All too often in our society, children are pushed aside or “swept under the rug” as if they have no feelings or concerns on important issues at all; for instance, children are rarely consulted by their parents if the family is planning a move to another state of if a divorce is on the rise. The film Moonrise Kingdom by Wes Anderson confronts this issue of American society treating its children as brainless individuals head on.
At first, I had absolutely no desire to watch this film,
because it “looked weird”. After incessant bothering supplied by my closest
friends though, I gave in and decided to give the movie a chance. I am so glad
I did, because the film is vastly different from any I have previously seen,
and it gives children an intelligent, completely competent role to play- a
refreshing change and something that I appreciate. Controversy arose over this
very idea of children being represented by Wes Anderson as being on the same
level as adults, but I believe this is an area that should be looked into more.
Luke Buckmaster, a man who frequently reviews and critiques films, wrote in his blog:
The oddest thing about Moonrise Kingdom is not its
intentional strangeness (offbeat compositions, downbeat characters, random
quirky shots of sweet nothings, etcetera) but the manner with which it
sexualises minors, gets them cavorting in the woods and talking about boners
while the film around them lathers itself in youthful whimsy, a sort of Bill
Henson, Roald Dahl co-production. There’s nothing wrong with kiddie pool deep
escapism, nothing at all, but when Anderson mixes in erections and groping,
long leggy shots of prepubescents and an attempt to create serious romance, the
sand pit becomes weirdly soiled.
In Anderson’s universe young and old characters operate on the same
plain of existence, with broadly the same level of maturity and intellectual
cognisance. Young people are often adult-like (the prodigy characters in Fantastic
Mr Fox and Rushmore, for example) and the adults often childish.
More to the point, age doesn’t seem to exist in Anderson’s films. The
kids in Moonrise Kingdom speak with the same deadpan smugness as the
adults and vice versa.
Clearly Mr. Buckmaster does not enjoy the idea of
adults and children being represented as equals or even as equally minded. I
would argue that children are human beings and have thoughts and feelings the
same as anyone though. People like Buckmaster underestimate the intellectual capabilities
of children and place them on a lower level of humanity than adults, who often
behave more like children than children themselves… but I digress. It seems that the very reasons Buckmaster and
others have a problem with Moonrise
Kingdom and Wes Anderson’s style of film-making are the same reasons that I
applaud Anderson’s efforts. I enjoy watching “young and old characters operate
on the same plain of existence”, because why should they not? Who says that
children must fit into a certain category of maturity and intelligence? Every
person is different, and I have met plenty of children who are intellectually
more capable than the adults that have been gifted the opportunity to raise
them (but perhaps do not see it that way). Before brushing children aside as
unknowing and “lower”, perhaps it is time for our society to give them the
benefit of the doubt- even hold them to a higher standard and give them the
opportunity to rise to the occasion.
Thank you for transforming Moonrise Kingdom from merely a cute, quirky film to something of social significance. I admire Wes Anderson's style, but had never really considered his movies in a serious light.
ReplyDeleteYou say that this is an issue in American society, but I'm certain we're not the only country to belittle its children; in fact, there seem to be many Americans that allow their children autonomy and treat them with respect. Some decisions, like divorce, are the choice of the parents, even though they do affect the child.
What Wes does a great job of doing is showing kids as creative beings; ones that do things that aren't watching TV and playing with iPads. His depicts colorful individuals with a sense of adventure that cannot be restricted by social norms.
I agree with you that it was great to see children in these leading roles. They somehow manage to act with both innocence and maturity, yet the eroticism aspect does still seem unsettling to me.
I suppose the biggest issue people may have with this is sexualizing 12 year olds. I suppose this is just my annoyance at the presumption that children are inherently innocent and that the introduction of sex represents 'corruption' but, although I have not seen the movie,
ReplyDeleteI really don't have all that much of an issue of depicting 12 year olds trying to have sex with each other. I don't view it necessarily as a catapulting the kids to an adult level, largely because any depiction of 12 year olds copulating is likely going to show them going about it in a clumsy manner, emphasized by the fact that they're just kids.
Kids have feelings (including sexual ones) too. I applaud a film that seeks to push society's taboos.
That is a great post with a great issue raised. Forgive me for my ignorance but I haven't watched the movie and haven't heard anything about it before this post. Therefore, I can't speak about this particular movie or specific scenes and such. However, I would love to comment on treatment and upbringing of children not only in the US but around the World as well.
ReplyDeleteRaising children is an absolutely intricate, careful and challenging process. Of course we can think about our grandparents and great-grand parents for whom the only concern regarding their children was to make sure that their kids are fed and dressed. Now, with development of our world and society, there is much more concerns of how should we raise and treat our children.
