on the appropriateness of film

The credit for this post goes to my mother.

Last week, my mom emailed me a link to an article in the Denver Post entitled "Worms and Butterflies - or 'Shrek'", an insightful article about the innocence of childhood, or the lack thereof, when it comes to "kids'" films such as Shrek, Aladdin, Cars, the recent Barnyard, and countless others. These movie creations are targeted at both kids and adults, with a blend of humor for each. Typically, author Michael P. Mazenko points out, parents argue that the adult humor portions (often either sexual or cynical -- or both-- in my opinion) go right over the kids' heads. Not so, he says. I won't rehash the whole article here; much better to read it for yourself.

Kudos to Mr. Mazenko, a high school English teacher with a young son himself, for stating such a clear argument ranging from Neil Postman (a personal favorite) to sitcoms to fashion. He notes that just as adult humor is increasingly peddled to children, so is adult couture. We certainly find this to be true in our life of late : as my wife shops for clothing for our 3-year-old daughter, she is hard-pressed to find anything that isn't in this general toddler fashion trend. Crazy.

Do I sound like an old man when I ask "what's the world coming to?"