Had a very surreal experience at blockbuster this evening. It's not uncommon for me to witness someone renting an extremely kid-unfriendly film for their kids (I once saw a grandma let her little tyke get Sin City; when I bought Pan's Labyrinth the clerk lamented to me how people were trying to rent it for their five-year-olds), but this was the first time I got to see the other side of the story.
As I was paying for my most fabulous rentals (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Intolerable Cruelty, and The Legend of Drunken Master), two boys got in line behind me who couldn't have been more than twelve years old. And they were talking about how they play Assassin's Creed and Medal of Honor, a far too common and always a depressing conversation to overhear. But - and this was the surreal part - the movie they wanted to rent that night was....Underdog. Out of all the movies at Blockbuster that don't have an 18+ sticker, which is most - those kids could've rented Alien, Shaun of the Dead, or even one of the many soft-core porn titles snuck into the drama section - these kids playing extremely adult first-person shooters wanted to see a kid's flick.
It was a startling and potent reminder that, regardless of whatever influences in our society encourage (like video games) or force (like child labour in Britain 100 years ago) kids to grow up too fast, they're still just children. They think like children, they act like children, they desire things that children desire, like to be entertained by a flying, talking, superhero dog. This experience was jolting and it gave me lots of hope to be reminded that kids haven't changed as much as I think they have.
And I'll let you know what I thought of those films.
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