I completely agree that children should be treated with more consideration, respect and care. However, I absolutely disagree that children should be treated as adults for several different reasons.
I also agree with Elena_Valeriote about "unsettling aspect" of children's sexuality and eroticism. By mixing childhood and sexuality, we are pushing that envelope of trying to prove a point too far. It seems that we are very close of making a mistake of jumping from one extreme of treating kids as brainless and un-opinionated human beings to another when we say that kids can easily be involved in sexual intercourses or practice a sexual style of life. It can be a very extreme example, but should volunteer intercourse between children and adults (known as pedophilia) be allowed?
In my opinion, it is very important to provide your children with a beautiful childhood full of fun, happiness, love and care that are provided by their parents. It is extremely important that children's feelings and emotions are taken into consideration when parents are about to make big changes in their life. However, it is not up to children, and I agree with Elena_Valeriote, to determine if their parents should divorce or not, or if they can or can't move to another city. By saying so, I don't mean that children don't have intellectual capability to make such a decision, and there are a lot of children whose intellectual level is much higher than of lot adults. Children are much more emotional and emotionally fragile than adults, which a lot of times can get in a way of making rational decisions. Another, aspect is life experience through which we learn. We can all agree that by having much more experience in life, adults are more capable of making life-changing decisions than children. It doesn’t mean that there are some children that have a lot of maturity and are capable of making adult-life decisions.
Children should remain children and we as adults should do everything that we can to preserve their childhood, purity, happiness, pain and worries-free.
I find it really surprising that the idea of infantilizing children is such a contentious issue, because I feel that in media in particular, children are rushed into growing up. Shows like 90210 or Skins make children seem like free-wheeling nymphomaniacs who have no guardians. These sexual characters then become aspirational to children and young adults. To what extent does life imitate art, then?
ReplyDeleteGreat Post. I have often thought that we underestimate kids and their ability to comprehend issues that should be "beyond" them. As I've gotten older I have been surprised at just how immature some adults can be, and yet we continue to treat children as naive property. I don't necessarily have a problem with the movie depicting sexual attitudes of these 12 year olds, but I do think this affects different people on a case by case basis. I do think that a good portion of children can watch something like this and not be adversely affected, but I also think their are some kids out there who need a little more context in order to process this. As we a lot of things we should try and avoid making generalizations, realize there are some kids that can handle more than we give them and some that cant.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your thoughts on how adults tend to treat children as "naive property". I have seen this happen countless times and experienced this as a child, and I do not think it is fair or right. This is mainly what my post was about, so I am glad to see that I am not the only one to have noticed this before.
DeleteAdditionally, like you said, every child is different. Sure, maybe some kids could not handle the concept or understand the idea of a major family dynamic change or 12 year olds having sexual attitudes, but there are plenty who can, and I think Moonrise Kingdom realizes that in a really great way. The focus of this post was not actually about the sexual content of the film, of which there was very little, but rather about children and how we may want to re-think our viewing of them as a society, so I am glad to see that you saw that.
I've seen the film, but I never knew it was considered controversial until I read this post. I grew up in a small town of 10,000 in the Deep South, where the regular weekend activity for a 12-year-old would be to go hunting or fishing. In the middle of the Bible Belt, sexual education was taboo, and pregnancy could only be avoided by abstaining from the act. I can't tell you how many girls I know who became mothers before they turned 16. An old friend just had her third son at age 21 - she gave birth to twins at 13.
ReplyDeleteMy point in this rambling is that I know firsthand what repression can do to a child. Sex is going to happen, and kids are going to find out about it one way or another - especially in this day and age where content of all kinds is accessible from your pocket. The best way to curb teenage pregnancies and truly protect issues is to talk about the issue, which is exactly what Wes Anderson did in this movie. Do you want your child to feel embarrassed when they have to ask you about sex - and avoid talking to you about it all together - or do you want them to be comfortable and understand that it is a natural experience that will happen in its own time? Our cultural approach to sex needs to change, and Moonrise Kingdom simply portrayed something that we all have experienced. In no way does the film deserve to be called a work of exploitation.
Your post brings up a interesting issue.
ReplyDeleteOn one hand I see children being rushed into adulthood too soon.This usually comes in the form of overly-sexualizing children, and/or marketing sexual ideals/ standards towards an increasingly younger audience.
But, I also see your point that when it comes to providing their opinion on an issue, children are often dismissed.
It seems a dangerous duo, to rush children into sexual maturity, while sending them the message that their opinions don't matter.