The other day when I came home from work I found that the power was out, so after a while of sitting around in an increasingly cold house, I decided to call some of my friends to find out the extent of the outage. I reasoned if they were all out of power, too, then it might be awhile before it came back on and I needed to plan accordingly. Fortunately the first person I called who lived about a couple miles down the road had power. "Why don't you come over to my house?" she said.
When I got there I found that her granddaughter was also visiting. She was sitting on the couch watching anime. Now, I'd heard about anime but I'd never actually watched any. The show she was watching was called "Blood". From what I could tell it was about a Vietnamese girl of about middle school age who had suffered some kind of mishap and now had amnesia. From time to time she would hallucinate blood and other things. There was also a team of doctors? scientists? who were trying to help her along with one of her fellow students, a boy. That's all I saw of it anyway before Grandma caught wind of what granddaughter was watching and made her turn it off. (This is the same grandmother who allowed this same child to watch a video on Hell, by the way.)
One thing I noticed right away was that even though the show was set in Japan, all of the characters except for the Vietnamese girl were American. So I asked the granddaughter about that. She said that's the way anime is, that they are all like that. She also said, after a particularly gruesome scene, that most of them are violent. The boy character said a mild swear word. "There's a lot of swearing, too," she said. At that point Grandma came into the room.
Ok, so anime is violent and has some swearing. Who am I to point the finger? I happen to like Westerns which aren't any better if you want to know the truth. I like them in spite of the violence. (Mainly I like the horses.) Of course I watch other things, too. This "Blood" movie intrigued me because I could see where many kids who are going through puberty can identify with the main character. Puberty is a scary time and it does feel like you have a monster inside of you like the Vietnamese girl had inside of her. The question is how do you deal with that monster inside? That would be a good thing for Grandma to talk about with her granddaughter rather than turn the show off.
Now, as I said, I like shows with horses in them. The trouble is, most of them (except for Westerns) are just plain awful. For example, I was watching the first season of the "Black Stallion" show which I believe aired in the late '70's early '80's. Now the "Black Stallion" movies themselves are not bad, although they are fantasy. No Arabian, no matter how fast, would ever be allowed to compete with Thoroughbreds on a Thoroughbred track in the United States. That's the rules. But I don't mind a little dramatic license if the rest of the story is good.
The TV show is another story. I should have been warned by the "Dove" symbol that I was about to see something family-friendly. This is what the good folks who give out the "Dove" rating think is family-friendly and appropriate for all ages. The first episode wasn't too bad. Trainer Henry Dailey suffers a heart attack and is reluctant to return to training because he fears another. So it is up to the boy Alec (the Black Stallion's owner) to help him regain his confidence. So far so good.
From that point it went downhill. Having worked at a racetrack I can tell you that anyone who was as mouthy and cocky as young Alec would soon be sent packing. He is openly disrespectful to Henry and to everyone else. HE is the only one who knows how to handle the Black Stallion and HE knows what is best. As I said, that behavior would not have been tolerated. Not only would other trainers refuse to work with them, Alec and the Black Stallion would have found themselves "ruled off" (banned) from racing. Instead Henry only makes noises about quitting only to meekly give in to this arrogant brat who has no idea of just how dangerous his horse really is. A horse as out-of-control as the Black Stallion (only Alec can handle him) would not long be allowed to live. There is an episode where the Black Stallion who is loose in the barn and not in the stall as he should be prevents a veterinarian from reaching a deathly sick horse. "But he will be all right," says Alec in a hint of New Age mysticism. "The Black knows he won't die. All we have to do is be there for him." And of course all the adults, including the veterinarian, give in to the boy. After all, HE knows best.
But this sort of dangerous nonsense is considered family-friendly because it contains no violence, no swearing, no sexual innuendo and of course everything turns out all right in the end. Whereas "Blood", which could be a great starting point for a discussion about scary feelings and how to handle them, is not suitable for preteens to watch.
Is it any wonder that we have a problem in America?
When I got there I found that her granddaughter was also visiting. She was sitting on the couch watching anime. Now, I'd heard about anime but I'd never actually watched any. The show she was watching was called "Blood". From what I could tell it was about a Vietnamese girl of about middle school age who had suffered some kind of mishap and now had amnesia. From time to time she would hallucinate blood and other things. There was also a team of doctors? scientists? who were trying to help her along with one of her fellow students, a boy. That's all I saw of it anyway before Grandma caught wind of what granddaughter was watching and made her turn it off. (This is the same grandmother who allowed this same child to watch a video on Hell, by the way.)
One thing I noticed right away was that even though the show was set in Japan, all of the characters except for the Vietnamese girl were American. So I asked the granddaughter about that. She said that's the way anime is, that they are all like that. She also said, after a particularly gruesome scene, that most of them are violent. The boy character said a mild swear word. "There's a lot of swearing, too," she said. At that point Grandma came into the room.
Ok, so anime is violent and has some swearing. Who am I to point the finger? I happen to like Westerns which aren't any better if you want to know the truth. I like them in spite of the violence. (Mainly I like the horses.) Of course I watch other things, too. This "Blood" movie intrigued me because I could see where many kids who are going through puberty can identify with the main character. Puberty is a scary time and it does feel like you have a monster inside of you like the Vietnamese girl had inside of her. The question is how do you deal with that monster inside? That would be a good thing for Grandma to talk about with her granddaughter rather than turn the show off.
Now, as I said, I like shows with horses in them. The trouble is, most of them (except for Westerns) are just plain awful. For example, I was watching the first season of the "Black Stallion" show which I believe aired in the late '70's early '80's. Now the "Black Stallion" movies themselves are not bad, although they are fantasy. No Arabian, no matter how fast, would ever be allowed to compete with Thoroughbreds on a Thoroughbred track in the United States. That's the rules. But I don't mind a little dramatic license if the rest of the story is good.
The TV show is another story. I should have been warned by the "Dove" symbol that I was about to see something family-friendly. This is what the good folks who give out the "Dove" rating think is family-friendly and appropriate for all ages. The first episode wasn't too bad. Trainer Henry Dailey suffers a heart attack and is reluctant to return to training because he fears another. So it is up to the boy Alec (the Black Stallion's owner) to help him regain his confidence. So far so good.
From that point it went downhill. Having worked at a racetrack I can tell you that anyone who was as mouthy and cocky as young Alec would soon be sent packing. He is openly disrespectful to Henry and to everyone else. HE is the only one who knows how to handle the Black Stallion and HE knows what is best. As I said, that behavior would not have been tolerated. Not only would other trainers refuse to work with them, Alec and the Black Stallion would have found themselves "ruled off" (banned) from racing. Instead Henry only makes noises about quitting only to meekly give in to this arrogant brat who has no idea of just how dangerous his horse really is. A horse as out-of-control as the Black Stallion (only Alec can handle him) would not long be allowed to live. There is an episode where the Black Stallion who is loose in the barn and not in the stall as he should be prevents a veterinarian from reaching a deathly sick horse. "But he will be all right," says Alec in a hint of New Age mysticism. "The Black knows he won't die. All we have to do is be there for him." And of course all the adults, including the veterinarian, give in to the boy. After all, HE knows best.
But this sort of dangerous nonsense is considered family-friendly because it contains no violence, no swearing, no sexual innuendo and of course everything turns out all right in the end. Whereas "Blood", which could be a great starting point for a discussion about scary feelings and how to handle them, is not suitable for preteens to watch.
Is it any wonder that we have a problem in America?
