WHAT’S UP -- steve smith

Last week, for those of you who were busy on the soccer field or out of

town, I complained about the lack of G-rated movies around town and

suggested that the folks at Edwards Cinemas set aside one theater to show

only old and new G-rated movies.

I’m sorry to report that there won’t be an “All G, All the Time” theater

run by the Edwards family any time soon. That’s the bad news. The good

news is that Patti Edwards helped me not only understand the movie

theater business, but also reminded me of the big picture.

Patti says Edwards Cinema won’t have an “all G” theater because there

wouldn’t be very many people supporting it week after week. There is not

enough space here to report the specific marketing reasons why, but Patti

explained it to me and I believe her. I also agree with her. An “all G”

theater is a nice thought, but history and their marketing efforts do not

show that it is feasible.

That’s too bad, because it proves that we parents talk a good game, but

when it comes right down to it, we’re weak. We want our kids to read, but

we don’t read much ourselves. We don’t want them to watch television, but

heaven help the person who makes us miss our favorite sitcom or the big

game. And we can scream all we want about the gratuitous sex and violence

at the movies, but we are significant contributors to the success of

movies such as “The Matrix,” in which gunplay seems to be as common as

breathing, and “American Pie,” another wholesome flick. I haven’t seen

“American Pie” but from the reviews I’ve read and Patti’s description, I

know enough to know that I do not want to see it. Ever.

“Lots of parents really and truly don’t care,” said Patti. “In fact, we

get letters and phone calls from parents who criticize us for throwing

their underage kids out of R-rated movies.”Right again. Lots of parents

really don’t care.

My writing colleague, Kimberly Porazzo, would say it is time for parents

to take aim. That is, parents can no longer sit around waiting for things

to get better; we must take aim at what we find offensive or wrong and

put an end to it.

In some cases, the aim may be working to change things until they’re

better. In other cases, it is simply giving up and avoiding the bad

situation altogether.

I have made no secret about my contempt for television, but as Cay and I

are unable to do much about changing it, we avoid it and make sure our

kids avoid it. They have not watched any television in almost a year, and

I have promised them something very special if they can make it to Dec.

15 without watching the tube.

This type of self-regulating behavior is spreading. It’s not a formal

movement, just a growing group of parents who slowly take back certain

parts of society in much the same way a neighborhood takes back turf from

drug dealers.

In order to take control of their education tax dollars, for example,

these parents fight for voucher programs in their states because they are

fed up with the bureaucratic monstrosity that is their local school

board.

Some of them take complete control of their kid’s education by

home-schooling their kids. These parents take back a decent family life

at home by turning off the tube. These parents take back the moral

education of their children not only by rejecting the schools’ idea of

sex and drug education, but also by conducting themselves in a way that

is consistent with how they wish their own children to behave.

I know these parents are out there through my participation in nationwide

e-mail parenting loops. These parents are beyond mad. They’re now smart.

Resist the temptation to condemn the Edwards family for rejecting what

appears to be a solid contribution to the neighborhood and look instead

at your own record of contributions to the “village” we call

Newport-Mesa.

The record of support by the Edwards family is as long as MacArthur

Boulevard. And trust me, if there were really enough parents to support a

G-theater, they’d have it up and running in no time.

* STEVE SMITH is a Costa Mesa resident and free-lance writer. He can be

reached at (949) 642-6086 or by e-mail at o7 dailypilot@latimes.com.f7