mndtrp

I'm having a hard time remembering at what age I started watching violence or nudity. For the most part, the movies I had at home were recorded off of the TV, so a lot of that was cut out. Every once in a while, if I was spending the night at a friend's house, we would rent something like Nightmare on Elm Street. I think I was around 14 when we were able to do that. Overall, I can't think of any time my parents wouldn't let me watch something, but I don't recall watching anything that went too far outside of the normal recommendations with MPAA ratings.

brainee

Sounds like we're the same age with parents who had the same policy. The earliest R-rated movies I remember seeing were Alien and Dawn of the Dead (in theaters when I was around 10). But boobs were off-limits until I was in high school. I remember pleading to see things like Halloween and Friday the 13th and getting shot down for some time (before finally seeing them as VHS rentals in the mid 80s).

inri222

Had cable in the 70's so I was exposed to stuff like The Exorcist and A Clockwork Orange at an early age. My parents did not care about violence, language or nudity, explicit sexuality was a different story. Anything that today would be rated NC-17 because of sexuality like I Spit On Your Grave or Straw Dogs they would not have allowed me to watch.

ntnon

Broadly:

Me: Not very much.
Daughter: (Practically) Everything.

If she thinks she can handle it (she's 5), she can watch it. If it's concerning her, it'll be paused and talked through. If it's boring or bothering her, it may go off for a while, and reassessed.

She loves the Marvel films, Jurassic World and wants to see Terminator and The Walking Dead (which is being held back briefly because it WILL give her nightmares). She actively wants to watch The X-Files, Fleischer Superman cartoons and dodgy European cartoons from the 1980s.

She enjoyed both 1950s and 2015 Cinderella and Disney's Robin Hood enough to want to watch the 'real people' version(s) of the merry men, and has sat through Errol Flynn so far, with as many more iterations to come as she wants.

Her favorite films include Snow White (Seven Dwarfs AND Huntsman), Singin' in the Rain, Sound of Music and All Disney Films.

Not much bothers her, and she is already aware that they aren't real...

ntnon

Quite - if you're a parent, BE a parent: know your child and act accordingly.

My daughter will be off to see AntMan before long; most of her friends (male) are stuck on Avengers cartoons because they 'can't handle' the realness, and others of her friends (female) either have no interest or similarly get bothered.... and mostly by the noise and lack of understanding the plot than anything else.

That's another issue people neglect to consider when whinging about the erosion of society (or whatever) when children might see violence or nudity:

A. BE A PARENT. Know your child and police them accordingly.

B. [I]Many will be uninterested, unmoved or confused,(/i) rather than immediately turn into rapists and serial killers.

My daughter saw people eaten by dinosaurs in Jurassic World - and realised it wasn't real. My daughter saw people shot by Nazis in Sound of Music and Indiana Jones and realised they were the bad guys AND that one shouldn't do that. My daughter saw Stand By Me and was baffled and uninterested by any of it.

She loves Monster Squad, too. And because of that watched the 1930s Dracula and Mummy. Her thoughts were "...I thought these were meant to be scary...?" Which is almost the opposite of many allegedly-concerned person's concerns.

johnnysd

Thinking back there were very few restrictions, though when I was young enough for it to matter it was not easy to see R rated material as it is now. By the time we got HBO I think I was 15 and there were no real restrictions. First R movie I went to was "Freebie and the Bean", and then my dad took me to a double feature of "A Clockwork Orange" and "Deliverance". He was not super comfortable with the infamous scene in Deliverance, nor most of "A Clockwork Orange". Funny it just reminded me that in the days before any type of video, movies came "back" to theaters even years after their release in double features and stuff.

Trickshot

This is something I have also wondered about, thanks for the post.

Growing up in our house there was a strict adherence to age restrictions in movies. I am the eldest but had to tie in with my younger siblings when it came to watching movies. Wasn’t a lot of fun when I was early teens, there is a 3 year and a 6 year gap between us. This was applicable to tv, as well as movies we hired from one of the local mom and pop stores. (We had no big chain or franchise stores where we lived. And no cinemas!) It was usually 2 movies for my parents, and 1 or very maybe 2 for us kids. And we had to choose something we could all watch. And we had to all watch. I was about 11 before I could get out of watching those damned He-Man episodes. And first year of high school I was still watching Disney movies!

