When a movie requires a conversation

Madison

It all started with both kids excitedly reading The Borrowers.  Madison, bless her everloving heart, read the book in a matter of days just because I mentioned the movie was out.  Now, both my kids now that I am a sucker for the line, "We read the book .  Can we see the movie?"  If it gets them to read a book not on their book list then I am all for it.  I, however, had not read the book in a long time so I vaguely remembered it.

On a stormy afternoon with nothing else to do, we scampered off to see The Secret World of Arriety.  I had warned the children that it was Japanese animation.  Something we are not accustomed to on a regular basis.  Blah, blah, blah.  We settled in our seats with our ginormous artery clogging popcorns and massive drinks. 

The movie starts off relatively innocent.  A boy who is sick goes to stay with his aunt or maybe his Grandma. Either way, he is spending the summer in his mom's childhood home with an adult and a caretaker. It is apparent that there are little people that live in the walls.  They appear harmless to the humans.  As the scene shifts to their little home in the walls, it quickly becomes apparent that they steal things from the humans to live. I was ok at this point.  We have conversations here in the Rogers all the time about what constitutes stealing.  If the theater has a sign out front that says no outside food and you bring in candy then you are stealing from the theater.  If you use coupons fraudulently then you are stealing.  If you would not take it if Jesus himself were next to you then it's probably stealing.

The little family gets in trouble and is in danger because the daughter disobeyed her father.  I was incredulous.  This clearly was not ok.  The daughter deliberately disobeyed her father's order not to contact the humans thereby causing the family to take refuge in another house.  This made an after movie conversation more than necessary.  There is always a reason that parents tell their children not to do something.  Children need to respect their parents enough to follow their decisions. 

I'm not talking about blindly following.  Children can respectfully ask why & parents can explain it .  In the end though, children need to be taught to respect their parents & be confident that their parents know more than them when they make a decision.  This was not what the movie espoused at all.

In the car on the way home, I nonchalantly asked what they thought of the characters.  I voiced my concern with some of the daughter's decisions.  We talked about her morals and the consequences of her actions on not only herself but her family as well.  We talked about how sometimes we get caught up in other people's sin.  We need to remember that our decision can affect not only us but others as well.

Was it worth it to watch the movie?  In a round about way, yes.  It facilitated a rather lively discussion with my children that I probably wouldn't have thought to have at any other time.  It gave them concrete examples in a safe environment of how one person's actions affect others.  Sometimes it's worth it to see a questionable movie just to ignite a discussion. Call it character training.