What have you watched recently?

[Mr. JabbaJohnL]

Personally, I have more reservations with a young child watching the Harry Potter series than I do LOTR. But that's because I believe themes like "There is no good and evil, there is only power," are much more dangerous to young minds than a little bit of blood and gore. At least with LOTR, there is no blurring of the lines between good and evil.

That's what I think made the original Star Wars trilogy as good as it was. The Prequels blurred the line between good and evil quite a bit and I think the story suffered for it.

That's just my opinion though. If I had kids of my own, I would definitely allow them to watch LOTR, but I wouldn't necessarily want them to see Harry Potter until we had a long talk about the subject matter of that story.

Have you seen (or perhaps more importantly, read) all of the Harry Potter series? I ask because I'm not sure where you're getting the idea that they promote that "there is no good and evil, only power." There are still pretty strong distinctions between good and evil in the story. It's not always clear where some characters fit on that spectrum (but it's usually revealed in the end), and Harry worries about turning evil (which is a pretty common thing in stories like these - see Luke in ROTJ), but the series is clear that people are not born inherently good or bad but that their choices define them. Without verging into Rancor Pit territory, I know that extremely religious people have taken issue with the magic in the books (as well as things like the disobedience of authority and, presumably, the characters that don't fit a good-or-evil mold) but most people are able to see the good things that the books actually promote, like love and friendship being the greatest powers of all. (For the record, I've always been a much bigger fan of HP than LOTR - the books are much more fun to read and the movies are much more fun to watch, quite frankly.)

[bigbarada]

I watched a CNN special about The First Christians. It documented how the New Testament came together after Jesus' crucifixion.

I don't know if I would put much stock in CNN's interpretation of events.

Have you seen (or perhaps more importantly, read) all of the Harry Potter series? I ask because I'm not sure where you're getting the idea that they promote that "there is no good and evil, only power." There are still pretty strong distinctions between good and evil in the story. It's not always clear where some characters fit on that spectrum (but it's usually revealed in the end), and Harry worries about turning evil (which is a pretty common thing in stories like these - see Luke in ROTJ), but the series is clear that people are not born inherently good or bad but that their choices define them. Without verging into Rancor Pit territory, I know that extremely religious people have taken issue with the magic in the books (as well as things like the disobedience of authority and, presumably, the characters that don't fit a good-or-evil mold) but most people are able to see the good things that the books actually promote, like love and friendship being the greatest powers of all. (For the record, I've always been a much bigger fan of HP than LOTR - the books are much more fun to read and the movies are much more fun to watch, quite frankly.)

I watched the first movie and parts of what I assume was the third movie. I enjoyed them for the most part, but I've never read the books. I've always considered Harry Potter to be a lesser version of Chronicles of Narnia and I consider Chronicles of Narnia to be a lesser version of LOTR. So, I've really just never had much of an opinion of the HP movies for good or bad. I might get around to watching them all someday.

If I had kids, I wouldn't necessarily forbid them from watching Harry Potter, but I would want to talk with them first because I wouldn't want them to think that witchcraft and sorcery were things they could dabble in without serious consequences.

[Bel-Cam Jos]

My dad has refused to watch or read any HP films or books because of the witchcraft aspect. It's like some of the novels taught in our district; sure, they have some objectionable parts, but those aren't what the book is ABOUT. LOTR and HP aren't just ABOUT sorcery, wars, and witchcraft. They use those ideas to talk about (SPOILER alert ) themes of friendship, overcoming obstacles, personal strength, knowledge, good OVER evil, etc.

[Tycho]

I don't know if I would put much stock in CNN's interpretation of events.


If I had kids, I wouldn't necessarily forbid them from watching Harry Potter, but I would want to talk with them first because I wouldn't want them to think that witchcraft and sorcery were things they could dabble in without serious consequences.

I heard of an academic study, or perhaps it was a gallup poll, or one done from one of the other big national polling companies.

Anyway, it was an objective poll - just about factual current events - maybe things like "Where as Osama Bin Laden killed?" Or "Has Curiosity found evidence of water and conditions for simple single cell life to have existed on Mars?" That sort of thing.

