Disney movies you avoid with your kids?

[QueenGoblin]

I was talking with a friend of mine and she brought up the fact that she will never let her children watch Peter Pan again because after watching it her DD (3) was marching around everywhere proclaiming "We're out to catch an 'Injun'" etc.

I know many of these movies are 40-50 + years old and need to be taken in context, but that it a concept that is a little tough for preschoolers to grasp. Are there any Disney films you won't let your children watch and why? Or, are you like me, and you let them watch them but cringe through parts of Peter Pan or try to distract them during the "Roustabout" song in Dumbo?

 

[Barb D]

Well, I personally despise Mighty Joe Young, simply because the mother dies at the beginning and puts more value on Joe than she does on her daughter.

 

[ranthony]

...but I'm not fond of Lilo and Stitch. I haven't even watched it all because there was so much insulting/yelling, etc. that I cut it short.

 

[SqueakyMouse]

I had to chuckle when I read the original post. My older ds (turning 15 *gasp* in just a couple of weeks) would pick-up on the violence in every single animated Disney movie we would watch. He also made guns out of clothes pins and anything else he could find until my grandmother got disgusted with dh and me and bought the kid some old-fashioned toy guns. Of course, he was much less interested in this sort of role playing after this. My philosophy: You can't (and shouldn't) shield your children from everything. Instead, use what bothers you about these movies as openings for discussions with your children. The younger your children are when you start talking about these issues the better.

 

[U2_rocks!]

The thing is, my kids don't even know what "Injuns" are! In Peter Pan they look like very red people wearing feathers and dancing around fires. They are no more real to them than the mermaids in Mermaid Lagoon or the pirates on Hook's ship! They don't understand that "Injun" is a reference to Indian, which is being used to describe Native Americans rather than people from India. They don't realize that there are still pirates in the world today, but they look nothing like the pirates in Peter Pan or Pirates of the Caribbean. All of that is above their heads. One day when they are older and know more about the world I expect we will talk about it, but right now Peter Pan and the like fall squarely into fantasy, and bear no relation to anything real in the world.

The kids need to learn that every work of fiction is the imagination and interpretation of its authors, and is not always based on reality. As they grow older they will learn what is "real" from reading, watching real life shows on TV (National Geograhpic, Discovery etc., which my kids already love) and school. They will realize for themselves that Native Americans are nothing like they are portrayed on Peter Pan.

 

[Nicholfamily5]

The thing is, my kids don't even know what "Injuns" are! In Peter Pan they look like very red people wearing feathers and dancing around fires. They are no more real to them than the mermaids in Mermaid Lagoon or the pirates on Hook's ship! They don't understand that "Injun" is a reference to Indian, which is being used to describe Native Americans rather than people from India. They don't realize that there are still pirates in the world today, but they look nothing like the pirates in Peter Pan or Pirates of the Caribbean. All of that is above their heads. One day when they are older and know more about the world I expect we will talk about it, but right now Peter Pan and the like fall squarely into fantasy, and bear no relation to anything real in the world.

The kids need to learn that every work of fiction is the imagination and interpretation of its authors, and is not always based on reality. As they grow older they will learn what is "real" from reading, watching real life shows on TV (National Geograhpic, Discovery etc., which my kids already love) and school. They will realize for themselves that Native Americans are nothing like they are portrayed on Peter Pan.

Took the words from my mouth!.....er....fingers!

 

[jcc0621]

The only movie I had given my DS a break from was the Lion King, but that was becasue he was having nightmares.

 

[jenrein]

I have never ever had a problem with any Disney movie. However, I am one of those horribly bad parents that lets my 8 yr old play rated M for mature xbox games. It depends on if your children are able to distinguish between reality and fantasy. If you constantly block anything not happy fuzzy go lucky from them then how will they learn to deal with reality which is not warm and fuzzy??

 

[bumbershoot]

Well, I personally despise Mighty Joe Young, simply because the mother dies at the beginning .....

Well, really, in almost all the Disney movies I can think of (especially the classic ones), since they are based on fairy tales which are about bigger themes, in almost all of them a mother dies at the beginning. Or is already out of the picture (Chicken Little).

Lion King changes it up. But there's still a death.


