Experiment on your kids!
New parents out there, this is for you.
My best friend, going way back to secondary school, Robert Thomson, ran some pretty interesting experiments on his kids when they were little. He showed them movies which, while not by any means falling into any area that might be deemed UNSUITABLE, nevertheless would not be found anywhere on a conventional list of SUITABLE films for kids aged between three and ten.
Item: Jean Cocteau’s LA BELLE ET LA BÊTE.
This was when all three of the kids were two young to follow the subtitles, so the movie had to succeed on sheer visual magic, and whatever parts of its story that came across pictorially. Of course, those of you who have seen it know that it has much to offer in these areas. “It’s the same story as the other one!” the kids declared, delighted. They had seen the Disney.
Item: the silent Lon Chaney version of THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME. Again, with Disney to guide them, reading inter-titles wasn’t altogether essential. This was a very scratchy print on a cheap DVD label specialising in out-of-copyright stuff at low, low prices.
“What do you think of the picture quality?” Robert asked his youngest.
The lad removed his thumb from his mouth, looked thoughtful, and said, “It’s…fizzy-facky.”
Please jot down this new terminology to use later.
The point is, kids will watch just about anything. All that’s needed to make proper cineastes out of them at an early age is to expose them to a wider than usual range of different film-stuff. The pernicious bias against black-and-white is something that comes from peer pressure, when the kids start school. But if they’re already enjoying Laurel and Hardy (in the uncolorized versions) then such prejudices can hardly find a foothold.
Since little kids will stare contentedly at pretty much ANY moving image that isn’t too disturbing, showing them foreign films will do no harm and may eventually help their reading skills. Improve their negative capability by showing them mind-bending stuff they cannot possibly hope to get their little heads around:
Try it on YOUR kids.
After all, it never did ME any harm.
(Mwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha…)
February 5, 2008 at 4:08 pm
Interesting. But above all be sure to show the kids The 5000 Fingers of Dr. T.
February 5, 2008 at 4:30 pm
Oh yes, that’s KEY. Actually, I’m appalled I didn’t see that as a youngster, but it’s still pretty great in my second (or is it third?) childhood. And they say Stanley Kramer is boring! (They are mostly correct, but still…
February 5, 2008 at 6:24 pm
Stanley Kramer, Carl Foreman and Dr. Seuss were all in the same unit together in WWII. They vowed that if they got out alive they would collaborate on a wonderful movie for children — and this is the result. It’s deeply reflective of serious war trauma among many other things. The song “Just Because We’re Kids” has become something of a standard (Jerry Lewis loves it as much as the Count Basie arrangement of “April in Paris”). Jonathan Rosenbaum has written most eloquently on Dr. T.
Of course the most important film about childhood is The Night of the Hunter. But the Halloween sequence of Meet Me in St. Louis is teriffic too.
February 5, 2008 at 8:34 pm
I’ve seen some of the smutty propoganda/information ‘toons Seuss write for the army, the Private Snafu series, directed by luminaries such as Chuck Jones, Bob Clampett and Frank Tashlin.
Some of the Dr T songs are indeed beautiful, esp that one. Can see why Jer would dig it.
I also love the dialogue. Fi is very keen on “Why are you standing there with that null and void expression?”
Svankmajer’s short Down to the Cellar is a truly great piece about childhood fears, it just NAILS the subject, and in an original and uniquely Czech-flavoured way that still strikes a universal chord.
February 5, 2008 at 8:44 pm
Of course the song is great. It was the work of the same man who wrote “Falling in Love Again”
Now THERE’S a great double feature for you: The Blue Angel and The 5000 Fingers of Dr. T.
February 5, 2008 at 10:31 pm
Both of them testament to the healing power of music!