Is 'The Dark Knight' OK For Kids?

Is 'The Dark Knight' OK For Kids?

Monday, July 21, 2008

Some moms wonder if the movie is too violent.

Although The Dark Knight broke the all-time weekend box office record with $155 million (beating out Spider-Man 3's previous record of $151.1 million), reviews were decidedly mixed among moms who wondered if the movie was too violent for their kids.

Mom of two Dani Klein said, "If there was profanity in Dark Knight, I have no memory of it. Or nudity. Whatever there may be is completely overshadowed for me by the violence. PG-13, my ass!"

Time magazine also questioned the PG-13 rating: "The mayhem and torture wreaked here, by saint or scum, are so vivid and persistent that it's a wonder, and a puzzle, why The Dark Knight snagged a PG-13 rating. (Don't take your 9-year-old son unless you think he'd enjoy seeing a kid just like him tremble in fear while a gun is held to his head by a previously sympathetic character.) But kids would have trouble following the movie, let alone understanding it."

The MPAA's reasons for Knight's PG-13: "intense sequences of violence and some menace" -- but they aren't required to detail the intensely violent scenes (such as a man being impaled with a pencil).

Mom of three Samantha Bailey says all the ratings hoopla is much ado about nothing: "My kids loved it. It was no more violent than any other superhero movie in my opinion. My 8-year-old wants to see it again!"

We'd love to hear from moms who saw the movie. Do you think The Dark Knight is appropriate for kids?

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The people knocking the psychologist with insults and filthy language obviously lack in class or restraint. Perhaps the psychologist touched a nerve? Please call me “judgmental”. Those who posted negative comments were obviously judgmental but wanted to point the fingers at others? Are you all projecting, to use a psychological term? Having been a middle school teacher for many years, I can tell you that many parents appear to have minimal parenting skills. I can tell when I have spoken to them and they appear clueless as to the ramifications of setting inappropriate or no boundaries/consesquences for their kid’s behavior. Many kids lack respect or values that are necessary for interacting with adults and peers in a civil manner. This is not judgment - it’s a statement of fact. Ask any therapist, school counselor, principal, police officer or teacher. They’ll say the same thing. How will watching Dark Knight reinforce positive values? We have a violent society because we have raised a generation of many violent, disrespectful, slackers. Watch the movie Idiocracy if you want to see the consequences of having a generation of kids without adequate educations raising kids. (These kids are now adults, BTW). The psychologist is not being judgmental, she’s being honest based on her professional experiences. But many parents do not want to hear the message because it requires responsibility and investment in educating their children. Educating children in appropriated values and behavior means not letting them see extremely violent and sadistic movies such as Dark Knight. Where is the virtue in that? The psychologist is right in saying that kids today are often callous and indifferent. Hello - it’s the way they were raised. No other excuses. Parents need to be the gatekeepers when it comes to access to technology or the media. The moviemakers are interested in making $, they’re not looking out for the interest of your child. The psychologist is also correct in stating that Dark Knight is inappropriate for adults. Just as any adult knows they should limit their consumption of junk food, such as candy, it makes sense to limit exposure to “junk” candy in the form of violence. Doesn’t your child get enough exposure to violence via the Iraq War coverage, the video games you let them play, etc? Isn’t there a more positive way to spend 2 hours? Questioning values as the psychogist suggested is not a bad

- MiddleSchoolTeacher

Posted 12/26/08 08:13 PM

I want to start off by saying that as an 18 year old, lifelong Batman fan, I loved the movie. As to whether or not it is appropriate for the kiddies, there are two very convincing arguements. I was recenly at a movie theatre where a poster on the wall described the five movie ratings and surely enough, the pg-13 rating was accompanied with the words “Know your kids or see it with them”. With that said, I think that a pg-13 raiting is suitable. I remember kids in my first grade class discussing all the r rated slasher flicks they had seen recently (this was 1996). I had no interest in those films, and still don’t, but at the young age of 6, I did watch the “old” Batman films (the Burton/Schumacher series) and was not harmed one bit. Parts of those flicks were just as dark and menacing as The Dark Knight and would have upset many children. My folks also knew that a.) I knew the difference between fantasy and reality long before I saw the Batman films, not to sound arrogant, and b.) that comic book movies do have redeeming qualities such as teaching about good and evil, duality and justice, inspiring creativity (loved to draw my own Batman stories). I forgot to mention, I am an extremely liberal, pacifist “hippie”if you will but I realise that “the mindless menace of violence” as Bobby Kennedy put it, plagued the world long before movies, tv, video games, books or even civilization existed.

- Anonymous

Posted 01/19/09 12:24 AM

I saw this movie and loved it. Having said that, I did find it very violent and not at all appropriate for younger children. I saw parents with kids who had to have been four or five years old, and those kids were SCARED. The parents who had some sense left the theater quickly, but I still question their judgement because it takes very little effort to find information on movies now, even if you have to make a trip to the library to use a computer. As the previous comment said, there are posters in the theater providing ratings guidelines for parents. Unfortunately, I saw parents who paid no attention and kept their frightened kids in the theater.

- S.N.

Posted 04/12/09 11:07 PM

I am 14 years old (almost 15). In my opinion, this is one of the greatest movies of all time. But I don’t think this is appropriate for kids under 13. Reasons: the whole movie is dark and frightening. The joker is darker than ever. He does evil things throught the movie. Should this be rated R? No. I have seen other pg 13 movies more violent than this. But the violence gets pretty aggressive. Children can easily have nightmares after watching this. Do I reccomend this for kids under 13? Depends on your kid. My 6 year old brother saw it, and loved it. If your child isn’t used to seeing movies that violent and or dark, then I don’t reccomend it. Otherwise this should be okay. Barely any cursing whatsoever. No sex at all (a man and a woman kiss, but I don’t consider that sex). Nothing good happens in the movie: joker doesn’t die, rachael dies, etc. Overall, it just depends on you and your childs consience.

- ?

Posted 08/25/09 12:05 AM

I’m not sure what I would have rated this movie. But I think a lot of parents assume a pg-13 movie is going to be ok for their kids because plenty of movies rated pg-13 have been ok for their kids in the past. Plus, no one can really know how a movie is going to hit them until they see it. I’d say a lot of parents feel a little screwed by the system, and they may shy away from movies in general for some time. I saw this movie and no way would I take a kid to see it under any circumstance. I don’t know if I would have rated it R or not. But i’ve seen many, many R-rated movies that are milder than The Dark Knight.

- Joe23649

Posted 08/26/09 04:23 PM

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