Sometimes I can't put on one of the few movies we have, if I'm sensitive that day about my own mom. I'm far enough removed from it now that I realize WHY fairy tales involve a parental death, because it's SUCH a vehicle for growth. YOu really change after a parent dies, you're never the same...and so the theme makes sense for the journey the character then takes.

But sometimes it makes me cry more than other times.

And right now we're avoiding Lion King b/c we're only 6 months out from DH's dad's death.


I can definitely see avoiding a movie when a kiddo has latched on to a phrase that's a bit iffy. We've been watching Herbie recently, and Eamon will say "back a losing team" and "my house my rules" over and over and over...if he were saying something like described in Peter Pan, I can see why you'd avoid it until that phase was done!

For me, it wouldn't be a matter of what discussions we would be having in our house, but of the explanations I'd have to constantly make to people OUTSIDE the house!

 

[Tissa]

I do not have a problem letting my boys watch any Disney movie. We discuss anything that is now not appropriate to say and why.

 

[eh24fan]

LOL I'm not the only one that lets my kid play older games...good. He's nearly 7 and plays games that aren't exactly rated E for everyone. He knows the difference between real and fiction for the most part. I think that has a lot to do with the fact that we never shielded him too much. I used to fight with my ex all the time about what he allowed our son to watch. My 3-4 year old was watching movies like The Patriot and Braveheart and Saving Private Ryan. I was livid, but what could I do? Now, I see that it hasn't damaged him in any way, he's a bright, fun, happy kid. As far as Disney movies, there isn't anything I'd hide from him. LOL

 

[larkles]

When my first son was little (2-4)he was quite sensitive and would get frightened by the "evil" characters in the movies. Bad dreams, acting out...We simply stopped watching Disney movies and only started watching them this year with the boys now 9,7 and 4 Now, my 4 yr old watches EVERYTHING his older brother's watch and it doesn't faze him Bad mommy!

 

[blanq]

I remember when I bought Mulan for DS. We hadn't seen it in the theater. I ended up throwing it away, and not allowing him to watch it after we got to the "cross dresser" comment. What in the heck does a comment like that belong in a movie for small children? It did nothing to enhance the movie's content, and ticked me off to no end.

 

[*KeepMovingForward*]

I never had to address things that were in movies with my kids (Disney or otherwise) that maybe were considered not terribly PC or that I thought was above them. A comment about cross dressing would have been lost on my kids when they were younger. If they knew what a cross dresser was-then we'd certainly have something to talk about. I think my kids have always had a firm grasp on the fact that movies are fake and that's as far as I ever had to go. Mine are teens and maybe times are different now than they were just a decade or so ago.

 

[dannyh23]

I remember when I bought Mulan for DS. We hadn't seen it in the theater. I ended up throwing it away, and not allowing him to watch it after we got to the "cross dresser" comment. What in the heck does a comment like that belong in a movie for small children? It did nothing to enhance the movie's content, and ticked me off to no end.

In the future, maybe you can rent movies and watch them first to screen out anything you find objectionable.

Lots of cartoons have things that totally fly over kids heads -- that's part of what make them enjoyable for adults too. There are tons of jokes in a movie like "Cars" that kids won't get either... Have you watched any of the old Bugs Bunny cartoons, Shrek movies, or anything else that is marketed to kids lately?

Most kids laugh because other kids laugh... but I seriously doubt that just because he watched Mulan that he will start wearing women's clothes around the house.

 

[Tink561]

We never avoided any movies with our boys. So far, that is our plan for our daughter too. I'd rather discuss things that may bother them than avoid it. But honestly, it was never an issue.

 

[ballle_98]

One thing that was pointed out to me in my marketing class was that all Disney films have tabbaco and/or alcohol use.
Interesting...

 

[HelenePA]

The Rescuers Down Under OMG when they throw that little girl down the well and the lady keeps telling her get the diamond or we'll leave you die down there gave ME nighmares!!!!!!!

 

[jenrein]

Is it bad for your children to know what a cross dresser is? My 6 yr old openly talks about lesbians/gays and anything related to that

 

[mommiepoppins]

I would not let my kids watch Hercules (sp) because of more than one God