During the heat of the pandemic (when, I cannot say), I watched some films with my kids, then 10 and 11.
It’s remarkable to watch films through your kids’ eyes. Everything is immediately inappropriate. And to watch the films during social upheaval, the films’ views on gender roles and racial roles are foregrounded.
I was impressed that my daughter could quickly identify the Disney factor: “They’re like the same shots but in different films,” she proclaimed during The Barefoot Executive. I was equally intrigued when they questioned if Lois Lane was purposely getting herself in trouble so that she could be rescued by a man in Superman. Growing up in one of the most blatantly segregated places in the country, Chicago, I was struck by the parade scene during Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. They both thought War Games was one of the craziest films they’d ever seen–how could this kid get himself into such a serious situation? Whereas Macauley Culkin was just so darn clever. I had to let them know that we were in fact presently safe from the Mafia after watching Gloria. I tried to sink into the couch but couldn’t when in Back to the Future and My Bodyguard, spying on women through the window was normal. And we all now learned that when there’s a close up of a man, spliced next to a close up of a woman, there will be a point in time when they will kiss and we will need to cover our eyes. The Odd Couple forced me to acknowledge suicide as a plot point, and we all discussed the thematic meaning of the eponymous To Kill A Mockingbird.
It’s a struggle to find films to watch with kids that will have something to say to them in a way that they will listen and have something to say back. The Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Spy Kids, was just me letting them drive for the night, all the others…well, I’m not sure.
In no particular order (and not including the ones I’m forgetting):
Rudy
Spiderman
Rocky
Diary of a Wimpy Kid
Spy Kids
Gloria (Cassavettes)
Searching for Bobby Fisher
Chariots of Fire
Breaking Away
Bad News Bears
Sound of Music
Back to the Future
My Bodyguard
Uncle Buck
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
Three Amigos
Planes Trains and Automobiles
Star Wars
The Empire Strikes Back
Return of the Jedi
Hamilton
Rambo
The Odd Couple
To Kill A Mockingbird
Babe
Home Alone
The Red Balloon
The Planet of the Apes (original)
Annie (original)
Million Dollar Duck
Herbie Goes Bananas
The Barefoot Executive
The Apple Dumpling Gang
The Shaggy DA
War Games
The ToyClose Encounters of the Third Kind
Superman
Superman II
Persipolis
A Cat in Paris
Fiddler on the Roof
Escape from Alcatraz
The Secret Garden
My Fair Lady