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Introducing Star Wars to young children — Page 2

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Darth Id said:

SilverWook said:

I nearly tossed my cookies during Jaws. 😉

I did toss during AotC’s droid-swapping scene.

Not cookies, though.

Thanks for posting that in a thread about introducing Star Wars to young children.

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TV’s Frink said:

Darth Id said:

SilverWook said:

I nearly tossed my cookies during Jaws. 😉

I did toss during AotC’s droid-swapping scene.

Not cookies, though.

Thanks for posting that in a thread about introducing Star Wars to young children.

Thanks for noticing the joke!
I was afraid it had gotten buried into obscurity under M1’s density.

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The best way to introduce someone who’s never seen Star Wars, is introduce these people through OOT, in whatever format that can be found (Harmy, GOUT, VHS, etc), and neglect to mention anything other Star Wars media. Should children discover the prequels, sequels, and shitquels on their own, you must be prepared. They’ll ask about them. The initial response must be to tell them those movies are boring, try to make them as unnatractive as possible. If they still ask to see them, show it to them, but try to achieve rejection, without explictitly forbiding them boys to watch those movies. Mind you, avoid traumatizing them, as that’d be bad parenthood.

A good strategy, for instance, picture the text about “Trade Taxations of the Trade Routes” appearing, use this oportunity to explain the children in detail what taxation is and talk them about the economy. Every time Qui-gon says something stupid, you can make a quip like “children, don’t be like this man”.

If that doesn’t work, try unleashing a disgusting hodor around the house, so they’ll relate the experience of watching those films to such unpleasantness. Serving a foul meal when they watch the film can also work.

Caligula’expanded OST, V2 Released
The Shining’s complete OST
Ghidorah, The Tree-Headed Monster (English dub synched to Toho cut)

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Every once in a while my kids (7 and 10) will see a reference to the prequels and ask me about it. My standard explanation is that they’re “not the same” and “we’ll watch them someday.” For now we’re just sticking with main episodes starting with IV. They don’t even know that the special editions exist.

When I hear them singing “yub nub” I’m saddened for the day they see ROTJ SE somewhere and wonder what happened. In fact, my youngest doesn’t even call them Ewoks–she calls them “E-chop a yub-nubs”. 😄

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I think it’s silly to hide the existence of the PT/ST from children. Just tell them they exist but you don’t want to watch them yourself. That’s what I intend to do with the PT at least when I eventually have children.

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Yeah, that’s basically what I’m doing with the PT. We’re enjoying the ST though. I’m happy with it so far, and as I see it it’s the Star Wars of their generation, for them to judge themselves.

The SE is just a weird hacked version that will hopefully go away, so I don’t feel like I need to mention it. Spinoff movies can wait until the ST is complete, and will be judged (by the Star Wars boss of our house (me)) on a case by case basis.

Someday my kids will be able to make their own decisions about Star Wars, but as a responsible parent I’m staying on top of things.

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IsanRido said:

The best way to introduce someone who’s never seen Star Wars, is introduce these people through OOT, in whatever format that can be found (Harmy, GOUT, VHS, etc), and neglect to mention anything other Star Wars media. Should children discover the prequels, sequels, and shitquels on their own, you must be prepared. They’ll ask about them. The initial response must be to tell them those movies are boring, try to make them as unnatractive as possible. If they still ask to see them, show it to them, but try to achieve rejection, without explictitly forbiding them boys to watch those movies. Mind you, avoid traumatizing them, as that’d be bad parenthood.

A good strategy, for instance, picture the text about “Trade Taxations of the Trade Routes” appearing, use this oportunity to explain the children in detail what taxation is and talk them about the economy. Every time Qui-gon says something stupid, you can make a quip like “children, don’t be like this man”.

If that doesn’t work, try unleashing a disgusting hodor around the house, so they’ll relate the experience of watching those films to such unpleasantness. Serving a foul meal when they watch the film can also work.

Are you a parent?

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For what it’s worth, I saw the original trilogy back in 1990 when I was 5, and nothing about it scared me.

