Mary Poppins debate
LSD and anal sex: What films with an age rating of 12 can offer if you watch them with children
If you think back to your teenage years, you might remember the unpleasant feeling when the main actors in the feature film get closer to each other – and your parents sit next to you
© Dean Mitchell/Getty Images
In England, children are now only allowed to watch “Mary Poppins” with adults because of discriminatory language. Our author has experience: When he and his daughter watch films from the age of 12, he often has to explain ambiguous things to her. A song of praise for the FSK.
My daughter is 13 years old and we love watching classic films on the couch in the evenings. Usually a strip from 12, plus pasta with tomato sauce and then a short sex education for advanced students: What was that, dad? An assfuck, my child! And what was the man doing with his face in the other guy’s lap? Blow him, love! Over By the way, we also talk about racism regularly. And about men’s roles and images of women. Who says film doesn’t educate?
So now “Mary Poppins”: the musical about a magical nanny who heals a dysfunctional family, my daughter and I have not yet watched it. But now I at least know what to expect in the children’s classic, which won five Oscars: racist sayings. In two scenes, the already pretty stupid Admiral Boom uses the word “Hottentot” and once fires his cannon at black men. That’s why the “safe” rating in England has now been changed; children should only watch the fairy tale with adults.
Tutoring on sex
As a matter of principle, I don’t let my daughter watch anything alone, and I just watch some films with her because of critical scenes were viewed. For example, “Gone with the Wind”, the Southern epic from 1939. The Civil War story is suitable for ages 6 and up, and in it blacks are portrayed in such a weak way that they should be happy to have a slave owner as a guardian. We then sit in front of the monitor, stunned, and I try to explain to her a world in which such a film was once as recognized and successful as “Titanic” or “Avatar.”
Or “Quo Vadis”, the Bible film from 1951. My daughter asked for harder material and the film is for ages 16 and up – probably because of the scenes in Circus Maximus in which Nero throws Christians to the lions. She found the passages rather unimpressive compared to “Barbie”: You would see all the film tricks. But she was outraged by the many young women in the film who threw themselves at men 20 years older. She no longer needs tutoring.
But she gets tutoring on the topic of sex, thanks to the Voluntary Self-Control (FSK). I’m very careful to show her films from the age of 12, because she’ll have a crisis if there’s a hint of a kiss in the teenage romance “La Boum – The Fete”. But then for a change let’s watch “Toni Erdmann”, the celebrated father-daughter story from the age of 12, I thought. To accompany our steaming noodles, the FSK served us a scene in which we first did a line of coke and then had a quickie on the hotel sofa.
Because of German music history
With “Lindenberg! Do Your Thing” I wanted to show her a piece of German music history, prepared for ages 12 and up. That evening there was noodles again, but this time with LSD and anal sex. That means it could also have been a simple number a tergo when young Udo plays in a strip bar on the Reeperbahn, you’re not in it. But at least my daughter can now shine on this topic if it ever comes up in biology class.
We recently ticked off fellatio in “Fearless Flyers – Flying for Beginners”, a cute comedy for ages 12 and up. It’s about people with a fear of flying who take off on a self-therapeutic trip. On this journey to himself, one of the patients discovers his love for a man and celebrates it in a spontaneous act of fellatio. We both still had to chew on that… A successful evening, thank you, FSK!