• Depends on how old your kids are… Are they old enough to understand suffering and loss? Then it’s time to make your kids suffer and lose some of their free time in order to learn something important; like any good parent!

    • No, you shouldn’t traumatize your KID, so anything below 14, its absolutely ok to show the movie to a young adult or teenager. A kid does understand what suffering is, but doesn’t understand the difference between fiction and reality very good.

      Thats the same argument as with German fairytales, they aren’t made for kids, they are for teenagers and above.

      • Ahem… The film is rated…

        • USA: Not rated by the MPAA. Considered “suitable for all audiences” on the Central Park Media VHS release. TV-PG on the Sentai Filmworks release.
        • Germany: 6+ (Apropriate for ages 6 and up.)
        • France: Tous publics (General Audiences)
        • India: U (Unrestricted public exhibition, suitable for all ages.)
        • Hong Kong: Level 1 (Suitable for All Ages.)
        • Canada: G and PG for Quebec and Manitoba respectively.
        • Japan: G
        • Saudi Arabia: PG
        • Singapore: PG
        • Italy: T (Recommended for persons of all age groups.)
        • Taiwan: 0+ (Suitable for all ages)
        • Netherlands: 9 (Ages 9 and up)
        • Nigeria: PG

        You’d know that if you read the post! Funnily enough, it also links out to an neat article discussing a study showing parents aren’t reading scary stories to their kids… And why that’s bad. Here it is just in case ya need it! Heck, on other bits of social media, I heard about schools showing kids the movie in 5th to 6th grade, in the US even!

        • Just because a rating agency says something doesn’t mean its appropriate, they have strict guidelines, these guidelines revolve around obscenitys, violence, drugs and similar, they don’t go on “may not be appropriate for children because the story itself is dark and sad” 12+ would be a ok rating in my opinion, again, its not meant for children, German fairytales aren’t either, even though they are classified differently.

          Kids below a certain age cant even comprehend the story.

          •  Riskable   ( @riskable@programming.dev ) 
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            21 days ago

            its not meant for children, German fairytales aren’t either

            Woah there! German fairy tales were meant for children! That’s explicitly their target audience.

            The whole point was to scare the children into behaving a certain way. Like, “don’t go wandering off alone. Bad things can happen!”

            If you just tell your kid that they won’t listen. However, if you tell them a story about how kids that wandered off alone into a forest got cooked and eaten by a witch then maybe they’ll stick to the village (and be wary of strangers).

            • Nope, the Grimm fairytales where explicitly for “adults” so about 16 years old at the time. They have very graphics Sex scenes, brutal murders and more.

              Struwwelpeter is aimed towards 8 to 12 year olds as they have a more educational purpose. (wich is probably what you are talking about)

              I think they issue is different definitions of kid.

              •  piccolo   ( @piccolo@ani.social ) 
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                21 days ago

                Grimm fairytales

                don’t you mean, Kinder- und Hausmarchen? I wonder what that translates into english.

                Let’s be honest, back then 4 year olds were being sent to the mines. So the definition of a kid certainly has changed from then and now.

                • Nur zur Info, ich kann so einigermaßen deutsch.

                  Anyway, Kinder- UND Hausmärchen means “Child story’s And “Hausmärchen” (idk how to translate that)”

                  So there are Children AND Hausmärchen stories, those are two separate things and yes the reality of the time was way different. You wouldn’t read the original Rotkäppchen to any child below 16 there is a very graphic rape scene for example.

                  Again, i think the problem lies in the definition of Child, i define child according to German law, so any human below 14, and i think 12+ would be a appropriate age for the movie grave of the Fireflies. But below that the mental development isn’t far enough. Its of course a individual thing, but “you should show grave of the Fireflies to your child” just isn’t a good general advice.

                  •  piccolo   ( @piccolo@ani.social ) 
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                    21 days ago

                    Anyway, Kinder- UND Hausmärchen means “Child story’s And “Hausmärchen” (idk how to translate that)”

                    The English title is ‘Children’s and household tales’. I was curious what ‘märchen’ meant, and it means ‘fairy tales’.

                    Its of course a individual thing, but “you should show grave of the Fireflies to your child” just isn’t a good general advice.

                    the keyword ‘individual’. parents should be able to judge rather or not they are capable of handling the themes of the media presented. Like, if their lose their shit to Littlefoot’s mother dying… than yeah no, they certainly won’t handle anything worse lol

      • Even though it’s a fictional, animated depiction of what happened near the end of the WW2 it’s depicting something that actually happened. I don’t think there’s going to be any problems in regards to separating fiction from reality with this movie.

        If anything, the movie is tame in comparison to the actual, real-world devastation of nuclear war.

      •  ulkesh   ( @ulkesh@beehaw.org ) 
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        121 days ago

        My child at age 8 knew exactly what the reality was when her great-grandmother died and saw us all grieving.

        She knew exactly what the reality was when, at age 9 and 14 respectively, she saw our cat had to get injected with fluids every day just to live, and our dog had to get euthanized.

        She knew exactly what the reality was when in elementary school two kids died in a house fire and she knew them.

        I would probably agree that typically only a teenager and above could properly appreciate a movie such as Grave of the Fireflies. And I completely agree children should not be purposefully traumatized, but not all of them have the luxury of being sheltered from traumatizing experiences. Some could handle such a movie and understand what is going on. But to be fair, I have never shown this particular movie to my kid.