As someone who saw "Mad Max" at age 7 and the original, unbeatable "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" when I was young enough to believe it was based on a true story, I make a poor candidate for railing against Hollywood's bad influence on kids.
Come to think of it, those movies actually had a positive effect on me. "Max" taught me at a young age to conserve gasoline and question Mel Gibson's sanity. And it's largely thanks to "Massacre" that I'll never accidentally sever a limb with a chainsaw; I still cower from those things like a dog does from fireworks. I do have an unusually strong affinity for Texas barbecue, though.
The thing is, those two bad movies of my otherwise semi-wholesome childhood were clearly made for adults, not children. What's so annoying about Hollywood nowadays is that it's getting harder and harder to make that distinction.
An R-rated "Batman" movie ("The Dark Knight") was one thing -- an excusable marketing move, if only to help comic-book fans feel more adult. But what's with all the kids' movies in theaters now that look as if they weren't made with young kids in mind whatsoever?
"Avatar," of course, could be the shining example of a would-be children's movie spoiled by violence and lots of other stuff too freaky for anyone born in this millennium, but at least it got a PG-13 rating. Did you hear there was even a steamy blue-on-semi-blue lovemaking scene edited out just to keep that rating? Makes you wonder if James Cameron will stoop to marketing the DVDs as "loaded with XXX-tras!"
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