I love movies, all movies. The only television I watch is usually a movie, with the exception of the Sopranos (what about that last episode huh!?) or possibly MindFreak, with the creepy but cute, Chris Angel.
I enjoy Harry Potter and love the books. I have read them all except the final one, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows”. My daughter has had her head buried in it for two days now, and I will be the next to read it.
These books stir the imagination and paint incredible pictures on our brains, children and adult alike.
We have seen the first Harry Potter movie, “The Sorcerers Stone”. It was a disappointment in that it stole our imagination, and forever more when we read the books, we see the Harry from the movie, the Snape from the movie , the Hogwarts from the movie, and so on. We can’t recall the others from our imagination, pre-movie!!
The original Harry Potter movie resembled the book as closely as possible. They did an amazing job, but regardless, the scene with the unicorn in the woods and Voldemort floating above with blood dripping from his mouth, burned a horrifying vision on my daughter’s memory. The book never affected her in a negative way, but the visual seared a clear and lasting image. This leads me to the issue of movie ratings. Who in their right mind comes up with these G ratings? Are they insane or just childless? The only other explanation is that they are completely desensitized to the visual violence and terrifying images.
Why are they so desperate to have every child see these movies? Couldn’t it be something for the younger children to look forward to with great anticipation, for when they get older? My son is seven and only just recently watched the first Harry Potter movie after completing the book. The book was an absolute prerequisite to the movie. He was prepared for most of what was coming , but even then we fast forwarded the scarier bits.
I know some will think me paranoid and over protective, which is fine with me. I know my children can sleep at night with the lights off and not have nightmares. I will reiterate what I said at the beginning, I love movies, all movies, but I think parents have to be choosy, even if it goes against the norm, and stand up to that adult peer pressure and do what is right for their child.
The movie ratings are not devised with a child’s best interest at heart. The primary motivation is to get as many to see the movie as quickly as possible, and put as much money as possible into the pockets of the companies involved. I have friends who won’t even let their children read the Harry Potter series. That is going a little too far for me, but the movie industry should be held socially responsible for the degree of realism in the content, and it is up to the parents to demand it. We will eventually see the entire series of Harry Potter movies, but in our own good time, and when each child is emotional ready.