It's Not Illeagl To Kill Of A Child In A Film Is It.......

Red+BloodedRed+Blooded Posts: 4,676
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because i was having a discussion about Final Destination 4 in Art today and i raised up the query that the two kids of the woman never died, even though they escape the race car pile up. Which is wierd because it goes against what death and the films represent. I've seen kids die in films before, Let The Right One In for example, and AmittyVille Horror 2 (i think)......

Confused me.
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  • HelboreHelbore Posts: 16,066
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    It's something of a taboo in film, particularly Hollywood films. Killing the President of the US seems to be another one.
  • BBTweetsBBTweets Posts: 12,699
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    It's not illegal at all, it's just not the 'done thing' with some American or Disney style films. I might be falsely remembering some trivia here but if I remember correctly, it had something to do with during World War II when films were supposed to make the viewer go away with a feelgood attitude rather than them going home being depressed about the movie - plus audiences (and probably advertisers) just generally don't like seeing kids or animals hurt in movies so they tend to stay away from that type of thing.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 12,845
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    The kid dies in Funny Games, and in Schindler's List I think we see a child get shot...just one of those things most filmakers seem to stray away from. I reckon an actual real-life death is the only thing illegal in films.
  • ags_ruleags_rule Posts: 19,389
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    It's not strictly illegal, although it might come under decency laws. It's just one of those taboos, and understandably as well. The original Frankenstein had a very controversial scene in which the monster kills a child by throwing her (innocently) into a lake, not knowing that she couldn't swim. A lot of the taboo surrounding it stems from that.

    I know in the last Rambo film there were several rather disturbing scenes of child deaths.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 1,796
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    zombie kids in the original Dawn of the dead were killed and a zombie new born was killed in the remake but I guess that's ok because technically there not kids (sorta)
  • SillyBillyGoatSillyBillyGoat Posts: 22,266
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    Tim dies in Final Destination 2; a very brutal death at that. So I doubt the people behind the FD franchise have anything against killing a minor off.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 6,442
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    because i was having a discussion about Final Destination 4 in Art today and i raised up the query that the two kids of the woman never died, even though they escape the race car pile up. Which is wierd because it goes against what death and the films represent. I've seen kids die in films before, Let The Right One In for example, and AmittyVille Horror 2 (i think)......

    Confused me.

    They didn't die in the film because they didn't die in the premonition sequence, so when they escaped the pile up they were always meant to escape the pile up along with the majority of the crowd. Basically they were never on Deaths List.

    This doesn't explain your title question but it at least explains the query you had in class.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 5,832
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    ags_rule wrote: »
    It's not strictly illegal, although it might come under decency laws. It's just one of those taboos, and understandably as well. The original Frankenstein had a very controversial scene in which the monster kills a child by throwing her (innocently) into a lake, not knowing that she couldn't swim. A lot of the taboo surrounding it stems from that.

    I know in the last Rambo film there were several rather disturbing scenes of child deaths.

    :confused: What decency laws would cover the fictional death of a fictional child, and why would a child dying in a film be any more indecent than the death of adult?

    I've never really thought about it before, but maybe
    that's why Pan's Labyrinth is my favourite film.
  • Red+BloodedRed+Blooded Posts: 4,676
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    They didn't die in the film because they didn't die in the premonition sequence, so when they escaped the pile up they were always meant to escape the pile up along with the majority of the crowd. Basically they were never on Deaths List.

    This doesn't explain your title question but it at least explains the query you had in class.

    did they, i must have missed that bit.
  • GrimmGhostGrimmGhost Posts: 1,556
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    Off the top of my head, where kids in film die:

    Casper the Friendly Ghost, The Mist, My Girl, The Lovely Bones, Seabiscuit, Cider House Rules, 21 Grams, The Big Red One, Mystic River, Pan's Labyrinth, Dead Calm, In America, The Cowboys, Hocus Pocus, House of Sand and Fog, The Orphan, Jacob's Ladder, Whale Rider, Stand By Me, Stargate, The Boy in Striped Pajamas, Pet Cemetery, The Good Son, The Others, Pay it Forward, The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable...
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 496
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    The little girl being shot in John Carpenter's Assault on Precinct 13 is still shocking.
  • treefr0gtreefr0g Posts: 23,596
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    Wetherby wrote: »
    The little girl being shot in John Carpenter's Assault on Precinct 13 is still shocking.

