From one extreme to another, this parenting thing never ends! Potty training one week, reading stuff like this the next. Oh, the joys of being a parent to teens, tweens and toddlers! While Tweeting away this week, I stumbled upon, then tweeted this article. Immediately, I felt a post coming on.
Go read it first. I'll wait right here.
(hohumhohumhohum...)
So, what'd you think?
'Are you kidding me??' was my first reaction. I'd never thought of Harry or Hermione as whinos. It's a freakin' movie involving wizards and other netherworldly creatures out of Rowlings wild imagination! But as I read on, I started getting the heebie jeebies a bit. She makes a few good points. They are at that age. And while it is pretty much the culture in England, drinking is by no means any less of a past time here either.
The thing is, I have not seen HP yet, but my kids have. My husband even saw it, and when I asked them all about it, no one brought up the alcohol issue. I think the themes in the movie were more powerful than the alleged 'boozing' going on. Then again, I'm not one of those wound up motherly types either who thinks their kid will turn into a 'ho' or drunk based on what they saw at the movies. God help us all if that were the case.
With my teens getting older, by the minute it seems, I've started to talk to them about drinking and other risky behaviors. I don't encourage any of it, and I've made that very clear. And so far they haven't been in situations involving alcohol. But I'm not going to pretend things like this don't exist either. One would be stupid to do so. I've got high schoolers next year. I'm not living under a cave.
Hogwarts may be fiction but the 'butterbeer' drinking is real. But is that really a bad thing to show? If anything, I think it may open up the dialogue lines more.
Now I, on the otherhand, find 'butterbeer' quite intriguing. And after a long day with teens, tweens, and toddlers, o my! I could sure go for one.
Seen the movie? What do you think?
if link doesn't work, (cursed tech impediment), go to nytimes.com, 'role alcohol plays in harry potter'...very interesting
10 comments:
Thanks for the link. I haven't seen the movie yet, but I'm planning on bringing my 12 year old son with me. I agree with you that I don't think those drinking scenes necessarily encourage drinking. Overall, the Potter movies seem to push positive messages about friendship, morality and independence. I think you are right that those scenes may be a good starting point for discussion between parents and teens. Now I go off to watch Max & Ruby with my 3 year old daughter. Like you, I'm all over the kids' entertainment spectrum:)
Okay so don't shoot me...I've never read a Harry Potter book or seen a Harry Potter movie.
Okay is ButterBeer really Beer though? So then what is Root Beer?
Ugh, I didn't click the link yet but will. Then I'll be back.
Oh please. I didn't see 'mead' as being alcoholic or butterbeer as beer or anything. I think people need to see that it is fiction and fantasy fiction at that. Id idn't see anything wrong with the scenes and if my children were old enough I would have no problem letting them see it. My 7 year old has seen the first movie but he wasn't really interested in it.
I haven't seen the movie. My boyfriend's 9-year-old did and she's VERY sensitive to "inappropriate content" (as she calls it) in movies and she said nothing. When I was a kid, my favorite movie was Grease. The cussing, sexual references, smoking, and drinking went right over my head. If adults don't make a big deal out of it, kids won't either.
I thought the HP kids were kinda at a coffee wizard like pub. Poor Ron got drunk like from a bad potion. The movie in no way encouraged drinking.
It just left me wanting to be able to teleport. Airplanes stink literally!! When can we just beam up like on Star Trek or with foo powder in HP?
... and I agree with Andrea. I thought root beer.
Well, we've all seen the movie, my 12-year-old, my 9-year-old, and me, and we talked mostly about the golem-like things in the lake as well as the blood. The butter beer never came up, and honestly, I didn't give it a thought until just now. That said, I do remember being surprised by Hermione's weaving after the pub scene because I've read all the books (I don't remember any drunken scenes), and I thought butter beer was like root beer too. Hmm. I say it's good for dialogue with kids.
I love the different viewpoints in the comments here. Up until the recent movie, I also assumed butter beer was like rootbeer. However, in this movie I was surprised at the drinking as well and a little offput by it. I still enjoyed the movie but was glad my kids were still to little to have to worry about explaining it all to them.
Butterbeer? Please. What in the world...I have zero fears of my child growing up and drinking based on one movie she watched. Kids watch their parents, so it's up to us to set a good example of self-control. You know?
Loved all your comments on this topic. Lot of sharp intelligent women out there! Anyway, I do think its interesting to discuss these kinds of things from time to time, online or otherwise. For me, it serves as a reality check when the forces of the media seem to overwhelm with their propaganda. I've come to trust my parenting gut instinct on these things, but always eager to hear other's thoughts. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
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