Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Harry Potter Premiere and some questions......

I have several of my teenager friends from youth group who went to the premiere of Harry Potter last night at midnight. True Potter fans they are. It seems though, that even though they are disappointed that it is not exactly like the book, they will go see it many more times this summer. Go figure. I do like Harry Potter. I know there are many Christian moms who do not, and I respect that, but our decision, after I had read the books, was to let my children read the books.

My mother was a "No, because I said so" type mom. I have used that one on occasion. Usually, I say, let me check it out, if I say no, I will tell you why. I know Harry Potter deals with wizards and all that stuff. I also know my children, and they know the difference between make believe and real stuff. Reading and watching Harry Potter has never beckoned them to delve into witchcraft. Not one of the kids I know that read the series has gotten into witchcraft. My son Tyler, who read all the books, is following his God calling and wants to be a youth pastor. So my final opinion on the whole thing is, forbidden fruit is more tempting and I found no real "threat" in the books or movies. Great entertainment.

I have truly messed up in this region too. We are true Will Farrell fans, love Talledega nights, love Elf. So, as I am cruising through the movie rental place, I see Step Brothers, don't even look at the rating and rent it. Pop it in at home, only, to my true mortification, have to pop that bad boy right back out again. Way too much adult humor, even for our fifteen year old. Yikes. Always read the boxes. Always.

We have let our children watch "R" rated movies at appropriate ages. Schindler's List is rated R. Saving Private Ryan is rated R. The Passion of the Christ is rated R. These are important films. If we do not know our past, we are doomed to relive it. Cooper has seen none of these movies because he is not ready, Tatum either. The intensity is too much, too real, and those things really did happen, so you cannot explain it away as make believe.

So weigh in on this very volatile subject. Let me know, you won't hurt my feelings.

God bless you and yours.


4 comments:

Baby Z's Mom said...

Step Brothers has WAY too much adult content for adults even. Did see it and it was funny and offensive at the same time. I too have used the because I said so line, but in my defense, Gabi is only 3! I will do the checking out of things before she does too, it works. Parents should know what's out there that our children are being exposed to on a daily basis. I agree that Harry Potter is okay too, they seem to be about good vs evil, the wizardry stuff is just the setting not the message.

Christa Gowing said...

I love Will Farrell too, and so does Jadon but I did know not to let him watch Step Bros...I almost can't enjoy it with every other word the F word either, so I thought it was ok but could do without a lot of the stuff in it

Christmas with CWG said...

I have to admit I can enjoy good raunchy comedy--if it is truly clever and funny. Sorry, but one of my favorite movies is "Love Actually" and I find the porn-movie stand-in couple hilarious in their innocence. But, again, no way will my kids see it--not even edited for TV. And, I love W.F. too, but we walked out of Talledega Nights (had a 6-year-old with us). Yep, after shelling out 50 bucks in tickets we picked up our popcorn and left. That's when I learned to always check out the family-friendly movie reviews--even though they usually spin more conservative than I am, it helps to be informed!

hiyahun said...

We love the Harry Potter books and movies and yes we let the kids watch. We see them first, because we want to be able to explain things if there are questions. we have let them see other movies that most moms would say no to, but if we see it and think they are mature enough then we sit with them and answer question. Yes we belive they are not old enough for the R rating, but even pg13 brings into play some very questionable things. We want them to be mature enough to understand, but dont want to make them too old before their time either