Our children cannot escape media!!
As a mom and a teacher of teens, I have to tell you that
most of what media offers is crap—terrifying, humiliating, soul sucking, IQ
lowering, demoralizing crap.
Nevertheless, what is on media is also woven throughout the
fabric of our lives. Celebrating Independence Day last week helped me realize
it’s okay. In fact, it can be celebratory, educational, inspirational, laughter
inducing, memory making stuff. You see, while my kids enjoyed blowing stuff up, their celebration was not complete without partaking in our traditional patriotic movie time!
I first knew my oldest would be an actress when at 4 years
old, she berated me consistently for not being able to recite all of the lines
correctly from certain scenes of The
Wizard of Oz and Willie Wonka and the
Chocolate Factory.
My second oldest was a sickly toddler. She had sky-high
fevers. We would have to cool her down with cold wet rags. It was pretty awful
for her, but she was always, without fail, calmed and comforted by one movie—Dumbo. The song Dumbo’s mom sings to
comfort him become my baby’s nighttime lullaby.
My third daughter wasn't sickly, but she cried for the first
2 years of her life. Not colicky, just stubborn and serious. Her calming
comfort came in the video of the Broadway musical Cats. We’re still not sure if she was terrified or mesmerized at
Macavity's red eyes. But, hey, she quit crying for an hour, so…
Looking back, I can’t believe I let my little boy watch Lord of the Rings at 5 years old. That’s
pretty violent stuff for a little guy. His dad actually let him miss a day of
kindergarten to go see Star Wars: Revenge
of the Sith. Yep, that’s the one where Anakin kills all the younglings and
then his wife. It was quite a graduation from his first favorite—Toy Story. And by favorite I mean that
by age three, he embodied Buzz Lightyear and had a collection of action figures
to rival Disneyland.
Even today, as my oldest introduces her toddler to
Hollywood, we hold our movie traditions dear. Independence Day can’t happen
without a viewing of 1776. Halloween
can’t pass without Hocus Pocus.
Christmas is decorated with every holiday clay animation film ever made. In
fact, not too many dinner table conversations pass without someone quoting Galaxy Quest or The Sword and the Stone or SpongeBob
or Indiana Jones or Pirates of the Caribbean, or even (to my
deep disappointment) Anchor Man.
So maybe the ubiquitous media isn't all bad. Still, I do
very often wish they’d get their faces out of their phones so they can actually
experience life, or at least long enough to watch a good movie.
Here's a short movie for you. The clip shows what is probably her 500th viewing a favorite movie. We take our cinema seriously. BTW--we're beautiful criers, aren't we?
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