If I can just rip open my shirt and expose my geekiness for a moment... (a father's quandary)
... I'm damn near boiling over with excitement about the new Superman movie - and so is my seven year old daughter. I was barely 10 years old when Christopher Reeve first donned the tights and flew across the big screen and I've been a tremendous Superman fan ever since.
My seven year old is everything you expect little girls to be. She's into Barbie and Monster High, Bratz and Disney Princesses.
She also deeply, passionately into super heroes. Sure, I influenced her, but she took it and ran with it.
When she was only 18 months old she sat in my lap watching Superman Returns and became quite giddy when the last son of Krypton saved the plane Lois Lane was in as it plummeted to Earth. For the next several days she let me and her mom know she wanted to see that one scene over and over again.
Speaking of 'over and over again,' two years ago I let her watch the animated Wonder Woman movie. I was hesitant because, as you may know, it's a rather bloody and violent toon. It has since been on heavy rotation on our van's DVD player. I've seen it twice myself, but I've heard at least 100 times. She finally watched the DVD bonus material and came away with dozens of questions on women's rights, Greek culture and the myth of the Amazons.
So enamored has she become with Princess Diana that we bought her a used Wonder Woman costume at a garage sale last year and she wore it for days at a time. The smiles and comments she got wearing it in public were priceless. She's grown out it and wants another one - or a Huntress one. I guess that's on the Halloween shopping list.
A few months back she asked if there was anything good she could watch on Net Flix. I started episode one of the Justice League animated series and in five weeks she blew through every episode of it along with Justice League Unlimited (that's four seasons worth). She kept a list in a little notebook of each hero that was on each episode.
More recently, she saw an Encyclopedia of DC Comics at a Costco and begged me to buy it for her. When I politely declined, she clutched it to her chest, dug her heels in and said, "I want this book!" The little tantrum reminded me of Lt. Uhura insisting to Spock that she be assigned to the Enterprise in the first J.J. Abrams movie. Her mother pointed out she had enough money for it at home in her piggy bank and if we bought it, she would have to pay us back.
This tactic always makes her retreat from her requests in the past but not this time. She took the deal and when she got home, she immediately got us the money (which I secretly deposited back into her bank). And thus began a nightly ritual of reading two or three entries out of it every night with her. About once a week she brings me the book and asks me to quiz her on the characters she's already read about.
She knows this stuff better than I do now - although she hasn't quite grasped the concept of retcon yet. So it's easier and more relevant to her, for example, if she identifies the Huntress as still being the daughter of Batman and Catwoman. I haven't even tried to explain the muddled nuances of Wonder Girl/Donna Troy to her!
But let me get to the point of this post. Man of Steel has a PG13 rating and my wife is hesitant to let our daughter see it. Cartoon violence is one thing, she reasons, but live-action violence and a scary villain like General Zod is something else.
My contention is evil - violent or otherwise - must be confronted. It's a lesson to learn. Superman, like most DC comics heroes, is a noble being. I can't find the words to explain how all the fighting and scary moments hinted at in the trailers of this movie will lead to an ultimate triumph of good over evil, something healthy for her to see.
What are your thoughts? Is a superhero live action violence too intense for a seven year old - even if she's seen as much animated?
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