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Star Wars
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I have always resisted my two boys’ desire to get really into Star Wars movies, toys, or even books, trying to reasonably limit their exposure to these. They occasionally borrow a Star Wars movie from a relative, they have some Lego Star Wars toys, and each boy is allowed to borrow two Star Wars books every time we visit the library. Visiting friends’ houses from our co-op, however, often reveals that I may be alone in my reticence to limit it.
I’m not against the genre of fantasy, although I find very little redeeming in Star Wars itself. I guess one of my major problems with Star Wars is that there doesn’t seem to be much middle ground in the amount kids want (probably a lot like video games). The more they get, the more they want, and the more unhappy they are when they don’t get more.
Any thoughts on how your family has handled (or ignored!) the seemingly inordinate pull of Star Wars?
The boys got for Christmas SW models from a relative. It was a nice gift. However, my boys don’t know about SW. They haven’t asked to watch it either. My older ds put together a lego space ship from SW. He asked what it was, and I told him it was a movie. Suprisingly, that was that.
I know many who let their kids watch SW. I went to the movies when it came out long ago! If I remember correctly there is some language..so prob won’t let my kids see it any time soon.
Fantasy can be fun but some get “lost” in the fantasy world. I can name a few people I know. I like the good fighting the evil. If I am not mistaken Steven Speilberg does not believe in God. So his take on things were about using the force to help you along. Correct me if I am wrong..think I have heard that on Fox?
Would like to know what others do though. Interesting question.
Well, I’m a huge fan myself and have watched the first three (which end up being the last three in trilogy) many times. My kids became interested in the last three for obvious reasons (special effects/current actors, etc.), so they watched them, have some toys, a little book here and there, with no bad side affects. With that said, my kids have never had a really strong passion for any one character (even when Toy Story/Nemo/Cars came out). They like someone for a while, enjoy the movie/toy, whatever, then move on. If they we extraordinarily obsessed/passionate about something (especially like Star Wars), I would have to put some limits on it. Our kids play video games, have a Wii, etc., but they still love to ride their bikes, camp, play board games, draw, read, etc. I have never put too much time restraints on them with the video games, either. They play, then when I say, “Okay, let’s turn this off and get started on math/reading”, they usually say, “Okay.” They know that the only 5 minutes they have is not up, so there’s not much of a struggle. Okay, I think that was off topic, sorry. I was just trying to say that the more of a “taboo” I put on something, the more they want it. Obviously, I’m just talking toys and such, nothing like tattoos or smoking, lol.
We enjoyed the Star Wars movies in the same way we enjoyed Star Trek in the past….we all like science fiction, and my daughter’s really enjoyed them. We did not buy the paranphanalia that went with the movie franchise, never did that with any of the things, though both daughters did have a character model from Lord of the Rings, Legolas for one and Elrond for the other….other than that they never wanted anything. We watched them when the girls were in their teens.
I always told the girls that sometimes people have differing viewpoints and that when a movie is fantasy that is what it is, fantasy – they should read nothing more and nothing less into it. I am not bothered that the director is not a believer, fantasty is make believe and as teens they well understood the difference. Whether it is a fairy tale, LOTR, Narnia, Star Trek/Star Wars it is all made up fiction and we should notread more into it. You can look for God in all stories, but even Tolkien was not trying to sell us anything Biblical when he wrote LOTR – I would not let littles watch these things, but teens no worries. We are looking forward to The Hobbit movie coming out in December as well. For those who enjoy Sci Fi and Fantasy, as long as the child is old enough, I see no problem, the movies are well done and very entertaining.
My son has seen the Star Wars movies (he is 10) against my wishes in the last 18 months. He would love to watch them again. I have told him when he is around 14 and has matured enough in his faith with God we will watch them again together. I want him to be old enough to pick out the falsehoods they teach about God. I also have a hard time with the immorality of them as well as the protrayal of deity. I’m pretty picky though.
