I've always thought those people who call for a film, book, television show or what have you to be banned are generally ignorant people who are looking to make themselves feel better rather than actually trying to do something for the greater good.

I mean, using Harry Potter as the typical example, all we hear are people decrying that kids aren't reading any more, and then for a fiction book to become so earth-shakingly popular, with a positive and generally wholesome message comes along, and next think you know I'm getting e-mails saying Harry Potter is teaching kids witchcraft and encouraging them to hate God or whatever.

And worst of all, the people who decry them and judge them 9 times out of 10 have not experienced one single moment of the movie or book.

Come on, at least know what you're trying to quash before you do it.

Plus the fact that making a big deal out of the movie just increasing the publicity. I hadn't even heard of it until you got that email and sent the link to the trailer. Now we're talking about it...."talk about your all-time backfires."

I think we need to give kids a little more credit to be able to think for themselves and use their imaginations.

Absolutely...and when you're a kid, that's exactly what movies are all about...using your imagination and learning to think from other people's perspectives.

My Daemon is a Lion named named Xanthia. She eats Gibbons.

Guess I'll come down on the other side a bit on this issue...I obviously haven't seen the movie yet so I'm not judging it, but I think it's important to learn from the past. It's also very important that we don't under-estimate the power and influence of media on any society or generation (Especially impressionable youth). I guess I'll ask you all if you might feel differently if this movie was rumored to come out with a theme tearing down something near to your heart? (You fill in the blank). I'm pretty sure there are many documented instances where somebody committed an act of violence or some crime against others, themselves or an organization based on what "They said" they saw played out in a movie, listened to in a song, or read about in a book. Don't be so quick to think that just because it is entertainment that it doesn't have the potential to spill over into your life if you are not careful, and Nicki I agree that letting kids explore imagination is very important, but I've also seen way too many parents give their kids "credit" for making right decisions about what they should be entertained by, neglecting their parental responsibility to "Be the wiser adult" and paid a heavy price later when their kids have made wrong choices because they are kids. Do you let your child play be the highway, even though they tell you they'll be ok? I'm just glad I live in a country where people, organizations, churches, etc...can come out and say "Be careful...this one might not be the right one for you." When that right is denied we should all be very afraid.

I'm okay with the concept of people not seeing it and warning their friends and co-believers not to see it, but on the flip side we still all have the right to call those people out when we think they're being silly and rash.

I'm right with you in that movies are most certainly more than entertainment, and they do have lasting effects on a child.

Having said that, people of faith have long been viewed as not wanting to question their faith or even listen to anything that runs the least bit counter to it (i.e. evolution, which as a concept can easily fit into Christian belief and contradicts very little Biblically speaking). To me that's dangerous and short-sighted.

My point is that children should be encouraged to question and think for themselves, not have ideas hidden from them. If nothing else, it should be the basis for a conversation between parent and child or child and religious leader or child and teacher.

I think mass boycotts are designed to suppress conversation and discussion, more of "ignore it and it'll go away, at least for us. The rest of them are going to Hell."

I agree with a lot of what you said Joe, unless you are lumping in the big bang theory with the evolution statement, because I think it takes a lot more faith to believe in the big bang theory than the creation story =) ...that discussion can be for another post and another day.

I'm not so much about organized boycotts, although some instances warrant it... I think it's great to have the freedom to make a personal decision and have the right to influence somebody to see your point of view and gain support for it.

The best thing I thought you said was..." If nothing else, it should be the basis for a conversation between parent and child or child and religious leader or child and teacher." That's the part that most parents don't do, because it takes too much time and effort...they let somebody else educate, mold and shape their kids minds, and Hollywood is there to be that teacher if we'll let them.

Very true regarding your closing statement. That's what irritates me beyond all. To me, the world's biggest problem isn't George W. Bush (though he's not making things any better) or war or global warming or SARS or hangnails, it's that parents treat their kids like a burden rather than the greatest privilege of their lives, and they don't treat their kids the way they should.

For God's sake, talk to your kids, tell them about everything and tell them again and again. I love talking to my son, and he's only 2 1/2. I can't wait for him to start asking me about God and sex and politics and literature and everything else.

Personally, and I'm neither a scientist nor a theologian (and I wasn't specifically thinking of the Big Bang) but I don't see why the Big Bang couldn't have been a conscientious act of God as the vessel for creating the universe. If religion is faith-based, and science is fact-based, how can a scientist conclude that something is random? They don't have any facts to back that up (though they might have evidence, there is nothing concrete either way). To call something as complex as the beginning of civilization random is as irresponsible IMO as saying evolution (or any widely accepted scientific theory) is a crock and a sham without having evidence.

With very few exceptions, every attempt to ban or censor a film has resulted in it getting more publicity than it ever would have otherwise. Michael Moore has discovered this, and incorporated preemptive criticism of his last couple of films into the marketing of them.

Interestingly enough THIS movie is rumored to come out with a theme tearing down something near to my heart. I'm a cradle-catholic in the strictest sense of the word. Practising even!!! So I didn't throw the question out there blindly. But I'll stand behind what I said before... if a piece of fiction has the power to shake the core of your belief structure, then don't blame the fiction.

I DO, however, find it interesting that the en masse boycotts we hear about today often lend more press to the book/movie/miniseries than any purchase PR has the power to do. No press is bad press, hm?

Media coverage is like sunshine -- sometimes you get illumination, sometimes not so much, but you always generate some heat.

Good subject & dialogue matter Caralyn ! Thanks