I know I promised a blog post about my falling behind in the postcard project and my playing catch up and I will get to that. As soon as I finish this rant.
Tonight, Billy and I decided to go see ‘Kick-Ass’. I’m sure everyone’s heard of it and I’m sure people also know that it’s no kids movie. It’s rated R for very good reasons (as stated on IMDB: strong brutal violence throughout, pervasive language, sexual content, nudity and some drug use – some involving children). We felt all right about checking it out so soon after it came out and at night during the weekend–we figured the R rating would mean no young kids.
Uh, we were wrong.
First, a gaggle of prepubescent girls and boys came traipsing up the steps to the back of the theater. I shrugged it off–there might be a few giggles when the heavy-hitting swear words would be used (and there were), but I figured it wouldn’t be so bad. Then came the father and son team with the son looking around maybe 10/11. Um…okay.
The worst offender happened in our very row. We had gotten there early and gotten some good seats in the middle of a row not too far in the front or the back. NEVER IN MY WILDEST DREAMS did I think a family would camp out ON EITHER SIDE OF US. But the real mindboggler? The 6/7 year old sitting next to me.
Process that. A 6/7 year old with the attention span of a fly–who, when she leaned over the seats in front of her, tipped the bag of popcorn in her hand at the same time in sync with her upper body–sitting next to me in an R rated film.
I’m still trying to process this.
Within the first five minutes of the movie starting, it was obscenely evident the reasons why the movie is rated R. You can imagine my discomfort knowing that this little girl with her hair in pigtails is watching the same movie I am–the same movie that alludes to the main character masturbating to the idea of his teacher and talking about when he starts getting some, the stock of Kleenex will go down.
WHAT. THE. EFF.
Never mind the rudeness that occurred throughout the movie like when her sister who was sitting on the other side of Billy just held out the bag of popcorn in front of him calling out to the 6/7 year old like he wasn’t there. Never mind the fact that the little girl kept trying to get by us multiple times during the movie. Although both of these instances pissed me the eff off, I was more pissed that the way I could appreciate the movie (which wasn’t bad) was tampered by this kid sitting next to me, with her mother.
I realize that it’s a parent’s prerogative whatever his or her child sees, but COME ON. When I was 12, my sister freaked out that we had just seen ‘Clerks’ together. That’s more decent parenting than what I imagine of this mother at this point. Maybe I’ve just become an old fuddy duddy at the age of 25, but I know that if I had a kid, I would check the rating first before taking them to a movie. I know that ‘Kick-Ass’ was sort of posited as a movie for kids in the ads and trailers but even if you hadn’t heard of the controversy, you had to know that an R rating is BAD for a 6/7 year old. Especially an R rated movie that carries the reasons that ‘Kick-Ass’ does.
My brain is still trying to process this. Gah.
Umm…. Yeah – that is sick on a lot of levels. It’s AMAZING how many parents out there seem to have no regard for ratings, reviews, warnings, common sense. I mean -I thought it was weird when I saw multiple infant to 12 year olds at the 2nd Twilight movie at midnight on the South Side, but this is really crazy. It’s a sad statement on the majority and how children are being raised. CAN’T WAIT for those kids to be the ones responsible for us when we are senior citizens! (oh no – did I just sound like Vernon from Breakfast Club???)
wow. that’s pathetic. when we went to see both the 2nd transformers movie and the latest harry potter movie, at each viewing, there was a 5ish year old with his parents. again, the ads of these movies portray it to be somewhat a kids movie. however, i can see harry potter giving kids nightmares; and during transformers, at the part where they are in the desert and that one decepticon is trying to find them in that house, this kid was screaming because he was scared. both of those instances are not as bad as your experience, but i feel your pain. parent shouldn’t take kids to r-rated movies. it’s just common sense.