Son of Rambow:

In Son of Rambow, we find a sweet, quirky example of a film that deals with the transitional nature of childhood, as well as providing commentary on what media is appropriate for children, how children view media, and the impact that it has on childhood development.

In the film, we are given examples of two polar opposites in response to raising children: Lee Carter, who is raised with little to no supervision, and Will Proudfoot, who is raised with too much.  After viewing material that is far too mature for his age (First Blood), Will becomes obsessed and wants to star in a Rambo-esque film of his own.  This would seem to validate the idea that there are dangers in letting children watch mature content, and that viewing violent media that is inappropriate for their age will damage a child's psyche.  However, it's also important to remember that Will recently had lost his father, and this plays just as important a role on his development as the violent film does.  Without a strong masculine figure in his life, Will turned to the closest source he could find: John Rambo.  Also, his obsession with Rambo did produce positive results in his life.  He reached out, made friends, and found a common interest in film making that united them all together.  In fact, I argue that the violent climax happened not simply because of their dangerous obsession with a violent action flick, but because Will and Lee Carter were not working together on the project.  True, Will almost drowned earlier in the film when he was working with Lee Carter on the project, but that was due to a lack of communication rather than mere recklessness (Will never told Lee that he couldn’t swim).  Also, I believe that danger is an inescapable element of childhood, and children (to some extent) need to learn how to make their own mistakes and solve their own problems. 

Later in the film, Mary, Will’s mother, reminisces on a childhood event where she fell in love with a song, bought the record, and had her record player destroyed in order to protect her from the evils of pop music.  This reminds me of a similar story in my own childhood, where my cousins were forbidden to see any of the Harry Potter films, or read the books.  At the time, I was 10 years old, and I had already read all of the books and I had already seen the film, so I didn’t understand what the big fuss was about.  It was only later that I learned that my cousins weren’t the only ones who believed that Harry Potter was of the devil.  This isn’t anything new, as parents have always rallied against things that will supposedly corrupt their children, like heavy metal music or video games.  These things seem laughable to me now, but I’m not a parent, and soon one day I’ll be in the position of having to decide what material is appropriate for my own children.  What we think of as appropriate for children is always changing, and we need to be able to make media choices on a case by case basis.

In summary, every child grows differently, and parents need to find that difficult balance between too much supervision and not enough.  Even this is oversimplified, as some children may need more boundaries and restrictions, while others need more freedom and choice.  However, the film shows that by coming together as friends and being willing to communicate and work on problems, we can create great memories and overcome the difficulties of life.