I will force my teenagers to watch movies

[oman]

I have no say in my children's education. When it comes to schools, and choices of classes, my wife undercuts me. My children bond with her against me.

Because I have no say in their education and they murmer and plot against me, I have become bitter. I am thinking of instituting a new rule.

On Saturday morning I will hand them a DVD. The DVD will be picked from They Shoot Pictures Don't They and will basically go down the list.

Tomorrow I will hand them citizen kane. I will also hand them Vertigo. If they watch either, they may then proceed to do watch whatever they want to on TV. But if they don't, they can't watch anything else until they watch the movie picked from the Holy TSPDT cannon.

Good idea or bad?

(The kids are teenages and vaguely dislike me already. I kind of want to do this with "Great Books" but frankly, some of the great books that I have read, as much as I like them, they are just too long. "Here child, read Ulysses. And you can't play Guitar Hero until you are done..")

[Demosthenes]

You will only make them hate the movies and further distrust your taste in movies, and by extention, your taste in just about everything.

[oman]

You will only make them hate the movies and further distrust your taste in movies, and by extention, your taste in just about everything.

I was hoping you'd respond, and I know that is the expected answer, but is that really true. Or is that just part of the modern liberal parental mythology? I don't hate my parents for making me do yardwork. I don't even think about it.

My parents never forced me to read, or to watch movies, which I enjoy. So I have no comparison. But I am wondering what some of the posters here, especially some of the younger ones, may think about this, especially if they were "forced" at a teenagery age to do something like this -- I don't know, take music lessons or dance lessons or go to plays or theatre or to by chance, actually see certain types of movies.

[Quango]

Tomorrow I will hand them citizen kane. I will also hand them Vertigo. If they watch either, they may then proceed to do watch whatever they want to on TV. But if they don't, they can't watch anything else until they watch the movie picked from the Holy TSPDT cannon.

Good idea or bad?

(The kids are teenages and vaguely dislike me already. I kind of want to do this with "Great Books" but frankly, some of the great books that I have read, as much as I like them, they are just too long. "Here child, read Ulysses. And you can't play Guitar Hero until you are done..")

Are you watching it with them? Forcing them to watch a movie while not subjecting yourself to it might bring up some extra resentment.

My Dad would make us watch movies with him every once in a while. I remember not wanting to watch the Magnificent Seven with him at all, but enjoying it quite a bit in the end. Don't go down the list, though. Pick ones that will be closest to what they already enjoy. Wait a while before showing them Tokyo Story, so the humiliation about how poorly they treat you cuts all the deeper. :)

[SirManchester]

Just keep telling them never to watch any Wong Kar Wai.

[oman]

Are you watching it with them?

Of course.


Don't go down the list, though. Pick ones that will be closest to what they already enjoy. Wait a while before showing them Tokyo Story, so the humiliation about how poorly they treat you cuts all the deeper. :)

Yes, that is the plan, do a bit of cherry picking.

[CHICO13]

Why not have a family movie night where you watch the movie with them? I watched The Killing Fields with my parents when it first came out on VHS and was blown away by it. We had many great discussions about it and Viet Nam in general. I miss those movie nights with mom and dad...

[TheSlipperyOne]

Do it!

[billyireland]

You will only make them hate the movies and further distrust your taste in movies, and by extention, your taste in just about everything.Seconded. With relation to your comment I am 21, btw. Subtlely leaving stuff around might be a good approach - I know I first stubmled across a good few (more modern - say 1970s/80s) classics in the house when I was frankly bored off my nuts on summer mornings aged 12-16, tbh. Then it snowballed.

I come from quite a dysfuntcional family who don't exactly get on well at all, and tbh whenever I was pushed into something I avoided it. Whenever it was kind of just there but not even realyl brought up with me, I tended to get intruiged and hop on it. Of course in typical teenage nature, I never let the old pair know about it! ;)

I know it is a little late in your case, but personally I think it is a great idea to get kids involved as early on as possible. Obviously not Citizen Kane for five-year-olds, but Princess Mononoke, Howl's Moving Castle, Spirited Away, etc should get them going. The Goonies is also never going to go amiss in my household! :D

[GringoTex]

I started forcing my seven-year old to watch Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton movies when he was five. At first he resisted, but now he pops them into the dvd player on his own.

I encourage your effort. The worst they can do is bitch about it, and that's nothing new anyway, right?

[royalstilton]

I'm not sure how old the kids are, and I think that makes a little difference. If I were in your shoes, I think I would give the kids a slightly broader choice of movies to start with, maybe pick from 3 - 5 and let one kid pick one and the other pick another. That might turn out to be a terrible strategy, but it's somewhat more democratic, and that might be a good thing.

The second piece in the puzzle would be to let them pick a movie not on the list to watch, so that they can inflict their choice on you. Depending on the age of the kids, maybe you could exercise VETO power if there were something about the movie that you think kids their age shouldn't be exposed to. Goodness knows, not every PG13 movie should be seen by every kid over 13.

Finally, I think you need buy-in from your better half. There seems to be a question of consensus in the decision-making department in your household, and the worst thing that could happen here is for her to undermine this project.

[oman]

Finally, I think you need buy-in from your better half. There seems to be a question of consensus in the decision-making department in your household, and the worst thing that could happen here is for her to undermine this project.

Never happen. This wouldn't be an issue in my family if it were.

"All your movies are depressing." is my wife's chant and the kids have taken it up to a degree.

[oman]

I think I know what I am going to do. I am just going to print out the top 500 flicks from TSPDT and put it down and tell them to have at it. Pick about ten or so and I will get them via the library and then we have to watch one of them at some point over the next week. We can do it together or they can do it alone at their leisure.

[oman]

I started forcing my seven-year old to watch Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton movies when he was five. At first he resisted, but now he pops them into the dvd player on his own.

What is interesting and a challenge for me is that I think you have a big at home library, whereas I don't own any DVDs and just do it via library or netflix.