    I was just about to post the same thing.

    One of those scenes where you think 'They wouldn't' and then they do. :eek:
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 1,532
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    Guillermo del Toro has done it in three films that i have seen. Pan's Labyrinth, The Orphanage, and The Devil's Backbone. Although to be fair, the shock effect is nullified by the whole afterlife concept - they don't really die, just move on to another form of existance.

    Also, didn't the little boy in AvP Requiem kop it?
  • GrimmGhostGrimmGhost Posts: 1,556
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    ..Silent Hill, Alien³...
  • tysonstormtysonstorm Posts: 24,609
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    mrcynical wrote: »
    Guillermo del Toro has done it in three films that i have seen. Pan's Labyrinth, The Orphanage, and The Devil's Backbone. Although to be fair, the shock effect is nullified by the whole afterlife concept - they don't really die, just move on to another form of existance.

    Also, didn't the little boy in AvP Requiem kop it?

    Yeah he got it nasty.

    Chestburster straight through the rib cage.

    After that and the naff cgi chestburster the film went downhill very quickly. I think the scene in the hospital with the babies and the Aliens was a step too far. Not just on the grounds of taste just on the grounds of it being an abysmal film.

    Also on the subject of Aliens, it's implied that the children shown in the DC cut of Aliens (1986) would be dead.

    Another one where a kid kops it is Pet Cemetery.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 579
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    because i was having a discussion about Final Destination 4 in Art today and i raised up the query that the two kids of the woman never died, even though they escape the race car pile up. Which is wierd because it goes against what death and the films represent. I've seen kids die in films before, Let The Right One In for example, and AmittyVille Horror 2 (i think)......

    Confused me.

    You may find that there are censorship issues relating to the portrayal of violence against children in film. So, there may be a death of a child character but you won't see the blow or the act of killing the child. If there is violence they may also have to use an adult body double rather than the child actor him/herself. For instance I believe that they used a body double for Linda Blair in parts of the original Exorcist film.

    So, I'd guess that it's probably not illegal as such to portray the death of a child but the film makers have to be careful in following rules and regulations relating to child actors in their production and bad/inappropriate editing will not get past the censors.

    I think I recall seeing something about this years ago on some kind of documentary but I'm not sure of the particulars.
  • JCRJCR Posts: 24,029
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    1931 version of Frankenstein: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MA9opHsLACk
  • Blackadder VBlackadder V Posts: 2,283
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    Face off
  • JCRJCR Posts: 24,029
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    Also the film Fudoh: New Generation has numerous scenes of children being violent and having violence inflicted on them. (Though it's Japanese, where I guess they're more liberal about this stuff, note The Grave of the Fireflies as well)
  • Sharon87Sharon87 Posts: 3,698
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    I know it's not a film but in Torchwood Children of Earth Jack sacrificed his grandson to save Earth, I remember watching it and being in shock at that. I'm trying to think of other tv shows or movies that have killed children. I'm thinking Supernatural, but it's mostly kid ghosts or kids nearly dying in that.
  • Rincewind78Rincewind78 Posts: 2,198
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    Aliens V Predator 2

    A small boy gets the face hugger treatment and also a chestbuster scene.

    a whole ward of heavily pregnant mothers get coccooned and have baby aliens palnted into their abdomons - which eat the human baby!
    a bit shocking like.
  • Rincewind78Rincewind78 Posts: 2,198
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    JCR wrote: »
    1931 version of Frankenstein: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MA9opHsLACk

    that clip was banned for ages though.
  • David WaineDavid Waine Posts: 3,396
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    Don't forget the little girl in the red coat in Schindler's List.
  • Hound of LoveHound of Love Posts: 79,896
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    The young lad Alex, was killed by the shark in Jaws...I bet that would never happen in a remake
  • Flamethrower100Flamethrower100 Posts: 14,106
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    the shining. well sort of. you see two hacked up little girls, and a pool of blood. That made me feel quite sick the first time I saw it when I was a child.
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