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Brothers Stuart, 13, and David Campbell, 8, were among the hordes who watched The Amazing Spider-Man on Friday.
Picture: Jacques Naud�
Parents who let their children see age-inappropriate movies are causing more harm than they know, a Ballito clinical psychologist has warned.
Sumayyah Khan, a child, adolescent and family therapy specialist, says she has seen nightmares and bedwetting in traumatised little children for whom it is not “just a movie”.
“This is my issue. Many parents don’t take responsibility, and don’t pay attention to the age restriction when it’s a DC or Marvel comics story,” Khan said.
On Friday, the last day of the winter school holidays, The Amazing Spider-Man opened in theatres.
Despite the age restriction of 13 for violence, Khan spotted children who could not have been older than five, dressed in Spider-Man costumes, going into cinemas.
She said that despite the Spider-Man games and toys aimed at children well below 13, the onus still rested on parents to ensure that the film was age-appropriate.
Khan cited research that showed that, in most cases, |parents allowed their children access to films when they were three years below the age restriction.
“So a PG 10 movie will be seen by kids from seven plus, a PG13 from 10 years old and up, etc,” she said.
While she believed that |The Amazing Spider-Man was tame enough for 10-year-olds, there were certain scenes too scary for younger children – even if they were science fiction-like.
“When your child watches and is fearful, don’t say ‘it’s just a movie’. The reality of the situation is that the way your child experiences these moments is different. They internalise it, and it’s then that they might then want a night light or to sleep in your bed.”
Despite the scientific jargon in The Amazing Spider-Man, Stuart Campbell, 13, was able to explain most of it when quizzed.
“Teens today have a much better understanding of biology and science. Kids who are now in Grade 4 are doing what we did in high school,” Khan affirmed.
Stuart added that the amount of blood “wasn’t too bad”.
“It’s worse on Law and Order. The kissing was sort of high school, it was more cute. I didn’t think of it as a kid’s movie, but for teens.”
Stuart’s brother, David, 8, found certain parts of the film “weird” rather than “scary”, but admitted he covered his eyes during his older sibling’s favourite television crime drama.
“In Law and Order they (the victims) have cuts. When they beat people up (in the show) they die. In Spider-Man they just get injured,” David explained.
Khan agreed that the violence and romance in the |film were at a “basic” enough level, but added that the relationship dynamics and sub-themes would have been better picked up by viewers 16 and older.
Worryingly, Khan believes, age restrictions for big screen versions of comic book tales are on occasion too lenient to begin with.
“Men In Black III was rated PG. However, some of the |monsters and scenes were quite frightening and I feel that children under eight should not be exposed to this movie,” Khan explained.
As for 2008’s The Dark Knight, Khan argued that it was not suitable for audiences younger than 16, because of the explicit violence and “intimate behaviour”.
