Friday, May 06, 2011

Thor Thpot

One of the best things about not having kids, aside from relief from the pressure and anxiety of being expected to influence them positively, is relief from the pressure and anxiety of being expected to steer them from things that could influence them negatively. For example, the movie "Thor" is opening nationwide today, the first release of the so called "summer blockbuster season". It's a movie based on a Marvel Comics superhero based on the thunder god of Norse mythology. Movies like this can be a huge influence on kids. I should know, having spent a summer running around dressed as Indiana Jones. 
And I was 22 at the time.
Where specifically the movie "Thor" could be problematic for parents with wee ones is in the character's super power, which basically involves throwing a powerful, mystic hammer named Mjöllnir, which is one of the most fearsome weapons in Norse mythology, capable of leveling mountains. Savvy parents read the last part of that sentence, saw "throwing...a hammer" and can already see where this is going. You see the problem here is that a kid can run around in his pajamas, saying "thwip, thwip" like Spiderman and he won't shoot spiderwebs all over the house. A kid can put a towel around his neck like Superman and he's not going to be flying around the backyard. But if a kid throws a hammer, indoors or out, something will happen.
Good luck with that, parents. 

(The examples cited here are for little boys because if you have little girls, it goes without saying that they should not be putting on skin-tight leather bodysuits like Catwoman. They can play brilliant scientists or investigative journalists or any other profession that requires being rescued by a hero.)

2 comments:

RottenMom said...

Please, please, please I beg of you, tell me why you spent the summer dressed as Indiana Jones! I am thinking former Disney worker or creepy guy next door. Not sure. If you have already explained this somewhere, please point me in the right direction.

Unknown said...

Ooh. Yeah. Not sure I want to devote a blog post to that. Maybe over Twitter. Sure, there's a larger audience but a much shorter shelf-life.