberal Party' - I have had to explain to educated people here why that is. (Small gov, personal liberty/responsibility - whether they actually embody that is another topic!)

 

As for kids shows - my kids once had another kid tell them that I was wrong to let them watch Adventure Time. I don't tend to take parenting advice from obnoxious 10 year olds. And we all lumping love adventure time!

 

We are pretty relaxed about this stuff, but from what Mercy described, that sounds pretty off! We also are more wary of explicit sexual content rather than violence. My ds loved predator but freaked over miss peregrine! Actually, that (awful) movie was pretty freaky, the books were worse (but a much better story!)

[Ravin]

Yes, I know this. 

 

But even with my non-adopted daughter the conversation went like this...

Z:  "Why is Rapunzel's Mommy being so mean to her?" 

Me: "Oh, because she's not really her Mommy. She's a mean witch who kidnapped her." 

Z: "Then why does Rapunzel say that she's her mother?"

Me: "Because the witch told her she's her real mother and Rapunzel thinks she is." 

Z: "How do you know someone is your real Mommy?"

Me: "Well your real Mommy is the person who loves you and takes care of you."

Z: ....after a quiet worried pause...."What about Sarah?" (a friend of her that is adopted) 

Me: "Oh, that's different. Sarah is adopted but her Mommy is still her real Mommy.....[longer explanation about adoption and how what the witch did isn't adoption]"

 

We watch a little more...Rapunzel escapes from the tower and the witch is following her. 

 

Z: "I don't like this movie. Why is her Mommy being so mean?" 

 

We turn it off. 

 

It totally freaked her out and I could see her thinking "How do I know I wasn't kidnapped and my Mommy is just saying she is my real Mommy?" She could probably watch it now at age 7 1/2 and be fine with it but this was at about age 5. My boys had watched it about that age and were totally fine. And I could see how adoptive parents might feel more sensitive about those issues and how their kids felt about the movie. 

 

Anyway, my point was that every kid is different and sometimes what is a perfectly fine movie for one kid is scary for another. My oldest was petrified of Veggie Tales as a kid. That was fun as a Christian since every single gathering that offered "a kids movie" showed Veggie Tales. He thought the talking veggies were really freaky. On the other hand he would watch very realistic nature documentaries of sharks and have no problem. You just have to know your kid. 

 

I agree that it's important to know your kid. And I'm with your DS about Veggie Tales!

 

My kids honestly have never seemed disturbed by anything on TV. If they have questions we discuss, and they are satisfied with that generally. The only thing I've really censored is depictions of realistic domestic violence (I wouldn't consider an animated show like Rapunzel realistic, but where I let DD watch Lord of the Rings at 3 or 4, I wouldn't let her watch Superman Returns, for instance). My kids understood from pretty young that there is nothing real about animated/cartoon shows, and the difference between reality TV and scripted programs also came pretty early for both (though not as early as with animation).

[KungFuPanda]

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?

 

Are you kidding me right now???

 

Well, not belly dancing :)

 

Thank you!

 

 

I just spent my weekend putting on my yearly belly dance show.  This included a children's class.  Middle Eastern Dance is absolutely a family friendly dance form. "Belly dancing" includes a lot of social dances done by people of all ages and genders at family weddings.  I hear that it's not almost as often as I hear that homeschoolers are unsocialized.

 

Grrrr . . .

 

Now to read pages 2 and 3

[Ravin]

Middle Eastern folk dancing is "offensive and yucky"? :huh:

 

When it's middle eastern folk dancing, there's considerably more clothing involved than some people think. Though no idea how clothing would be relevant if it's about snakes?

[Ravin]

I thought The Secret Life of Pets was also pushing the line of wildly innapropriate. I am not as parent who overly analyzes things as I prefer my child to experience culture with me first so we can talk about it (age appropriately of course) but this movie was over the top.

 

The only thing in Secret Life of Pets that I found particularly disturbing was that poor pig who had been practiced on by an unethical tattoo artist.

[KungFuPanda]

Finally, someone who finds belly dancing off putting. Thought I was the only one who finds it offensive and yucky.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

 

Middle Eastern folk dancing is "offensive and yucky"? :huh:

 

 

I lived in the Middle East, so I'm not completely pulling this out of nowhere.  Yes, belly dancing isn't considered family entertainment in a lot of places over there.     

 

 

It wasn't a folk dance I was watching.  I was watching snakes teach a younger, more impressionable snake that didn't fit in because she was "fat," and "had never done it before,"  a dance that was clearly extremely sexual and culminated in what can only be described as multiple orgasms and conception exploding into a medusa head.  Then slut shaming her for participating.  I don't think you can comprehend how bad it is unless you watch it yourself.  DH thought I was completely blowing things out of proportion so I rewound to the part that disturbed me and he didn't get through 30% of it without agreeing he wouldn't have let the video play that long.  Seriously, if this was a cable network it would NEVER be allowed to be marketed to children.

 

 

Yeah, it wasn't a dance that was the problem.  It was seduction and so much more.  I wish someone else here would watch it (after their children are in bed) so I'm not the only boardie who knows what I'm talking about...

