Published:
07/27/2011 02:01pm
Poll Results: Kids Hate Cursing in Movies
t's always a little shocking to hear profanity in movies that are obviously meant to attract kids. One of the worst offenders in recent years are the movies in the Transformers franchise. After KidsPickFlicks Chief Film Critic Miranda R., age 13, blasted the third movie, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, for its gratuitous use of foul language, we put up a poll to gauge what kids really think in the hopes of setting the record straight for filmmakers.
When asked "How Do You Feel About Bad Words in Movies?" KidsPickFlicks users overwhelmingly voted that they "Hate It," receiving 66% of the vote. Following that, 19% voted they "Don't Even Notice" and a mere 15% say they "Like It." More than 100 kids voted and, it's important to note, that these percentages were consistent as votes came in. KidsPickFlicks users are ages 7-17.
This backs up the information I perceived as Editor of KidsPickFlicks for the last seven years. Kid critics often mention having negative feelings about movies with coarse language. Additionally, we've never received a review in which a kid positively recognizes the inclusion of profanity with one exception.
Some writers think they need to use bad words to give a movie "credibility" with teens, as in the Transformers films. Some times the curse words are a character choice, such as characters who've clearly picked up the words because we're to understand their parents or siblings use the language or in an effort to be more grown up, like in Super 8 or The Goonies. Additionally, the inclusion of a curse word is sometimes added to up the MPAA rating to a "cooler" rating for the desired audience: for instance, Step Up 3D has the "s" word to get a PG-13; Confessions of a Shopaholic from Disney has a bunch of foul language that felt deliberate and untrue to the character, perhaps to ensure it was PG rather than G.
Screenwriters and filmmakers have a shared goal: to entertain an audience by immersing them into the story. Now that they know cuss words snaps kids out of the story in a moment of, shall we call it "profanity awareness," and most kids see the use of profanity as uncool, will scribes continue to write them in?