Every now and then my parents would get a movie (vhs) out for themselves, and, if suitable, I could watch with them, but that didn’t happen often as it was usually a horror, action or drama that wasn’t suitable.

As a result I missed out, as did my siblings, on the cool “kids” movies, e.g. The Goonies, Gremlins. But as we all got older we did get to see other stuff, but always adhering to that age restriction. We did manage to see Ghostbusters, only the first one, Time Bandits, which I hated.

I remember arriving at a friend’s house and they were watching Red Dawn, which was amazing because I think it was released as 2-16 or something, and we were all about 12. And yes, dammit I watched it.

And this is particularly apt for me today, as my 13 year old nephew watched the Terminator franchise for the first time with me over the weekend. Of course, T2 is his fave, and I’m the coolest aunt on the planet right now. Lol But I also adhere to the age restrictions on movies when it comes to kids, if any of the movies had been higher than 13, he would have missed out. His parents can expose him to whatever they want to, but it doesn’t mean I have to.

coli

My parents were pretty strict on 'R' rated movies when I was a kid in the 1980's. I remember my brother rented The Terminator (I was in 6th grade) and I was watching it while my mom was in the kitchen and she was not happy about it. She just happened to walk in on me when Arnold is taking his eye out in the hotel room.

I guess like most people here my parents weren't as stingy when it came to 'R' rated action movies, but anything with sex in it was off limits. Movies like Risky Business or Porky's I had to sneak down and watch on HBO late at night after everyone went to sleep.

astrochimp

My parents let me watch Helter Skelter when I was around 8. We had a patio door at the back of the house that they always forgot to lock at night. I always made sure it was. I'm still like that at 45.

Nick Danger

I grew up before cable TV or home video. and had to wait until a movie came on TV. I couldn't watch war movies. I couldn't watch the Saturday afternoon Chiller Theater. My sister couldn't watch Dukes of Hazzard because the police were the bad guys.

When I was about 12, I got to see my first James Bond movie in the theater. My father made a big deal about warning me how violent it was. When I was 16, I was not allowed to go see either Fritz the Cat or Last Tango in Paris at the university theater.

My mom was horrified when she caught me at the age of 7 looking at the cartoons in dad's Penthouse. I wasn't even interested in the naked women, just the humor. Well, I never saw another issue of that magazine again.

EdTheRipper

Agreed 100%. My son is 12 and we have very few restrictions with what we allow him to watch. If he asks to watch a certain movie that I don't think he can handle, I'll tell him such. So far, the only stuff I haven't let him watch is stuff like Nightmare on Elm Street or Paranormal Activity. He'll see them at some point, but I don't think he is ready right now.

When I was a kid, my mom had no restrictions on me at all. I could watch pretty much anything I wanted.

jwb0323

I'm definitely more lenient than my wife when it comes to watching movies. She was really restricted with what she was allowed to watch as a kid, me, not so much. I remember staying home myself when I was around 10 or so walking to the video store. I was allowed to rent r rates movies since my mom had signed a consent form( which I might have forged)
I think robocop and predator was the most violent. Again, though, if you are being a good parent you should know what your kids can and cannot handle and plan your movie choices accordingly

