July 22, 2008
Professor fears children will be haunted by violent Batman film
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Batman may be a comic book friend for children, but parents should be aware that the vigilante hero is not so friendly in the new movie "Dark Knight," says a Purdue University expert who studies the effects of scary movies."The danger with a film like this is its history in the Batman comic book series and cartoons," says Glenn Sparks, professor of communication. "People think of this hero as fun and entertaining, so parents may even take very young children to see what they believe is a family film. Instead, they may be jarred by the film's explicit level of violence."
"Dark Knight," which is rated PG-13, opened July 18 and broke box office records during its opening weekend.
"We know from prior research that violence of this sort can be really upsetting for children ages 6-10 because they realize that bad things can happen to people," Sparks says. "At the same time, children at this age don't have experience coping with explicit images of violence or understanding the likelihood that something will happen."
Children younger than 6 may be bothered by the movie's villain, the Joker, Sparks says. Clowns are known for scaring children of all ages, and younger children tend to be more sensitive to how something looks because they don't understand what it means, especially if it looks different from the way things look in ordinary life.
"Older children, and even some adults, will find this violence upsetting," Sparks says. "Usually, the emotional effects dissipate fairly soon, but some may linger. Children may not be able to sleep or may experience nightmares."
Also, images of violence can trigger aggression, especially in certain children who are particularly vulnerable to the effects of this type of entertainment, Sparks says.
Sparks recommends that parents research films in advance by viewing descriptions of their violent content at https://www.kids-in-mind.com/. The Web site also ranks sex, nudity and profanity.
"This site is great because it simply provides information to parents so they can make their own judgments if the material is appropriate for their children," Sparks says. "It does not editorialize or make suggestions.
"Ultimately, filmmakers are trying to appeal to multiple markets and ages. Violence in films like these has been a trend. For example, the Harry Potter movies have been getting darker and more explicit, as well as Indiana Jones. Hollywood is really pushing the envelope because our culture is saturated with violent images. Hollywood probably senses the need to up the ante if they want to keep people's attention."Writer: Amy Patterson Neubert, (765) 494-9723, apatterson@purdue.edu
Source: Glenn Sparks, (765) 494-3316, gsparks@purdue.edu
Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu
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