Thanks for all of your perspectives…very helpful. I should probably clarify that my reticence has been fueled less by the content of Star Wars and more by the phenomenon of people getting “lost” in a particular fantasy world, which we have observed.
Steven Speilberg is Jewish. The story is written by a George Lucus when he was a boy. It was written about things in his life. For instance, his dog was a very hairy dog. He got the idea by thinking… What if my dog had two legs and could stand up and walk. He called it a Wookie. “chewbacka” He wrote all of this down as a child. Just as anyone of us would love to see our children write something creative. He wrote the books and hoped one day he could make a movie of his writings. Now, I was against my kids watching it for the longest time. Then, I remember seeing it when I was about 8 yrs old. I thought it was facinating. I loved Princess Lea’s hair. I was never scarred by watching it. I thought about all the things that we read. The force is about good vs. evil. How it can take us over. Kids are naturally drawn to swords and fighting. If you read the Bible there is nothing more violent then David and Goliath. Talk about violence. David cuts off Goliaths head. If you read the Bible there is murder, sex, and all kinds of violence. So, with that said, maybe we can refocus on what is truly in the mind and heart of a child that would write a book about his fantasy for others to read. Now, I agree we must look at the level of maturity of each child and see if they are mature enough to watch it or read about it. If you don’t watch TV then I would suggest not doing it. Read the book if you feel it is to mature and let their imaginations soar. I am a pretty conservative mom. I know there are others who are more conservative and others that are less. So, judge what I say as my opinion. I would not let my children play the star wars video games. I won’t even let my children play anything but a “G” rated video. Back when Star Wars was made “PG” was the rating due to violence. I have not noticed any swear words. My husband says there is none. I thought with us talking about the subject I would give my honest opinion about the subject. Would you let your children see The Lion , The Witch, and the Wordrobe”? I can honestly say that if you would let them watch that then it isn’t that far off from Star Wars. How about Disney movies? There are some people I know that watch Disney movies that I would never let my children watch. These are G-d fearing christians that I am talking about! Sooner or later our children are going to be turned out into the world. Will they want to watch movies? Who knows. They may want to write a book that they want everyone else to read though! just sayin’ 🙂
Duh! George Lucas!! I knew that!! Brain Freeze! LOL!
I know what you mean!! I don’t let my kids see ALL the Disney movies! NOPE! 🙂 @ the Bible having all the things in it doesn’t allow us to be laxed in what we read, listen to, or watch! I think you are right about doing what is right for each child..because all are different. Some mature some not so mature.
@bradstreet, my comment about people getting “lost”in the fantasy world is just what you are asking. I know of a couple of guys who are lost in it! I am sure not everyone is effected this way! LOL! But when they are they really go deep! But occasionally watching some fantasy approved by you probably won’t hurt.
This is interesting find about Star Wars
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy_and_religion_in_Star_Wars
“The overall “Force” concept itself is based upon Eastern mysticism which provides for no personal God to give account to, and which only provides direction by different mortal “sages” such as Yoda or Obi-Wan Kenobi.”
” The director of the Empire Strikes Back is Zen-Buddhist”
I know the question was not about the motives behind the movie..just thought this was interesting. However, I am sure many of the movies we watch are not what we think they are nor do we know who wrote them!
Fantasy is fun though, isn’t it? It takes us away from our day to day life. Every once in a while, I see no harm! But sometimes people go to far and dream of being there a lot!
Since you are aware of this, I am sure you are careful and recognize if your kids are affected by it!
Good Luck!
I will chime in here…. My boys ages 5,7 & dh33 LOVE these movies. We got the new HD movies for Christmas so we have been watching them. They have spurred on several deep conversations as well as a few basic conversations that I am so thankful for. We have talked a tons about how Annikins pride led to his fall. It has been great.