Dan

When I was growing up, I was able to watch pretty much anything. My parents weren't too concerned (I remember seeing parts of Aliens when it hit VHS, whenever that was, and I have a vague recollection of some movies with nudity, but I couldn't tell you what titles they were), although they never took me to the theatre to see any R-rated films. I recall seeing Roger Rabbit, Home Alone, Ghost Dad, among others in the theatre, so nothing crazy at all, but at home, we'd rent VHS tapes of pretty much anything except porn. On days where I stayed home from school sick, my mom would rent random movies, some of which were coincidentally rated R (Blind Fury being one specific one that I can think of. I loved that damn movie). I recall watching Judgment Night in my cousin's basement, and eventually buying the VHS for myself. Hell, my mom took me to Blockbuster so I could buy the director's cut of Natural Born Killers on VHS, although she didn't really know what that movie was or why I wanted it. The clerk told me I had to be 18... I pointed to my mom's van and said she brought me here, so of course she approves. She may have even waved at us , but I think I only think that because it would be a good scene in a movie. Oddly, after I became an adult, she became more of a prude. Only in the sense that, when those "viewer discretion is advised" warnings would come on, she took those WAY too literally, and would just change the channel But I still watched everything any anything I could get my hands on by then anyway.

My kid is 2 1/2, so she's not watching much beyond Wall-E and Daniel Tiger. My niece and nephew are older though (9 and 7... I think), and they keep asking to watch movies at my house, but they're still mostly only interested in the usual kid stuff, and their parents (my brother and his wife) are far more cautious about what they see than my parents ever were, so I kind of have to be careful with what I let them see. When my kid is old enough, I figure... I'll let her watch whatever she asks to watch specifically, but depending on the content, I may insist that either I or my wife watch it with her, in case she has questions about it. But who knows.

rw2516

Growing up in the sixties before ratings nothing was off limits. Ratings kicked in when I was about 12 and made no difference. The first R movies I went to were Countess Dracula, Horror of Frankenstein, I think Scars of Dracula and Count Yorga were R.
My folks split when I was 2 and it was a very amiable situation. I'd just call dad and have him take me to anything I wanted to see. Especially all the drive-in horror stuff, Bond and other spy stuff.
I remember seeing Blood Feast when I was around 4-5. If you haven't seen it, it's pretty bloody. After that I'd call dad on the phone, "Dad. Can we go to the horror movie show at the drive-in?" Dad would reply, "One of them isn't Blood Feast is it?"
Kids under 12 got into the drive-in free so dad saw it as he was getting in free. He'd give me some bucks for the snack bar and usually be asleep by the time the second movie started. There were always at least three movies, often 4 or 5. When it was over I'd wake him up and he'd take me home.
I knew my situation wasn't the norm. The few times a friend went with me to see a horror or Bond movie it ended up in trouble. They would blab about the cool stuff they saw in the movie, and the next time I was at their house I'd get an earful from their mom. I believe they thought of me as a bad influence.
The one restriction was my mom wouldn't let me stay up for the midnight creature feature. I had to get up in middle of night and sneak out to livingroom to watch all the older monster movies. Finally when I was 10 she let me stay up to watch them on Saturday night.
In our house you never took something to eat without asking first. The pop was kept in my mom's bedroom closet. After I was able to stay up for the creature feature she would leave a bottle of pop in the fridge for me and a frozen pizza in the freezer before she went to bed.

Growing up there was a set of twin brothers I ran with. Same age as me. Their dad worked construction. Drank, smoked and cussed. Their mom was a hardcore Catholic, just a few tracts short of being Carrie's mom from the movie. They took after their dad and the one concession she got was that they attend Catholic school. One Friday night around 1970 when we were 12 there was a party at the Catholic school in the gymnasium. The three of us went to check it out. Hot dogs, music and lots of cute Catholic school girls. There was also a movie.
Everybody sat on the floor, the screen, projector and popcorn machine came out. Our projectionist was some priest dressed the part.
The lights go out and the move starts. DRACULA HAS RISEN FROM THE GRAVE.
Even at the age of 12 I could appreciate the surrealism of watching a Dracula movie surrounded by screaming Catholic school girls in a Catholic school and a priest for the projectionist.

Ash Ketchum

Wow, these are some great stories. Some of you had it good, some of you had it awful.

I'm still pissed at my parents for not letting me see any James Bond films until I was 12. I was so anxious to see them from the initial releases of DR. NO to GOLDFINGER that I used my allowance to buy every James Bond bubblegum card. I even started reading the books because my dad bought them. It was only after DR. NO and FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE got re-released as a double bill that my father relented--chiefly because HE wanted to see the films--and took us. That was pretty damned great. Four years later, my father got upset with me for going to see THE WILD BUNCH and my mother got upset with me for going to see MIDNIGHT COWBOY.

