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
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