I will say that it is our parenting conviction to help give our children the ability to use God’s word to filter ALL of life. And we believe that movies like these are great for doing that. Ultimately it is God who will change our children’s hearts and make them love Him. It is my job as a parent to teach them how to walk with God and learn to filter their life – emotions, feelings, experiences, evil, good, speech, etc through the word of God. So we sit with our children, watch them and we talk and we have really great talks!!!
I say those things not against anything said above. I just wanted to share what we do but more important why we do it. Hope that helps
Amy
Just a thought. I am all for reading books that have situations that are not in our Christian morality state and discussing them with my children. In fact, I’m married to an unbeliever who isn’t moral at all. My kids, in their own lives, have seen things that would freak out most people. However, I wanted to share my opinion on the immorality in the Bible philosophy. When we read something we do not have vivid images in our head like we do when we see something on the screen or in real life. I would rather read the account of David taking Bathsheba to himself to my children than watch a detailed movie account of it. For me, the visual image stays with me. I don’t want those images in my children’s heads (nor mine). For them to read it or listen to it, doesn’t evoke the same picture.
I don’t think we should shelter our children SO much that the can’t live in the real world. However, I do believe (my opinion) that we have a responsibility to keep them from seeing (and all the things of Phil 4:8) too much too soon if ever.
Just my perspective. 🙂
We are just venturing into Star Wars using our new Clear Play DVD. watched 4-6 with teen sons. Anyone else have heads up using clear play with Star Wars 2? Trying to decide if we should watch Star wars 2 or not depending on the editing…cleavage /immorality? are my concerns. Thank you, Lisa
1st Lisa – I want a clear play and can’t find one where did you get it?
Ok my sons all like star wars. Here are my thoughts – you make a big deal and they will want it even more. You don’t and just let them see it and it wears off fast. NOT all the time I understand but usually with movies we find this to be more the norm for our kids. BUT we still decide what they watch and how much. Because something else is going to come out and it will be better. We have star wars and my kids rarely ever watch it. They went through that phase.
Yes, I think movies can be like video games, etc. You have it you want it, and you can’t get enough of it.
Also, some kids are more apt to really desire it where others will just glance over it. So as someone mentioned you have to limit it for those kids just like I only want to watch Thomas the train movies with my youngest son so much, even though they are really good movies, I can’t watch them all the time. I don’t want to watch star wars all the time, I don’t allow the kids to play our old playstation 1 all the time, we have limits.
Being a parent is so hard. What we let our little ones watch, see, who they can be with. It’s a constant challange. I pray you are able to make a decision that will make you feel peace in your heart. Nothing is easy with movies! Misty
AmyJane, nice post, in fact there are some good opinions on here – bottom line as always is every parent knows their child best and knows the maturity level – so each family has to decide what is on their safe list movie, music, art wise….these movies do create great discussions in our house, but a lot of the discussion also covers the technology and how the movie is made etc…I also find that encouraging..one of my daughters has done a full course in rocketry and astronomy because it fascinated her, so she looks at all space type movies with an eye on that as well, the other could really care less about such things, but enjoys seeing how a story is built upon and Star Wars was pretty good for that though she preferred LOTR…Amy Jane’s children are much younger and were fine with it, at that age, my girls would not have been interested and we did not have a tv then either as we were overseas. We own these movies, and fish them out once a year and watch them, same with LOTR and Narnia. This is a nice discussion…
I do believe we have to guard our children’s minds and eyes. My oldest son really loves Star Wars. He is very creative and admires how Lucas created this movie. He is interested in making movies himself. He enjoys the science part of these movies, since he loves science. Enough has been said on the pros and cons and I believe a lot of interesting points were brought out so I don’t have much to add. I do know it does depend on the child himself. I woundn’t let my 9 year old see the last 4 of this series. He has seen the first two but I had to limit to how often. The boys also like the Star Trek series. I like the old ones but don’t care for the newer ones. My oldest son had a lot of creative ideas watching these shows but with my youngest I worry about too much violence for him. We also had good discussions on good versus evil.
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