A rating doesnāt tell the full story of whether or not someone is ready to see a film. But as some of the parents in the video above learned, it also shouldnāt be completely ignored.
When is a child ready for stories more likely to scare them? Why do we like to set ourselves up to be scared by what weāre watching?
Sandra Gonzalez shares a personal history of feeling too young for some of the movies she watched. Cari Romm talks through the indicators of why some people love to get scared at the movies, and how she isnāt one of them. Drew McWeeny thinks back on the pleasures of sneaking into R-rated movies while also monitoring his sonsā viewing choices on Netflix.
For a broader view, Staci McAteer suggests how to watch movies with kids, not only to make sure theyāre ready for them, but to model being an engaged audience member.
Un\Cultured asks the question: Why were so many childrenās fantasy films obsessed with anxiety and death?
For a deeper look at some of the films from that era that caused sleepless nights, Unleash the Ghouls gives a profane recap of the horrors filling Return to Oz. Counterpoint: Ben Blackwood defends the film on its merits (while not arguing that it is incredibly scary for kids). Hillary Busis crowns All Dogs Go to Heaven as the most disturbing movie for kids of all time.
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Each week we post a comment thread for writers to meet up, cheer each other on, and put some words on the page with a Write Sprint.
Whatās a Write Sprint?
John wrote up an explanation, but hereās the short version: Set a timer for 60 minutes, close down all distractions, and do nothing but write until that timer goes off.
Sometimes thatās all it takes to get some momentum going with your writing: You set aside this time for writing and nothing else, so youād better use it!
Shout out to Aimee Link, Elyse Moretti Forbes, and Brian Matusz for sprinting with us last week!
Previously on Innerestingā¦
In case you missed it, in last issueās most clicked link Karen McCullah (co-writer of Legally Blonde and 10 Things I Hate About You) shares the essentials of a break up scene, and how to manage the audienceās expectations for where the story should go from there.
What else is inneresting?
Pamela Jackson melds the past and present with Vestibule, a story about co-parenting a child after divorce, and protecting that child from generational trauma.
Super Eyepatch Wolf tries to explain how the internet twisted Garfield from a Monday-hating cat into an Eldritch horror.
I was going to post a third thing, but Iām pretty sure that even as an adult I was too young to watch that Garfield video.
And thatās whatās inneresting this week!
Inneresting is edited by Chris Csont, with contributions from readers like you and the entire Quote-Unquote team.
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š£ Have ideas for future topics (or just want to say hello)? Reach out to Chris via email at inneresting@johnaugust.com, Mastodon @ccsont@mastodon.art, or Bluesky @ccsont.bsky.social