 

As an update, I was able to change the rating of the "kids" Netflix profile to only show things okay for young children - which blocked that movie and still showed plenty of vintage and disney stuff without questionable content that the kids watch too.. None of them have noticed anything is missing.

 

 

The strange dance is around minute 32. I didn't think it was overly sexual but very trippy. And they did turn the snakes into sperm which was odd but the whole dance was odd.

 

 

AHHHHH!  My head is going to explode.  Was there even any bellydancing involved?  Or did someone just watch a snake try to be sexual, and based upon what they think middle eastern dance IS, just decide to call THAT bellydancing? Only westerners call it belly dancing.  It's just dancing.  I guess there are people who believe that ALL forms of western dance are obscene, but they're few and far between.  Middle Eastern dance is as diverse as anything else.  It's like saying you think waltzing is obscene because you once saw some explicit crunking and didn't like it.  AHHHHH!

[KungFuPanda]

Sooooo . . . I watched the scene.  Based upon the music having zero Middle Eastern rhythms and the snakes not doing a single dance technique that someone could remotely connect to middle eastern dance, SOMEONE decided it was a yucky yucky "bellydance" scene?!?" I'm giving up.  

[Tangerine]

I'm thinking it was incorrectly interpreted as belly dance because, well, what else is a snake going to do but move its torso? It has no limbs for which to cabbage patch.

[Tangerine]

And I swear, please don't come tell me you use your arms in belly dance. I KNOW. Just makin' jokes. My BFF and her 6 year old do American Tribal.

[historically accurate]

The strange dance is around minute 32. I didn't think it was overly sexual but very trippy. And they did turn the snakes into sperm which was odd but the whole dance was odd.

 

I just re-watched - I vaguely watched last week when youngest was ill. I agree with your assessment. It actually reminds me of the Heffalump dance in the original Winnie the Pooh cartoon - strange & trippy. I took it to be that the snakes weren't in charge of themselves because of the pipe, not sexual, just like a weird out-of-body dancing. I think last week I was more concerned that my children were watching snakes than anything else (I'm terrified of snakes).

[Tanaqui]

It's like saying you think waltzing is obscene because you once saw some explicit crunking and didn't like it.  AHHHHH!

 

Interesting fact, when the waltz first became popular, it was considered rather indecent because of the way the partners held each other closely.

[KungFuPanda]

Interesting fact, when the waltz first became popular, it was considered rather indecent because of the way the partners held each other closely.

 

I can believe that.  This makes the op's wish impossible. There is no rating system that someone can't find offensive or wrong.  They have to shoot for what's acceptable to the majority of their consumers.

[nixpix5]

The only thing in Secret Life of Pets that I found particularly disturbing was that poor pig who had been practiced on by an unethical tattoo artist.

And the conversation about killing their human owners first with a spoon and then a blender while all of the animals whoop and holler, and the killing of the viper, and the bizarre psychedelic drug-like trip at the sausage factory, the drinking- game-worthy use of the word "kill" and...and...and...

 

This is one I could go on and on with. The violence was constant. I actually liked the movie myself but I did not like it for young kids. We made the mistake of going to the theater to see it and my husband just kept looking at each other in amazment.

[Guest]

Interesting fact, when the waltz first became popular, it was considered rather indecent because of the way the partners held each other closely.

Same with Tango, right? That was like an animalistic mating dance.

[Melissa in Australia]

isn't the whole point of  just about all dancing sexual? 

[Tangerine]

isn't the whole point of  just about all dancing sexual? 

 

No.  There's the haka, a thousand folk dances, some communities segregate dancing by sex.  There are countless examples of dances that I'm quite sure are not sexual.

[Guest]

I've seen Footloose. All dancing is bad. Full stop.

[Tangerine]

I've seen Footloose. All dancing is bad. Full stop.

Please, Louise. 

[Tanaqui]

No.  There's the haka, a thousand folk dances, some communities segregate dancing by sex.  There are countless examples of dances that I'm quite sure are not sexual.

 

Not to mention the sort of dance done primarily by specialists - ballet, tap, odissi, both traditional and contemporary hula....

[Paige]

isn't the whole point of  just about all dancing sexual? 

 

Surely the 3yo ballet dancers I saw at DDs recital this weekend weren't dancing to be sexual. And my DDs hip hop class was not dancing to be sexual. And neither were the tap, jazz, or musical theater, or other kids. 

[Tangerine]

I've been to 3 dance recitals in the past week. (By the third, I MAY have left early and eaten grilled cheese in my car...)  But my absolute favorite part is the same 2 ladies from last year from the Adult Tap class.  Just two middle-aged to older ladies performing their own number in between tiny tutu kids and high school hip hop.  I love them so much.  I love that they get up there and do their thing. They had improved since last year, too!  (Not sexual, btw.)

[Guest]

Not to mention the sort of dance done primarily by specialists - ballet, tap, odissi, both traditional and contemporary hula....

 

Don't forget Square Dancing!! Although those ladies do wear short dresses! Maybe there's more than we know going on at the senior hoe down. 

