At what age did you show your children Star Wars?

ren wrote: The whole "star wars is for kids" thing is complete nonsense. And it starts right at the beginning of "a new hope". People get killed with blasters, strangled to death, then there are Jawa mass killings, uncle owen and his wife are found charred, bar fights end in death/amputations, etc... And need I mention the genocide of every living thing in the asteroid field once known as Alderaan? Having a funny character doesn't make this somehow more suitable for children than blue sideboobs in Mass Effect.

I guess I'd never thought of the original series (IV-VI) in this light! It made me wonder what age other people first introduced their children to the movies.

I was going to show my oldest boy episodes IV-VI when he turned seven. He'll probably watch Phantom Menace as well. The other two (II-III) are a bit more full-on. He will need to be older for those, I think.

An interesting extra to consider is that he actually knows the entire plot from I-VI. We've played through each of the Lego Star Wars episodes on the Wii and he's also read (well, probably mostly just looked at the pics) I-VI in the Dark Horse version of the comic books.

Obviously there's no "hard and fast rule" and it is ultimately decided by the personality of the individual. Still, what do you people think is a rough guide?

Ren's quote came from the thread linked here. I didn't wan't to hijack that thread any further so I've started a new topic!!!

I was playing those (IV-VI) for Benjamin when he was only a few months old. I also gave him the box set of Benjamin Hoff's "The Tao of Pooh & Te of Piglet" for his first birthday ...

My daughter insisted on seeing IV about a year ago. She's seen IV - VI, but hasn't yet seen I - III. What she paid attention to mostly was the plot and reasoning behind what the characters were doing, and just wondered at the supernatural powers of the Jedi. She asked me if Jedi really existed, and I told her honestly, no not like the ones in the movies, not one's with literal super powers, but yes, they do exist in the real world. She asked how, and I simply told her to see how the Jedi in the movies behaved, what they talked about, and what they believed, and just omit the telekinesis and lightsabers. She said "oh, ok", and didn't think much about it from there. Anytime Star Wars is on, she'll stop whatever she's doing to watch Luke go through his hero's adventure.

bard wrote: I guess I'd never thought of the original series (IV-VI) in this light! It made me wonder what age other people first introduced their children to the movies.

I was introduced to them in reverse order, actually. I was born the year before RotJ came out, and my parents were uncharacteristically cool compared to what they are now, so they kept HBO on constantly. Between these two factors, I probably saw RotJ something like 87 times before I was 5, and ESB at least 60. Oddly, I never caught the original "Star Wars" (Ep 4) until I was almost a teenager. I actually had to rent it.

And while I've seen RotJ more than I've seen ESB, I still consider myself an "ESB-baby." I read an article a couple of years back (and I've been frantically trying to find it since) where the author posits that maybe your first (and/or favorite) Star Wars movie had/has a profound effect on your personality--that RotJ kids are more likely to be optimistic, while ESB kids are more likely to be gritty realists. The article mentioned that maybe it was the time period (the world was a different place pre-1983, perhaps) or the storyline, but it was very interesting to notice the correlation in a few of my friends.

I saw sw in the correct order when I was like 10 or 11. But in persian. It was broadcasted in one of governments channels so it was a little changed to be suitable for any age - story was same though.
Then in 13 I saw it in English, our teacher asked us to watch it as a movie project. In our class I was the youngest one and after me therr was this guy who was 19 back then.. (out of school English class I mean not the one we have in school. ..) so I watched them all in English this time... I felt no difference the first time than what I saw before it... later I noticed some scenes were removed in the one shown by government... just to make it suitable for children as well

My Dad took me to see Episode I at the cinema when it came out...UK release date was July 1999, so I guess I was 9 years old (just).

I do remember finding it a little scary in a few parts. And there were plot points that upset/shocked me...the slavery on Tatooine, the insinuation that the citizens of Naboo may have been being tortured, the unjustness of people being allowed to blockade and invade a planet in the first place...

You know, pretty much the first thing that happens in that film is that a ship on a peaceful diplomatic mission is blasted at point blank range with no warning, instantly killing all of the crew? :blink:

I think I watched Episodes IV - VI shortly afterwards, and I loved them of course, but there were plot points that I struggled with in those too...particularly the destroying of Alderaan. Although, to be fair, I also had issues with blowing up two Death Stars which were presumably inhabited by thousands of fairly innocent crew members... :laugh:

I think it depends on the kid. They're probably easier for a kid who is easily distracted by explosions and flashy acrobatics...the deep thinkers might be troubled by some of the stuff that goes on. I suppose, in that respect, there's a possible argument for showing it to kids when they are even younger, before they are really old enough to understand some of the less-nice elements!

Ultimately, any parent who shows their kid Star Wars just has to be prepared for the fact that they might end up having to answer questions about the subject matter. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Tis why the Star Wars movies are rated PG for parental guidance.

My problem with it (and other films, and film rating systems in general) is that it presents the (extreme) violence as fairly normal (and commonplace), therefore desensitizing people to war.

It is also in a way embellished, because when real people experience death by slicing, they cry and scream as their guts fall out from their body... No magical "I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine" disappearances...

And incidentally we live in the most warring nations (also with the largest weapon/war industries)

I guess I grew up watching SW. I saw episodes 4-6 before I was 6 years old. I remember that the N64 came out around 1998, and I got Star Wars Rogue Squadron game then, so I must have seen it before '98.

And, of course, I saw 1-3 in theatres...

I remember liking the war elements and enjoying violence as a kid. lol. So, maybe I'm for Ren's case. My parents didn't ever talk to me about stuff like that. They allowed me to figure it out for myself. But, I did figure it out. It took me like... 17 years to figure it out though. hahaha.

I think maybe I was so "dark" because I was allowed to idolize dark archetypes like Vader and Palpatine, whom I had more reverence for than Luke and Yoda (I always skipped those scenes until I turned like... 18).

If I had kid's, I'd probably have them watch it in the same order I saw it just to firmly established Vader as the bad guy before leading them into Ep 1, so they do not try to relate to Anakin's journey.

I wouldn't let kids <8 watch 'war' movies about real war, but I do not classify SW as war movies, other movies on individual assessment.

I saw them in release order, with A New Hope being at age 3 or 4. With IV, V, VI and III at the movies, the rest purchased and watched at home. Since both my grandfathers fought in WW2... I didn't get my dose of 'war' from the movies, for me it was always a future space fantasy.

How to get a 3/4 year olds attention on their first trip to a cinema;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z33-qOXOWS4

I don't see SW as war movies originally, but the recent 3 installments are more focused on conflict and worse they seem targeted at children plus draw the main character as a shared role to a young audience who then is dragged into warmongering and hatred.

No doubt the ingredients of a war movie are there in all SW, but SW's is a fictional setting with a strong plot unrelated to fighting... it's as if the fighting was just the background environment. Actual war movies though seem to make the experience of war itself dramatic and central to the plot. Historical movies about real war which connect to actual family history can also be disproportionately powerful because kids feel like its family culture almost!!