February 14, 2002
So many movies and cartoons feature a plot
where the kids are able (and sometimes obligated) to overcome a situation.
Take for instance the movie “Spy Kids.” In this movie the parents,
who are experienced international spies, find themselves in a jam and are unable
get free. It is then up to their
kids, ages about 11 and 14, to come to the rescue.
In the movie Waterworld (with Kevin Costner),
the world is covered in a deluge of water but dry land does exist – somewhere.
Only one little girl can show the way; that is, she has the map to dry
land tattooed on her back. The salvation of the human race is dependent on the life of
the child.
A few years earlier, a move with Eddie
Murphy called “The Golden Child” came out.
In this movie, a child who was supposed to save the world was in danger.
Eddie and co-star had to battle all sorts of evil to save the child.
This was an allusion of a child Christ.
Even in the classic movie “The Parent
Trap,” the twin girls take it upon themselves to repair their parents’
marriage. In “Pinocchio,”
the puppet-boy goes into the ocean to save Gepetto who is unable to get out of
the whale.
Let’s look at recent movies for kids.
In the movie “Jimmy Neutron; Boy Genius,” the parents are abducted by
aliens and the kids cross the galaxy to free their parents.
In “Big Fat Liar,” the central character (about 14) masterminds a
plot to expose a movie producer who has stolen a story.
The movie “Matilda” is about a little girl who has undiscovered
magical powers. She eventually uses
those magical powers to outwit the abusive schoolmistress even when adults are
unable to do so.
In the kids cartoon “Sailor Moon”, the
young kids are latent superheroes who must save the earth.
In “’The Power Puff Girls,” again, the three little girls are
superheroes that must battle evil. The
adults in the cartoon routinely call on the girls to save Townsville.
In “Cardcaptors” the kids are responsible for recapturing the evil
cards that have escaped from the “Clow” –a book full of cards.
Each card contains some magic spell.
In “Dragon Ball,” the boy Goku wanders about with a teenaged girl (no
parents) and defeats the Master Roshi (the turtle hermit) in battle.
In Pokémon, three kids roam the country far from home and are fully
capable of fending for themselves without parents or adults.
Now, my issue with these is not so much that
kids become the heroes, but that the underlying message is that parents and
adults are incapable of handling situations.
In many of these examples, the adults were unable to save themselves –
it was up to the kids. The parents
were either too weak or didn’t possess the necessary ingenuity.
Kids continually receive the message that
parents and adults are dense and can’t take care of themselves let alone the
kids. In some cases, the adults are
inept, moronic and stupid. And in the same message, they see kids outsmarting,
outperforming, overpowering, and in fact, saving the parents and adults.
If kids repeatedly receive these messages then they will begin to view
their parents’ wisdom and guidance as useless.
The New Age movement tells parents that they should let kids find their own way, especially in matters of religion. The New Age movement is opposed to parental influence regarding life decisions of any kind. They stress that since all roads lead to heaven (they claim) then it should not matter which road the kids choose. If that road varies from that of their parents, then the parents should not despair.
This, however, is in direct conflict with what the Bible says about parents’ influence on children.
(Proverbs 22:6 NIV) Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.
The word “train” bears the connotation
of education and guidance. The
Bible is clear that parents, in particular, fathers, are to be spiritual leaders
of the family. Also, the parents
are to have significant influence over the spiritual education and guidance of
children.