[Tanaqui]

And of course, some communities have historically used dance as a form of worship. I suppose you could argue that the Shakers were really thinking of sex (you know, subliminally) because of their celibacy-induced urges, but....

[....]

I just spent my weekend putting on my yearly belly dance show.  This included a children's class.  Middle Eastern Dance is absolutely a family friendly dance form. "Belly dancing" includes a lot of social dances done by people of all ages and genders at family weddings.  I hear that it's not almost as often as I hear that homeschoolers are unsocialized.

 

:confused:   Hmmm, I think in the west it's fine...  Maybe there's someone else on this forum who is from the Middle East who can confirm this.  I lived, worked and attended college in the Middle East for awhile, but I'm not an expert on Arab culture. From my experience, people there don't consider belly dancing to be family entertainment.  In some places (I'm thinking Egypt in particular) they actually have to get a permit to be allowed to do belly dancing.  I tried googling it to make sure I wasn't imagining things and there are several articles about how people in the Middle East perceive it.  I didn't realize this, but some of the articles mentioned the perception in the ME that there's a link between belly dancing and prostitution.

 

And I'm not sure where it originated from, either.  *shrug*  I never actually saw belly dancing when I lived there.  I spent most of my time in the Middle East sweating, drinking really thick coffee and trying to figure out if I should turn left, right or back up, because I missed my turn.  

[Ravin]

And the conversation about killing their human owners first with a spoon and then a blender while all of the animals whoop and holler, and the killing of the viper, and the bizarre psychedelic drug-like trip at the sausage factory, the drinking- game-worthy use of the word "kill" and...and...and...

 

This is one I could go on and on with. The violence was constant. I actually liked the movie myself but I did not like it for young kids. We made the mistake of going to the theater to see it and my husband just kept looking at each other in amazment.

Hyperbole and blatantly unrealistic. Again, know your kid and I can see how a sensitive child might be bothered, but for most it's just so over the top it's funny.

[KungFuPanda]

:confused: Hmmm, I think in the west it's fine... Maybe there's someone else on this forum who is from the Middle East who can confirm this. I lived, worked and attended college in the Middle East for awhile, but I'm not an expert on Arab culture. From my experience, people there don't consider belly dancing to be family entertainment. In some places (I'm thinking Egypt in particular) they actually have to get a permit to be allowed to do belly dancing. I tried googling it to make sure I wasn't imagining things and there are several articles about how people in the Middle East perceive it. I didn't realize this, but some of the articles mentioned the perception in the ME that there's a link between belly dancing and prostitution.

 

And I'm not sure where it originated from, either. *shrug* I never actually saw belly dancing when I lived there. I spent most of my time in the Middle East sweating, drinking really thick coffee and trying to figure out if I should turn left, right or back up, because I missed my turn.

I get what you're saying, but you're trying to apply the western term "bellydancing" to all forms of dancing in the Middle East. If you attended a wedding, night club, or community outing and saw people dancing, they'd be doing MOST of the same moves a professional dancer does. It's a common dance vocabulary that is enjoyed by all, but the idea of 'performing' it isn't necessarily embraced. Women dancing professionally is frowned upon, yet it's still an ingrained tradition to do those social dances or even have a professional dancer at the wedding; just nobody wants their daughter to be that dancer. This stigma is applied more heavily in more mysogynistic cultures. American bellydancers don't usually encounter it, but now and again you hit upon a thread like this one and you're reminded . . .

[....]

I get what you're saying, but you're trying to apply the western term "bellydancing" to all forms of dancing in the Middle East. 

 

Um, NO, I'm not.  People mentioned belly dancing and I specifically posted about belly dancing.  Yes, I KNOW there are other forms of dance.   

[KungFuPanda]

Um, NO, I'm not. People mentioned belly dancing and I specifically posted about belly dancing. Yes, I KNOW there are other forms of dance.

 

What westerners call bellydancing encompasses ALL of Raqs Sharki. There is no actual dance that is "bellydance" that you can point at and say "I don't like that one." Most people don't HAVE a word to separate the different names for the different dances or to distinguish whether a folk dance is done onstage or in a private living room. Someone could disapprove of a woman doing a dance in costume onstage but be perfectly comfortable with the same dance when a crowd of amateurs does it at an anniversary party.

 

A blanket "Ewww, I don't like bellydance" sounds a lot like "I don't like Middle Eastern food." or "I don't like Middle Eastern music." Those could be true statements, but the categories are so broad that it's improbable not to find one single thing you like. Usually people mean that the mizmar sounds shrill to their ears, or that they don't care for baba ganush, or they think an exposed midriff is scandalous, or a 9/8 time signature makes them uncomfortable and they don't know why. Sometimes people don't know enough about something to have a conversation more in depth than "I just don't like it."

 

To MY ear, it sounds exactly like hearing person A say that homeschooling is just awful and person B agreeing with them.

[ILiveInFlipFlops]

I'm thinking it was incorrectly interpreted as belly dance because, well, what else is a snake going to do but move its torso? It has no limbs for which to cabbage patch.

 

 

:smilielol5:  :smilielol5:  :smilielol5: