The Politics of Familial Moviegoing
Filed under: Fandom, Home Entertainment
I grew up watching movies. Unfortunately for me, and my job, it wasn't a rich resume of epic adventures and award-winning fare. It was a collection of retro nostalgia, horse racing, weekly Friday night movies to see the mainstream fare, and anything by C. Thomas Howell. Yes, I think between '85-'95 I saw everything with Ponyboy. My favorite, of course, being Side Out.In reflection, I'm sure the myriad of terrible B movies and fluff fare is the reason I have such a deep appreciation for cult films. Like any parent-kid relationship, you're taught a set of values, you apply them with your own tastes, and then the parental units recoil. I'm sure they never thought that a childhood with Arsenic and Old Lace would inspire later years with David Lynch, Bruce Campbell, and The House of Yes.
But it was also a very particular affair. At first it was haphazard -- picking films at random, the adamant being the most successful. Then it became turn-based. My pick one week, dad's the next, mom's the week after, and so on and so forth. When I'd pick mine, half the time it would be followed by a heavy blanket of guilt and awkwardness -- the stupidity I felt picking Lost Highway when it was my turn, or in a visit back home a few years later, Undercover Brother. No matter what democracy was instilled in the process, it never turned out quite right. I guess that's the rub when trying to find a movie that pleases three wildly different sets of taste.
Was, or is, family moviegoing part of your routine, and if so: How did/do you handle it, and how did it inform your future movie interests?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
10-23-2009 @ 12:22PM
martisco said...
Oh, the tyranny of Pixar when it comes to familial moviegoing, particularly at the holidays...
"Let's go see a movie on Thanksgiving/Christmas." "But what?" How about the latest Pixar? No sex scenes to endure with Mom sitting next to you, and fun for the whole family. (keep in mind, we're a grown up family, no one under 18!) In the beginning, it was grand. Toy Story, Bug's Life, Incredibles...
...but now it's become excruciating since, well, the Pixar movies just aren't very smartly written any more (IMHO) And I have an aunt who just wants to see George Clooney movies, which could be worse I suppose. It's gotten to the point where I can't really find anyone (even among friends!) to see adult dramas, unless I go by myself.
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10-23-2009 @ 1:24PM
xndoc said...
Family movie going is an endeavor logistically with many kids (8 at home).
Finding something that is not inappropriate for a 5 year old or 7 year old and interesting to the 16 and 18 year olds is not easy.
G-Force seemed to fit the bill, and the added fun for this movie was the dialogue that myself and my older sons knew was a reference to other movies we have seen ("Yippie-ki-yay coffemaker!" being one of the more obvious ones).
More often I go to movies with the older teenagers, and screen them for appropriateness for seeing with the younger ones. (Such as GI Joe this summer - which was a fun action movie for the family).
But usually family movie viewing is a DVD at home on a Friday evening.....so much more affordable......
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10-23-2009 @ 3:46PM
ML said...
My mom didn't like going to the movies, so a lot of times it was just my dad and I. He had broad taste, so I saw a lot of different things with him.
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10-24-2009 @ 8:48PM
Shannon said...
Even with no actual kids, it's hard to find movies that please everyone. The most successful was when both my family and my in-laws were together for Christmas. We ended up seeing August Rush, which was cheesy enough for my mother-in-law, had music my parents liked and was interesting and real enough for me (a major movie snob who usually hates everything my in-laws love). It was a phenomenal coup that has yet to be repeated.
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10-25-2009 @ 3:28AM
Julie said...
My mom will only watch bright shiny movies that she instantly forgets afterward and my dad wil only watch action movies and comedies, so being a film snob interested in classic, foreign, and independent stuff, I was basically on my own when I was about 12. Even when I still relied on them for transportation, my dad would often take my younger sister to see something goofy while I went into another theater by myself for something "highbrow" he would then mock me for later. My parents divorced when I was 14, so the last movie I can remember us all watching together was The Nutty Professor II one New Year's Eve, oddly.
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