My daughter recently thanked me and her mother for never restricting the amount of TV she could watch. I did get upset, though, when she'd watch shows that were not age-appropriate, like "Martin" and "Melrose Place," and would make her turn them off. However, when I was getting into anime and Hong Kong films, I made a serious miscalculation when she was ten-going-on-eleven and took her to see a double bill of HEROIC TRIO and SWORDSMAN III: THE EAST IS RED, two films with female action stars, right? We left in the middle of HEROIC TRIO (after Anthony Wong's finger gets cut off and he puts it in his mouth to eat it) to go sit in the lobby until the next film started and then we left in the middle of that one. During one bloody scene in SWORDSMAN III, I heard a woman behind me say, "This is the kind of movie he brings his kid to?!" Pretty embarrassing.

ntnon

When we saw Brave, Frozen and most-recently Inside Out - all, nominally, "children's films" - there were several children who had to leave. (And many more who should have, were their parents paying attention to them.)

Brave in particular was/is VERY dark.

We recently had to briefly walk out of Tomorrowland the other month because she was getting very concerned about the uncanny valley and harm coming to the secondary female character. We had a talk, thought for a bit, and then went back in and saw the rest.

My daughter's been the youngest child in the theater by a good ten years (Winter Soldier), and still a) better behaved, b) more comprehending and c) more OK with the (relative) violence than people four and five times her age.

Obviously in this case you imply your daughter wanted to leave/was uncomfortable, so that's one thing. But, generally, who cares what other people think? IF you're a parent who drags a young, complaining, fidgeting, uninterested, scared child to an "inappropriate" film, then you should be criticised. If, however, you listen to your child, take them when THEY want to (and feel they can) go, and pay attention to them... it is nobody else's business at all.

wlj

I didn't have really any restrictions at all as a kid. i have a 4 year old that I let watch some stuff he probably shouldn't. He likes Star Wars, I was going to avoid Revenge of the Sith since it was a little darker than the others. However I caved and said what the hell. Wife wasn't happy with me.

I don't let him watch any Rated R movies for sure.

SterlingBen

My daughter is about 8 months old now and I plan to have no restrictions on her, I remember always feeling sorry when friends had restrictions on what they could watch.

I remember one time where I took a girl to the movies and the only rated R thing showing was Lethal Weapon 4 and her mom went on and on about how 'you are going to go see that one aren't you?' And I could tell she was still suspicious even after I told her I had already seen it and it wasn't that good and I was not interested in seeing it again.

My mom would randomly crack down on violent movies I would rent at blockbuster but just randomly about once or twice a year with no real reason or rhyme. And we would rent a lot. Just had to wait a week and bring it up to the counter with her again and it wouldn't be a problem.

She never minded about sex in movies and I remember in the 8th grade or so she took me and a few of my friends to the theater and bought us tickets to Wild Things and dropped us off. And the whole time the guy selling tickets was trying to talk her out of it (what a jerk).

kd5

The earliest risqué television viewing I remember is The Outer Limits in B&W back in the early 60's. My parents never had anything to say about that, OL used to scare the shit out of me when I was a kid and I loved it. We lived out in the middle of E. Bumfuck so going to theater-type movies was pretty much unheard of.

No kids so no restrictions necessary, but if I did I think I'd have to say no to slice and dice torture porn (Saw, etc.), I don't even like to watch that shit.

Mabuse

I mean that when I saw Terminator and Robocop I was 9 or 10 years old. My oldest is only 7.

AnonomusBob15

No restrictions. I grew up watching anything I wanted. I had this neighbor, and his mom was a film buff, and next to their tv/vcr were boxes of video tapes; everything from porky's II to henry: portrait of a serial killer, to rampage. I would also go to Movie Gallery and rent five new horror films every weekend throughout my childhood. I don't think it affected me other than cultivating my good taste.

Some of my favorite memories of film watching are from these periods. Everything was good.