This week I went to watch the new film Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice. I do not normally tend to watch this style of film, as I have never been one to watch superhero cartoons and read comics. I’ve always found the films tend to drag and have none stop loud noise and fighting. I did find myself enjoying some aspects of the film, I liked watching how both Batman and Superman were able to use their different skills and powers to fight the villains, but overall the film did seem to drag and I left the cinema with a throbbing head.
When watching the film I noticed a number of children that appeared under the age of twelve sat in the audience. The film has been given the certificate of 12A for the cinemas, which allows children of any age to watch the film, if under 12 they had to be accompanied by an adult. Whilst watching the film I found myself feeling scared and uncomfortable at a number of scenes, the film included lots of violence, weapons, murder and mild language. I left the cinema wondering how and why superhero films were accepted as suitable films for children.
In toy shops they sell costumes for children to dress up as their favourite superhero or villain, they also sell console games so children can fight and behave like superheroes. Although superhero films and merchandise can be enjoyed by adults as well, it appears many stores target their superhero merchandise sales at children. I began to wonder what these films and games could be teaching children, it appears within many of the films the only way to resolve a situation is to use your ‘powers’ in violent ways and make enemies suffer. This film also had many guns and knives used as a way to stop the criminals, which could be seen as teaching children they need these items in order to be like their idol superheroes.
It seems since the release of the film Deadpool superhero films are becoming more adult aimed, rather than a film that can be suitable for the whole family. Warner Brothers are releasing another version of Batman vs Superman, which will be R-rated due to it involving even more violence. This decision has been made due to the success of the R-rated Deadpool and its huge success.
Although I felt the film was not suitable for children; there were certain aspects of the film that had been noticeably toned down as they could have been a lot more graphic or explicit. When a character was punched or hit they didn’t have blood squirting out of them or limbs hanging off, which would have made the scenes a lot more traumatic and unsuitable for a younger audience. There was also little sexual nudity and the language was not explicit, all these aspects make it more family friendly. However the film was majorly filled with fighting, anger, machinery and unsettling scenes which cannot be seen as a ‘child friendly’ film.
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