Come See the Violence Inherent in the System

I am letting the poor child finally watch Episodes 1-3 this weekend because they're airing on cable. I haven't been keeping him from them for good parental reasons such as shielding his innocence from the ill effects of witnessing grisly lightsaber dueling. I mean, heck, he's seen more police procedurals than is probably healthy for a seven year-old (hence his decision that a spot of green paint on our carpet upstairs constituted "evidence" of a possible "murder") and he's already seen the original trilogy. Instead, I didn't want to ruin his other kind of innocence: his belief in the inherent artistic excellence of all the Star Wars movies. I'm sorry, kid. You're in for an underwhelming ride.

But anyway, Thomas has been very much excited to have a Star Wars movie-watching day tomorrow, but discovered yesterday that Ep. 3 is, duh duh duh DUUNNNN, PG-13. He knows that generally that's off limits for him. So he asked why it was PG-13 and why I was letting him watch it.

"Well, it's PG-13 because there's some intense fighting in it. But it's on cable. They usually edit most of the scary stuff out, so I'm sure it's fine."

Tonight, still talking about getting to watch the movies tomorrow, Thomas moaned that he really wanted to see the real Ep. 3.

"What are you talking about? It is the real episode 3."

"But mom," he complained. "It doesn't have all the violence in it."

Me: "What?"

Him: "I want to see the violence! I like violence!"

This reminded me of the last time we were at the doctor's office. On the way out after our appointment, Thomas informed the doctor that he loved Star Wars and he wanted to be a TIE Fighter (which is, techically, a ship, but hey, if you're going to use your imagination, you can be anything you dang well want to be).

The doc who is very nice and calm and quiet and probably kumbaya-ya'ed his way through college in the '60s replied, "Oh, wouldn't you rather be a Tie Peace'er?"

Thomas and I just stared at him blankly, so he immediately explained, "I don't like fighting. I prefer peace."

To which Thomas replied, "I love fighting! Fighting is the best!" Then he ran down the hall, jumping up and down and screaming, "Yay fighting!" at the top of his lungs while I paid the bill.

Okay, so the "I want to see the violence!" line disturbed me a little (no really, I'll stop letting him watch murder mysteries with me, I swear), but in general, I have to go with Thomas on this one. I prefer peace, too, but that usually requires people who are willing, maybe even happy, to do some fighting. Yay, fighting!

As long as they're on the side of the green lightsaber.