Warning: E.T is a very distressing movie.
In the playground yesterday, a school mum asked me what I was doing with the kids after school and I said: “Eating popcorn and watching E.T.”
She smiled and said: “How lovely, I wish we were doing something like that.”
It wasn’t lovely, it was devastating.
It’s not like I hadn’t been forewarned. I watched it as a kid and was a blithering mess. I blithely forgot that and sent the DVD to my Melbourne nieces and nephews for Christmas one year. They were blithering messes and I received a very curt “thanks for nothing” email from their parents. I blithely forgot about that and racked it up on iTunes for the Sprogs and I.
OK, I didn’t really forget, I just thought we were made of sterner stuff, after chortling our way through all those messy deaths in Lord Of The Rings.
Everything went swimmingly until (spoiler alert) E.T died. We all caterwauled into our popcorn on the lounge. As the sobs became increasingly heart-wrenching, I wondered whether to confess (spoiler alert) that E.T revives and goes home. In the end, I decided to leave it as an uplifting surprise. But his dramatic recovery did little to staunch the flow of tears.
I texted Husband afterwards to tell him: “Kids deeply traumatised by ET – worse than when that Dalek died …”
And watching those Dalek tentacles wave their feeble last was a pretty dark day in the Household.
Husband was so alarmed that he called me straight back, which is very unusual for him these days, busy corporate high-flyer that he is.
So tell me, are there any other “family” movies I should avoid?
PS Can anyone who encounters the Sprogs keep mum about this, as I was given strict instructions “not to blog or Facebook about it” and I’ve broken my word. I fear it’s a sign of things to come – keeping zipped about my kids on the blog (I’ve already learnt the hard way to keep zipped about Husband. though sometimes I just can’t help myself). The hilarious blogger Finslippy wrote an article about the effect her writing has on her son here. Interesting reading and I agreed, blogging without embarrassing your kids is “a tricky dance to execute”. It’s one I’m still working on.
housegoeshome 
My Girl is one worth avoiding. Our seven year old was beside herself. The mistake I made was not following my own rules about only showing age-appropriate movies when she is there. We have two older girls who can manage such stuff. We probably need to allow ourselves to make a bad call now and again.
Oh yes, I’d forgotten My Girl. Facebookers have added Marley & Me and Jingle All The Way.
My Girl is so sad! And Marley and Me ‘Oh look! Jennifer and Owen AND IT’S ABOUT A DOG! Perfect!’ I’ve had to tear out of mum and dad’s hands repeatedly at the video store.
Weird. We all loved ET.
PS. on a word nerd level. I never noticed the connection between the words ‘blithe’ and ‘blither’. I mention it because my sisters name is Blythe!!
So true! I Nowadays there is more violence but the movies back then seemed much more sensitive and the build up to the tear jerker moment much greater. Less special effects to distract from the raw emotion! (I saw Elliot in a series a while ago and recognised him as soon as he looked upset)
My most embarrassing movie recommendation was Fight Club to my Swss mountain dwelling, don’t own a TV cousins (youngest 17). I had just remembered it being very clever and great acting but as soon as it started I just wanted to die/disappear. All but one of the family members left the room in disgust. Made me realise how desensitised I’d gotten in my twenties
I thought ‘Matilda’ was one of the saddest movies I’ve ever seen and totally unsuitable for kids with its depiction of child abuse. Took my then-young daughter to see it and was horrified by the way the parents abused and neglected their daughter. Dreadful film.
Bridge to Terabitha – i feel like I want to cry even thinking about that movie. Was very powerful for the age group it targetted. Good movie though and great music, if you can get past the sad 🙂