You Should Show Grave of the Fireflies to Your Kids
You Should Show Grave of the Fireflies to Your Kids
Viral posts online suggest Grave of the Fireflies should never be shown to kids. Here's why they are wrong.
You're viewing a single thread.
No you should not.
Depends on how old your kids are... Are they old enough to understand suffering and loss? Then it's time to make your kids suffer and lose some of their free time in order to learn something important; like any good parent!
You'd rather have kids do it when they're supervised and have love and support then when it is suddenly thrust upon them with no warning, that's for sure.
No, they should have an older sibling who gives them a copy as a prank and all their friends come over to watch it.
No, you shouldn't traumatize your KID, so anything below 14, its absolutely ok to show the movie to a young adult or teenager. A kid does understand what suffering is, but doesn't understand the difference between fiction and reality very good.
Thats the same argument as with German fairytales, they aren't made for kids, they are for teenagers and above.
Ahem... The film is rated...
- USA: Not rated by the MPAA. Considered "suitable for all audiences" on the Central Park Media VHS release. TV-PG on the Sentai Filmworks release.
- Germany: 6+ (Apropriate for ages 6 and up.)
- France: Tous publics (General Audiences)
- India: U (Unrestricted public exhibition, suitable for all ages.)
- Hong Kong: Level 1 (Suitable for All Ages.)
- Canada: G and PG for Quebec and Manitoba respectively.
- Japan: G
- Saudi Arabia: PG
- Singapore: PG
- Italy: T (Recommended for persons of all age groups.)
- Taiwan: 0+ (Suitable for all ages)
- Netherlands: 9 (Ages 9 and up)
- Nigeria: PG
You'd know that if you read the post! Funnily enough, it also links out to an neat article discussing a study showing parents aren't reading scary stories to their kids... And why that's bad. Here it is just in case ya need it! Heck, on other bits of social media, I heard about schools showing kids the movie in 5th to 6th grade, in the US even!
Just because a rating agency says something doesn't mean its appropriate, they have strict guidelines, these guidelines revolve around obscenitys, violence, drugs and similar, they don't go on "may not be appropriate for children because the story itself is dark and sad" 12+ would be a ok rating in my opinion, again, its not meant for children, German fairytales aren't either, even though they are classified differently.
Kids below a certain age cant even comprehend the story.
its not meant for children, German fairytales aren't either
Woah there! German fairy tales were meant for children! That's explicitly their target audience.
The whole point was to scare the children into behaving a certain way. Like, "don't go wandering off alone. Bad things can happen!"
If you just tell your kid that they won't listen. However, if you tell them a story about how kids that wandered off alone into a forest got cooked and eaten by a witch then maybe they'll stick to the village (and be wary of strangers).
Nope, the Grimm fairytales where explicitly for "adults" so about 16 years old at the time. They have very graphics Sex scenes, brutal murders and more.
Struwwelpeter is aimed towards 8 to 12 year olds as they have a more educational purpose. (wich is probably what you are talking about)
I think they issue is different definitions of kid.
Permanently Deleted
Nur zur Info, ich kann so einigermaßen deutsch.
Anyway, Kinder- UND Hausmärchen means "Child story's And "Hausmärchen" (idk how to translate that)"
So there are Children AND Hausmärchen stories, those are two separate things and yes the reality of the time was way different. You wouldn't read the original Rotkäppchen to any child below 16 there is a very graphic rape scene for example.
Again, i think the problem lies in the definition of Child, i define child according to German law, so any human below 14, and i think 12+ would be a appropriate age for the movie grave of the Fireflies. But below that the mental development isn't far enough. Its of course a individual thing, but "you should show grave of the Fireflies to your child" just isn't a good general advice.
Permanently Deleted
The English title is 'Children's and household tales'. I was curious what 'märchen' meant, and it means 'fairy tales'.
Ah thats what you meant.
the keyword 'individual'. parents should be able to judge rather or not they are capable of handling the themes of the media presented. Like, if their lose their shit to Littlefoot's mother dying.... than yeah no, they certainly won't handle anything worse lol
Sadly a load of parents aren't able to do that, i know of many instances where parents showed children stuff like Rend and Stimpy because it was a cartoon but didn't allow them to watch SpongeBob, so giving undifferentiated advice even if just in a headline isn't a good thing, that is basically my whole point. And regarding such emotionally burdening things, it doesn't hurt the kid not to watch it as soon as possible.
You really don't know shit with a passion.
Yeah shure. Maybe just go away when you cant contribute constructively.
A roflcopter parent
Even though it's a fictional, animated depiction of what happened near the end of the WW2 it's depicting something that actually happened. I don't think there's going to be any problems in regards to separating fiction from reality with this movie.
If anything, the movie is tame in comparison to the actual, real-world devastation of nuclear war.
Grave of the Fireflies isn't about the nukes its about the firebombings and the part with fiction vs reality means that they don't understand that this was a long time ago. As said its appropriate for 12+ in my opinion. But below its just not.
@YourPrivatHater @riskable Over 100,000 WWII vets are still alive, today. People are being bombed right now, shelled right now, having white phosphorus dropped on them, right now.
None of this is a "long time ago." It is within living memory.
And? Are we now shifting the argument onto a strawman over the definition of long time?
It was a average lifetime ago. And the other claims are irrelevant in that context. Its not changing the fact that grave of the Fireflies isn't appropriate for small children.
@YourPrivatHater Most seem to disagree. Child psychologists disagree. Ratings boards in multiple countries disagree. Kids who have, and continue to watch this movie in Elementary schools growing up healthily is big evidence against it being inappropriate too.
Maybe you're just wrong? Maybe folks shouldn't hide the truths of the world from their kids?
Permanently Deleted
Waaay less graphic, different implications, not a human character and different story circumstances. You could name Bambi while you are at it.
Permanently Deleted
No it doesn't. Thats the part with human characters.
Permanently Deleted
Thats a strawman and false. Its still very different.
My child at age 8 knew exactly what the reality was when her great-grandmother died and saw us all grieving.
She knew exactly what the reality was when, at age 9 and 14 respectively, she saw our cat had to get injected with fluids every day just to live, and our dog had to get euthanized.
She knew exactly what the reality was when in elementary school two kids died in a house fire and she knew them.
I would probably agree that typically only a teenager and above could properly appreciate a movie such as Grave of the Fireflies. And I completely agree children should not be purposefully traumatized, but not all of them have the luxury of being sheltered from traumatizing experiences. Some could handle such a movie and understand what is going on. But to be fair, I have never shown this particular movie to my kid.
Read the whole post, give it a serious shake. It cites child psychological studies, shows how kids today are healthily handling stories like these in Japan, and even acknowledges secondary trauma and avoiding triggers for already traumatized people. There's a lot of nuance when you get past the title.