Is Firefly suitable for children?

POSTED BY: chronicthehedgehog
UPDATED: Thursday, August 17, 2006 05:12
VIEWED: 15214
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CHRONICTHEHEDGEHOG

Tuesday, August 15, 2006 1:11 PM

Is Firefly suitable for children? This comes from another thread, but am reposting as I didn't want to post hijack.

Quote:
Originally posted by Darkfly:
Prostitution,lesbianism,violence,sexual refrences, torture,swearing,swearing in chinese,sex scenes,ect.
If that's suitable for anybody under 11 then GOD help us all,this is why people are getting dumber, there allowed to see,watch,& hear things they should not be allowed to till they can completely understand.Look at the stats stealing,prostition, teenage pregenancies,murdering,worser grades in school,unemployment,ect. all these thing's are geeting higher every year,if you want the main culprit it's the parents(not completely)I was brought up with manner's,wasn't allowed to buy or watch anything I wanted,I was never allowed to watch an 18 till I was 15 & that was Terminator & even then my Dad wouldn't let me see the nude scene.And no I'm not 50 I'm actually between the age 16-23 but your never find out.

I think prostitution would go completely over a child's head. They wouldn't understand what Inara's profession was and if asked it's easily explanable as people pay to spend time with her.

What's wrong with letting a child see lesbians? I would think it was good to let them know that there's nothing wrong with it.

As for violence, as a child I saw Star Wars, I saw Indiana Jones both of which are fantastic family movies. However, they deal with violence and death all the time. I watched Han Solo kill a man in cold blood, I saw Obi Wan cut off a guy's hand, I watched a man's face melt in Indiana Jones. I've never seen anything that bad in Firefly.

Sexual references. Would almost certainly go over a child's head, but I notice on your profile that you watched Red Dwarf at 4 which contained numerous sexual references. Did that do you any harm?

Torture. I think that, for the most part, the torture wouldn't be a problem. They'd just see it as the bad man hurting Mal which just emphasises how bad he is. Now cutting his ear off is probably the worst thing there, but again I don't see it as being as bad as Obi-Wan cutting that guy's hand off.

I can't think of any swearing in the show. And how does swearing in chinese hurt kids? They don't understand it and if they did the translations aren't direct swear words.

Sex scenes. Possibly the only thing that would put me off showing it to a kid. Though I think if I had been watching this as a child my mum would have just covered my eyes for that bit.

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I do not kill with my hand.
He who kills with his hand has forgotten the face of his father.
I kill with my heart.

PHOENIXROSE

Tuesday, August 15, 2006 1:18 PM

There have been several discussions on this. It of course depends on the maturity of the child, but I don't agree with Darkfly that it would make them dumb. Or make them have "worser grades"
I think it's fine, and I agree with you, particularly that there's nothing wrong with two girls kissing. Several members of this board have started their children young. They don't show them War Stories or Heart of Gold, I think, but that's about it.

An insincere and evil friend is more to be feared than a wild beast; a wild beast may wound your body, but an evil friend will wound your mind. - Gautama Siddharta

JAMAICANBATMAN

Tuesday, August 15, 2006 1:55 PM

why shouldn't it be suitable, when kids can just turn the news on and hear 'bout terrorists tryin to blow up a bunch of planes last week. Surely that'd be unsuitable for them, but that was broadcast 24/7.

Oh and Chronic, i like the signature.

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we are ka-tet, one from many

MRSU

Tuesday, August 15, 2006 2:39 PM

No.
My opinion - it's OK for teenagers, but not for children younger than 11-12.
It's violent, dark, mature show. Most of the themes would go over kids' heads anyway.

STILLSHINY

Tuesday, August 15, 2006 2:50 PM

I say keep it for the teens.

As for what "moral" stand to take with what's being seen, well, I think that's the parents responsibility.

When we had an Korean exchange student stay with us, she was 17, we let her watch it.

When she had friends over we knew whose parents would approve & who wouldn't and acted accordingly.

Interestingly, we had a friend over last week & her 5 yr old was in the room while Tru Calling was on. She had no idea what was happening on the screen, she just knew the music was loud & tense, so she went running down the hall not wanting to see the "scary part"

"We had ties that could not be broken, except by the passing of time. Like a rock. A broken time rock. And you're very special to me, my broken time rock people." - Nathan Fillion

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CYBERSNARK

Tuesday, August 15, 2006 2:50 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by PhoenixRose:
It of course depends on the maturity of the child, but I don't agree with Darkfly that it would make them dumb.

I'd go so far as to argue the opposite.

I've noticed two different approaches to "children's entertainment." One approach argues that children should be protected. Programming for children should be "safe" and "easy," with nothing potentially objectionable. No violence, brutality, course language, sexuality (as distinct from "sex" itself, I'm talking about things like romance, flirtation, the occasional kiss [or the even more romantic almost-kiss]), and most definitely no justification for Evil.

"Educational" content is restricted to self-affirming lessons (the importance of teamwork, believing in yourself, being nice to people, etc) or academic subjects (math, geometry, ancient history, etc). It should talk down to kids, so as not to exclude anyone.

Look at most kids' TV. Pokémon, Monster Warriors, even Kim Possible, which I actually like. There's nothing offensive there, nothing that could make parents' groups take notice, or risk the child learning something they shouldn't. Of course, there's also nothing there to make kids think. This kind of programming is like junk food for young brains --safe for parents to use the TV as a babysitter, raising another generation of Fox viewers.

