If it doesn't pass the SUD test, my family lets it go...
Most movies come with ratings
G - General
PG - Parental Guidance
PG 13 - Parental Guidance, no one under 13
R - Restricted
X- Adult only
and so on.
TV shows also have their own rating system as well, it's more complicated and can be found in detail here but to sum up TV systems they give a guideline on age and then add information such as whether a show as strong language, violence, fantasy based violence, etc.
I throw all these rating systems OUT THE WINDOW.
I use them not at all.
Why?
Because they cannot truly tell me the content of a movies character.
Is my job as a mother to shield my children from any act of violence at all or to use opportunities to speak about violence and what God has said about how we are to treat others?
Drugs, sex, violence -it's not blankly bad, it depends on how it's presented.
That's why you will see my children watching Lord of the Rings but not the new Noah movie. My children are allowed to watch Star Trek (original, TNG, Deep Space and Voyager) but will never set eyes upon Frozen so long as I live.
While Satan has conveniently distracted us all with drugs, sex, cursing and violence and made them the target for whether or not a movie gets the green light we have overlooked the more important ratings we should be thinking about...
S - Sass and Selfishness
U- Ungodliness
D - Disrespect
I rate our movies by SUD.
Selfishness
Frozen doesn't pass. It's main theme is about "being who you are" without exception or compromise even if it harms, confuses or hurts your community. That's selfishness.
The prevailing theme in entertainment today is selfishness. Most movies start out with a main character who has a unique quality. This quality comes in conflict with their family or community in some way. Instead of working through this difficulty together and building relationships the main character defies the "unreasonable" expectations of others. This happens violently through fighting or by the main character leaving the "intolerant" atmosphere behind and often engaging in even more selfish behavior where they inevitably find another person in whom they can confide their uniqueness, and thus justified, return triumphantly to their former family or community with smug pride.
Sass
Hannah Montana, and most Disney Channel TV shows, don't pass the sass test. How are those children speaking to their parents? Their school teachers? Their siblings? It is often full of teasing, name calling, sarcasm, etc. that tears down those precious relationships instead of building of them up in a kind manner.
This doesn't mean that the characters on the show cannot makes mistakes or say something wrong. Eddie Haskell in Leave It To Beaver is often doing and saying the wrong thing and even if Wally and Beaver follow him at first, in the end the moral lesson is always taught and the consequences to wrong behavior are seen. Nowadays we simply hear a laugh track played over Eddie Haskells and they are more often than not the heroes of the show.
Ungodliness
Most Bible based movies made by Hollywood these days are blatantly ungodly. They mock our creator and pervert His teachings and history. Other movies leave out God altogether and rely on ever changing science as the only answer and authority.
Disrespect
Figures of authority, guidance and respect such as parents, teachers, police, neighbors, older siblings, etc., are often insulted directly or indirectly by the children in TV shows and movies. They are portrayed as buffoons or well meaning idiots who don't know as much as the main character children.
A quick example that comes to mind to me is the wildly popular Phineas and Ferb. Their older sister Candace is not kind but her efforts to watch over them keept them out of trouble and generally do the care taking that an older sister should be doing, are seen as ridiculous and comical. Instead of getting along with their sister Phineas and Ferb egg her on in every episode typically setting her up for some sort of humiliation.
Quite frankly I'm truly shocked at the popularity of children's entertainment that does not pass the SUD test.
How about you? How do you rate what your children view? Do you have any favorite resources like PluggedIn?
I like this rating system! Especially when they are still little and trying to work out the difference between life and entertainment.
ReplyDeleteI'm also bothered by the trend of parents being treated as clueless and without wisdom. I've noticed, since somewhere in the eighties, shows where the mother or even the maid dominates the man of the house and he is treated like a bumbling dingbat. That bugged me even as a kid. I don't remember it being like that in all those old episodes I used to watch of Father Knows Best, My Three Sons, Eight Is Enough, or Good Times. In fact--with Good Times--the father was killed off and it ruined the show.
As to Frozen, I did not get the same message you did. I can understand where you are coming from and can see where your link is getting at as well. I figured it might be empowering to groups who feel like outcasts, and that includes Christians.
I walked out of that film wanting to see it with my sister because to me it was a love story about sisters, their special bond, the power of family, selflessness and accepting your duties to your tribe. It reminded me a lot of the vastly underrated Brother Bear. Same themes I mentioned, just with Brothers.