Come to think of it, I think the first time I was scared by a movie was watching Star Trek 2, which I saw around the same time.

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The Ceti Eels scene is pretty disturbing. I’m reminded of it every time I get an earache. 😉

Forum Moderator

Where were you in '77?

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That whole ear thing is B-level bad, but the rest of Star Trek II is a really great movie.

Star Trek IV very underrated too.

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It probably depends on the kid, but scary moments in otherwise lighter movies never bothered me and don’t seem to bother any kids I’ve known past or present. I would usually just hide my eyes during scenes I didn’t like, and I’ve seen my son and nephew and friends’ kids do the same. If they like the movie, they’re not gonna care. Kids just accept the fact that some things are scary, but again, everybody is different. It helps if the movie’s good, too!

I’ve watched the SW movies since before I can remember (born in '81 for those who care). The only thing that ever bothered me in the movies was Yoda’s death. Something about how the music changes right before he disappears and that nasty pillow left behind made me feel uncomfortable. Nothing in the SW movies bothered my son when he watched it at the age of four, and he found a lot of things scary at the time.

Old Star Trek reruns freaked me out way more than SW ever did.

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 (Edited)

I’ve got three kids - 7, 5, & 3. I’m pretty conservative about what I show them. They rarely watch tv, and then I only show them certain movies.
But that being said, they have all seen the OT multiple times and were fine during all 3 movies. I didn’t have a problem showing them the violent stuff, just going off my own experiences when I was a kid. They didn’t seem to be bothered at all, and I’m pretty sure they didn’t even notice charred Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru (it’s a quick shot anyway).

But you know your kids better than anyone, obviously…

Also, here are some of their other favorites, just FYI:

  • OT (they like Jedi the best, followed by SW)
  • ET (my middle child’s favorite movie. Has some language which I mute out when we watch)
  • My Neighbor Totoro (every child should watch this. Absolute home run with my kids)
  • Black Stallion (another “must-see” for kids and no inappropriate content)
  • Kiki’s Delivery Service (not as good as Totoro, but still a really good movie)
  • Absent Minded Professor (my daughter was 6 when we watched this and she howled with laughter throughout the movie)
  • Robin Hood (1938, Errol Flynn)
  • Wizard of Oz

“In the future it will become even easier for old negatives to become lost and be “replaced” by new altered negatives. This would be a great loss to our society. Our cultural history must not be allowed to be rewritten.” - George Lucas

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I have two young children. They have seen the OOT, TFA, Rogue One, and the Rebels TV show. The prequels are not allowed in my house. For a while I covered by daughter’s eyes during the obi-wan hand chop in the cantina, crispy Owen and Beru, and Luke losing a hand in Empire. But this year she’s fine to watch it all. She has a great head on her shoulders and is very aware that movies are just pretend. I am planning on taking her to see The Last Jedi in the theater.

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My niece was shocked to see jawas catching R2 in ANH… Don’t know why, but that really was a problem !!! So I wonder if it’s OK to let her see the rest of the movie…

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She made it past the slaughter of the rebel troops and Darth Vader choking a man to death? You’re good to go.

I’m unclear on what you mean though, did you pause it right there so you could come ask people about it?

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Yes, she saw the beginning with Darth Vader and rebel troops, and I think it was for her the same kind of violence she can see in other movies and even some cartoons… But I really was surprised about the part with jawas… Little creatures just stealing a droid… It really is difficult to understand what happens in a child head… So I decided to stop the movie… Not ready for that…

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I have a 7 and a 4 year old. From a very young age they’ve been told over and over that movies are pretend. I’ve let them watch Star Wars, Jurassic Park and other things along those lines and they don’t get scared at all.

In fact my oldest has developed a bit of an interest in how they do the special effects (which is pretty cool)

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Disco_Lobot said:

In fact my oldest has developed a bit of an interest in how they do the special effects (which is pretty cool)

I love BTS features and documentaries and want to share those with my girls, but have resisted so far for fear of taking away the magical part of movies. Perhaps that’s not worth worrying about, as they claim to fully understand that movies aren’t real, but I think they carry a small part within them that still wonders about it.