They said Fox News viewers were the least accurately informed. And we know MS-NBC is biased media.

It leaves CNN right in the middle, of objective reporting, or at least seemingly moreso than the other major national news networks.

Local affiliates might not have the funding for any of these larger special episodic coverages of certain issues.

But for the most part, CNN doesn't have time to report on "hauntings, evidence of UFOs, and other supernatural occurences." The Sci-Fy Channel has its niche there.

Now I'm not a Harry Potter fan. I never made time for it. However, I am just not a believer. If kids wanted to read from "a spell book" and try to be "evil magicians" or something - let them. Absolutely nothing is going to happen except they will see that they're wasting their time.

I have been trying to use the Dark Side of the Force ever since I was a child so that I might commit untraceable murders and advance politically through assasination by Force chokes and Dark Side Lightning. I have thus far been unsuccessful. A real lightsaber would also be an untraceable weapon. With the Force, I could disable security cameras and motion detectors, or even cause the roofing or whole building to collapse on those I'd want to destroy so that I could assume ultimate power (if I could not use mind tricks to effectively suggest they grant me ultimate power).

Darn it, BigB - I have been trying to become complete "evil" in that sense ever since I first realized just how powerful a Dark Side adept could be. I don't think children reading from a "forbidden book (of falsehoods)" is going to let them become sorcerors. If I could only obtain the power, I'd have done so and ended homelessness, poverty, instituted birth control and mid-level economic education, socialized certain manufacturing and service sectors, and forced reforms to our democracy, and established it world wide, to institute the transition back to self-governance following my bried dictatorship (because I can't be the full-time dictator for too long or I'll miss a lot of baseball seasons, since if I had real power, I'd actually be using it and not serving myself).

Nevertheless, my attempts to become a real weilder of the Dark Side of the Force have thus far failed. I cannot have a clone army of warriors in their 20-somethings without waiting 20 more years for them to mature, and my Death Star is made out of Lego blocks, remains incomplete, and is not likely spaceworthy.

I do not fear socery, voodoo, other kinds of magic etc. If it worked, I'd get myself trained - and institute better public transit and a new monetary system, too. My list of things I'd do with temporary dictator powers goes on and on.

But it's not happening.

The most I can do is generate static electricty from my fingers if I rub my hair with a balloon while standing on clean carpeting.

Have you EVER seen a Dark Lord, Nazi or Communist dictator, warlock or other kind of admirable leader-like person running around rubbing a balloon on their head?

I don't know. If Fidel Castro tried it, I think whatever it would do to his beard would be funny, nevertheless.

[JimJamBonds]

The Dark Knight Rises, rather long in the tooth and kinda pointless.

[sith_killer_99]

The Dark Knight Rises, rather long in the tooth and kinda pointless.

THIS! Times eleventy billion.

[OC47150]

OK, gang. Help me out here:

The relatives are still here and we're watching Fellowship of the Ring. My sister-in-law is not in favor of her nine-year-old son watching it because of the violence and "darkness" (whatever that means). My nephew has seen all the Harry Potter movies beginning at the tender age of six with her total blessing. I'm confused as to why LOTR is objectionable for the reasons above yet Harry Potter (just as violent and dark IMO) is not.

When my niece and nephew were smaller (they're now 14 and 11), the Lord of the Rings movies were the only way they'd travel from Indianapolis to the grandparents' house in southern Indiana. They'd watch half the movie on the way down, the rest on the way home.

My brother and sis-in-law didn't let the kids see the crispy Anakin scenes at the end of Sith for quite some time. They considered that more disturbing than anything in Mordor.

[Bel-Cam Jos]

Life of Pi. Very good, excellent use of music and effects, kept me guessing about what would happen (pretty good for a film about a shipwreck deep at sea). Now I guess I have to read the book.

[JimJamBonds]

THIS! Times eleventy billion.

I mean I get the idea of messing with people to give them hope before destroying Gothem....but blahh. And those shenanigans at the football game was just plain silly....and what did Catwoman actually do? Ohh thats right nothing.

[Tycho]

Catwoman got on the Batbike and the camera stopped for a rear view. Best scene of the whole movie!

That's what Anne Hathaway err....or...Catwoman did.