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What movies do kids watch/subject you to most?
LucyB’s post over on our Adventures in Motherhood blog reminds me that with school out, one thing kids like to do at home is watch movies.
Well, maybe not movies, plural. Young-uns are notorious for wanting to watch a particular movie or show again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again.
By the time the kids wear out the VHS/DVD player, you have the darn thing memorized, whether you want to or not. In the hot days of summer, there are no five words more chilling than “Can I watch it again?”
Quite often the stuff kids choose to watch repeatedly is, um, interesting, to put it charitably. I don’t have any kids, but I do have three siblings that are 13, 17 and 20 years younger than me, and some of the stuff they watched is still burned into my brain.
I remember a cartoon about the monster truck Bigfoot where the lead driver named Hank said “Listen, miss whutever yer three names were. I care uh-bout three things: Bigfoot, ma team and freedom, and that uh-bout cuvers it!”
And then I recall that one of my brothers had a thing for The Quest AKA Frog Dreaming, a downright bizarre Australian movie with E.T.’s Henry Thomas, about a monster in a park, or … something. There was also BMX Bandits, which I remember mainly because it starred a very young Nicole Kidman, who was all of 16 at the time. And she was tall then too.
So what movies/TV shows/etc saturate the kids’ viewing time? Have you come to have a strange affection/revulsion for any of them? And what movies did you watch endlessly when you were younger?
Permalink | Comments (6) | Categories: Ask the Audience
Comments
By Allie D.
June 14, 2007 11:44 AM | Link to this
I used to think “The Incredibles” was one of my favorite movies ever. Then I saw it about 5 dozen times and can’t help but twitch when Elias hands it to me to put into the DVD player. “Cars” was also a pretty good movie the first dozen or so times I saw it. Now I just feel numb. Same goes for Over the Hedge, and Curious George. Right now they are lusting after the Harry Potter movies. I have only let them watch the first three though. Goblet of Fire is a bit beyond them. I really like these movies, so I’m not complaining. Yet. I have started to institute a cap. They have a billion movies and yet they seem to only watch the same five or six movies.By Derwood
June 14, 2007 12:21 AM | Link to this
My daughter would repeatedly watch Disney movies.. We would buy a new one and that would be her new favorite for a few weeks. Now that she’s approaching 13, she doesn’t do that as much anymore, except for Inuyasha (She has the full series on DVD including movies).By SRCputt
June 13, 2007 12:55 PM | Link to this
The movie I saw the most times as an under 10-year-old was Disney’s Gus (about a field goal kicking mule). My oldest daughter endlessly watches the Harry Potter and Star Wars movies, and has many repeat viewings of Lord of the Rings and Pirates, although that may be for Orlando Bloom. My 8-year-old doesn’t repeat view as much. Right now, he and I are trying to track down and watch as many Disney films as possible. (Unfortunately, the most recent we watched was Melody Time, which isn’t very good.)By Kim S.
June 13, 2007 11:52 AM | Link to this
It depends on the age of the person in question (note I’m purposely avoiding the word “kid”). When I had a roommate with a youngster, it was “Ice Age” which was then redubbed as “Squirrel”. I do love the way they change (usually improving) titles. When my godson was younger, it was a “Sesame Street” video with some creature with a bell on his head he kept ringing ad nauseum. Personally, when I was a teenager I knew most of the dialogue for the typical 80s flicks - most notably “Breakfast Club” and “St. Elmo’s Fire”. I still do the “Fluff and Fold” bit with my sister. But for younger children, I think it’s just whatever the flavor of the week may be. At least Hollywood is finally catching on to the fact that the more they release the more variety in parents’ “repeated viewings”.By Deb
June 13, 2007 11:20 AM | Link to this
I was subjected to every modern Disney movie— particularly ‘Little Mermaid’, ‘Oliver’ and ‘Aladdin’! The one good thing about when ‘Pocahontas’ came out: we lived near Jamestown, Virginia, so my daughter could see how much fiction was in that flick!By Randy O
June 13, 2007 11:18 AM | Link to this
I think it’s interesting the phenomenon of watching a movie over and over isn’t just limited to little kids. When my two girls were teen-agers, they (and all their friends) wore out “10 Things I Hate About You.” When they were with their friends, if any one of them tossed out a line of dialogue, the rest would offer up the rest of the scene.