Today the L.A. Times ran a story about the new "Revenge of the Sith" movie. George Lucas cautions parents not to take a child younger than six to the movie. While I applaud his honesty, I'm frustrated by the marketing of this film. I have in my pantry a box of LavaBerry Poptarts and Star Wars cereal. My 2 year old can verbally identify Darth Vader. My kindergartener and her brother play Star Wars chess. Legos, video games, clothing, light sabers, you name, it's been marketed.
Now, if this stuff was aimed at the older crowd, no big deal, but has anyone seen "Darth Tater?" He's a Mr. Potatohead dressed as Darth Vader. Fisher-Price has Star Wars toys targeted to the pre-school set. From what I've read of the film, it's dark and scary, far too intense for my five year old, yet she has been bouncing off the walls to see it. I doubt I will take her.
While I'm not chiding Lucas for making a dark, creepy Star Wars movie, it does seem ridiculous that the marketing companies didn't take it's intended audience into consideration.
2 comments:
Very insightful. We're sending two different messages to our kids. 'Look, here's a cool toy to play with, but no, you can't go see the movie.'
I know what you mean. My three-year-old LOVES Star Wars. We've let him watch some of the original movies, because they're pretty mild. But he won't be seeing Revenge of Sith, not for a long time, and DEFINITELY not until his dad and I have watched it.
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