The other approach is to deal with children as if they were adults. Treat the dark parts of the story as educational content, with explanations for (and consequences to) the violence, positive portrayal of romance/sexuality, and exploration of the villains' rationales.

I'd hold up Gargoyles as the perfect example of a children's series. Yeah, it was dark, violent, brooding, and philosophical, but it treated its audience intelligently. It didn't shy away from violence (in fact, some characters [including the heroes] actively relied on it as a problem-solving solution), but included the consequences of it. Characters didn't just become a 'ship and stall out, but evolved deep relationships --which carried their own consequences (Fox/Xanatos, Fox' pregnancy and estrangement from her father, Alex' birth, Xanatos' reevaluation of his priorities, Renard's acceptance of his grandson. . .). Bad Guys weren't just moustache-twirling archetypes, but had motivations and justifications, and had to work to redeem themselves (instead of just turning Good), sometimes unsuccessfully.

I'd wager that everyone who watched Gargoyles (or similarly "unsafe" shows) learned something. Maybe not something to help their grades in school, but something important. It made kids think, made them question, and made them want to learn. Maybe parts of it were over the heads of the kids who watched it, but it made them want to raise themselves up to a level where they could understand. It encourages thinking and critical analysis, raising a generation of intelligent, discerning viewers, not unlike ourselves.

"Ultimately, stories come from violence, they come from sex. They come from death. They come from the dark places that everybody has to go to. . . If you raise a kid to think everything is sunshine and flowers, they’re going to get into the real world and die. . . That’s the reason fairy tales are so creepy, because we need to encapsulate these things, to inoculate ourselves against them, so that when we’re confronted by the genuine horror that is day-to-day life we don’t go insane." --Joss Whedon

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We applied the cortical electrodes but were unable to get a neural reaction from either patient.

RUGBUG

Tuesday, August 15, 2006 2:51 PM

If I had kids, I wouldn't let them watch it until they were teenagers. There is a lot of mature content that I don't think is suitable for the young'uns.

Cybersnark: I would hope that I would be teaching my child that life wasn't all sunshine and flowers, not a T.V. show. Using life for those lessons, not letting them artificially occur. As a parent, I would want to teach that decisions have consequences, that there isn't always a best choice, that doing right can be difficult. That's my responsiblity, not the T.V's.

***************
"My feelings are changeable but intense" Anya (season 7 Buffy)

CYBERSNARK

Tuesday, August 15, 2006 2:51 PM

Same-time post!

*wishes*

EDIT: and again!!

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We applied the cortical electrodes but were unable to get a neural reaction from either patient.

PHOENIXROSE

Tuesday, August 15, 2006 2:54 PM

Very, very well-put, Cybersnark!

Even fairy tales were once dark and savage...

An insincere and evil friend is more to be feared than a wild beast; a wild beast may wound your body, but an evil friend will wound your mind. - Gautama Siddharta

DARKFLY

Tuesday, August 15, 2006 3:20 PM

Hey chronicthehedgehog I see you've made a post out of my reply in another post.First of all chinese swearing,I was adding to the list of things Firefly has in it,it was just for fun,there are some real swear words but hardly strong actually their mildish again I was just adding it to the list to make a point on things in Firefly.I never directly said this stuff make's the this generation dumb & what I orginally intended was to say this contribute's(only slightly) to a child becoming I don't know what the word for it is it's not exactly dumb but let's put it this way it's not exactly helping them become decent(not quite the right word).I mean a lot of the thing's in Firefly are suitable for a young kid but you've got remember why their are ratings,ect,for instance an 18 or in the US a R rated movie usaully contains strong viloence,nudity,or coarse language,ect. so that's why a kid should not watch a R rated movie till their old enough for it to be suitable.Now their are also ratings for less rude movies like a PG or a 12(PG-13 in the US)but what separates a PG from a PG-13,for instance a PG has virtually 0 things which will offend or no sex scenes & only mild swearing,now what does Firefly have,it has sex scenes, mild swearing,& torture those are the main things which make it not suitable for a younger kid,yes they may not even notice it but it still doesn't mean it make's it fine for young kids to watch.Oh and by the way I live in England and Firefly's rated a 12(PG-13 equivalent) & the Republic Of Ireland rates it a 15(only suitable for 15 year olds or over)now I disagree with the ROI giving it a 15 but it is worth a 12.I'm watching Firefly with my family now actually I just watched Jaynestown & Out Of Gas,now my brother is 13,sister is 20,& my Mum is 44.My Mum doesn't like anything even slightly immoral but she like's Firefly(sort of) but she was put off in the pilot Serenity cause their was a sex scene were the purple bellie reached an org*sm,but decided to watch a few more & now she enjoy's it but still doesn't like whenever their's a sex scene.My brother understands everything & is a Firefly fan but not quite a Browncoat...yet.My sister is similar to my Mum but she like's it.My Dad on the other hand doesn't like sci-fi that much so he isn't watching it but I did manage to drag my whole family to watch Serenity at the cinema on holiday last year.So I don't want to cause anger or try & tell everybody what is all I am doing is sharing my thoughts on the subject,my view if you will.

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