Kids, movies, dialogue, Spielberg

Playing on the iPod: Jean Michel Jarre, something from "Hong Kong"
I'm reading: Summer of Night by Dan Simmons. I got an introduction by way of his 2007 magnum opus, The Terror, and I've since become a fanatic. Dan, where ya been all my life?

I inflicted another chapter of Spellbinder on my writing buds. This from Kellum, whose most excellent blog can be found here: Juno Jinn, Mollusk Hero (Yes, there's a story behind that, and no, I'm not gonna tell you what it is. Ask him):

Very much like real kids. I have a theory . . . that the reason the critics hate Speilberg's and Lucas' children characters . . . is that they talk like KIDS. They say stupid goofy things and poke each other and do silly things like real children. People don't wanna see that. They wanna see little kids who are extra-precious and super precocious. When people don't talk like movie characters, the critics (and the geeks) get MOST unhappy. It's funny that when people act like real people, it seems strange...

Strongly seconded. It bothers HELL out of me when kids act like adults in movies, TV and so on. Kids have their own language, their own pacts and alliances and frankly, their own reality. Even when kids are in very adult situations (like monster hunting in IT, for example) they still think and act like kids (which is, of course, why they can perceive the monster and not just its effects on the town.) Sometimes I wonder if growing up is what kills us, spiritually, which is why so many of us troop into religious institutions that refer to a "God the father" so we can feel like kids again.

Kids feel things very intensely, especially anger and fear, which is why they scream sometimes and throw tantrums. All very unacceptable to adults of course. It's like if we can somehow murder our natural feelings and only have the nice acceptable ones (glee, especially when sinister, "fine", and mildly annoyed) we've arrived in the adult world. I guess it works, but my God (the father), what a price to pay. I wonder why real kids so annoy the moviegoing public. Are they jealous? Or just scared?

The word from here: When angry, scream. When scared, scream louder. Oh, and don't read The Terror unless you're somewhere warm and safe, wrapped up in a blanket with a cup of hot chocolate.