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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to not let my 6yr old dd watch Watership Down?

139 replies

CherryPie3 · 07/01/2012 17:15

Because my husband thinks I am.

She is prone to bad dreams and letting things play on her mind and I remember WD being a bit bloody...

OP posts:
MollyMurphy · 07/01/2012 18:23

YANBU at all. I remember being terrified by that movie when I was a child. My parents rented it thinking it was just another bunny cartoon which it clearly is not.

Popbiscuit · 07/01/2012 18:23

I watched it at about 6. I still shudder when I think about it....My mum also let me watch Plague Dogs at about that age too and I'm still traumatized about that. Horrible Sad

grendel · 07/01/2012 18:24

It is very sad, and quite violent, and quite a dark story for little ones. I think lots of people are misled by the fact that it's a cartoon about rabbits and assume that it's all cute and fluffy. Anyone who has read the book should have at least an idea what to expect!
Watched it with DD when she was about 9 and she found it quite hard going and was horrified by the close up of scratches and blood. She definitely never wanted to watch it again!

MollyMurphy · 07/01/2012 18:28

Shock that your DH didnt respect your wishes....I mean what's the big deal with her NOT watching it for pitys sake?

Rhiana1979 · 07/01/2012 18:29

That film traumatised me when I was a child, I had nightmares for ages. I still can't watch it now

Original poster
CherryPie3 · 07/01/2012 18:30

Thanks birdsofshoreandsea, my 5yo ds has one too. They are only allowed watch it on a Friday or Saturday as it's their treat for the weekend. Some parents give sweets, I let them have a tv night.

She is happily watching something about Legends of Owls or something which she seems rather enchanted by :)

And no, dh had never even heard if WD let alone seen it. His words were "How bad can it be if it's a U?"

He didn't believe me, may have to tie him to a chair hostage style and force him to watch it. Grin

OP posts:
ElaineBenes · 07/01/2012 18:33

To be fair to your DH cherry we thought the same when we took out WD. You just assume a U rating to be suitable for young children, especially a cartoon with bunnies!!

Vicky2011 · 07/01/2012 18:35

I saw it at the cinema 33 years ago (at age 7) and still can't hear that music without shuddering (and not just 'cos it's an awful tune).

Very very upsetting

CrotchFlakes · 07/01/2012 18:36

Make him watch it - you owe it to him.

Original poster
CherryPie3 · 07/01/2012 18:37

MollyMurphy - wish I could say this is the first tone he's disregarded my opinion but I'm afraid being a SAHM just doesn't cut it in his family! Hmm

OP posts:
Original poster
CherryPie3 · 07/01/2012 18:40

What is up with my typing today?

First time not tone. FFS Cherry get it together...

OP posts:
rhondajean · 07/01/2012 18:42

YANBU I am 35 and I am still not allowed to watch it.

Marley and me was carnage in our house...I remember starting to watch WD at about 6 and by the time the first rabbit died I was hysterical, so it was turned off then and I have been banned ever since.

Givememorecheese · 07/01/2012 18:44

Every time I think of WD I remember the total cry-fest that resulted at my primary school when some bright spark teacher decided to show it to us all on the last day of term. Imagine 150 kids all under 9yo sitting in a hall watching it together. The collective outpouring of woe still makes me shudder. It was awful!

If she's a sensitive type I really wouldn't let her watch it for a few years yet.

TidyDancer · 07/01/2012 18:45

Oh Lord no. No way would I show my DCs this film. Too upsetting for me even as an adult.

Smack DH's bum, Cherry!

EmmaBemma · 07/01/2012 18:45

Watership Down is not a young children's film, I don't think. I was given a picture book of the cartoon (not the original Richard Adams text) when I was about 6 and was haunted for ages by some of the pictures- General Woundwort was terrifying, and the "white blindness", and Hazel dying and his soul leaving his body... was all a bit much for me.

EmmaBemma · 07/01/2012 18:48

Popbiscuit - Plague Dogs! I had forgotten about that film until you mentioned it... saw it when I was 7 or 8 I think. I have a hazy memory of a scene with a dog drowning in a swimming pool with scientists watching through a window?! Awful.

EauDeLaPoisson · 07/01/2012 18:53

I have a similar dilemma as MIL bought it for my VERY sensitive 7 year old DD. However ive no issue with her wanting to watch it as when she heard my say to DH how it makes me really cry and upset me she has said she doesnt want to watch it anyway.

squeakytoy · 07/01/2012 18:54

I would rather let a small child watch any 12 cert film than WD. WD is a black disturbing film, that really isnt aimed at kids in any way. It reminds me in many ways of the sort of graphics that are in The Wall by pink floyd, and certainly not light entertainment with cute bunnies in it.

jamdonut · 07/01/2012 19:06

My 11 year old DS2 refuses to re-watch Jurassic Park, which he saw when he was about 6 on DVD, because he remembers being scared by it. As for Watership Down, it is upsetting. I wouldn't let her watch it if she's a bit sensitive.

CailinDana · 07/01/2012 19:08

I watched about ten minutes of it a few years ago and even thinking about it now gives me the heebie jeebies, that animation is so awful.

FreudianSlipper · 07/01/2012 20:54

YANBU

i am 39, i watched it at the cinema when i was about 7, we were all sobbing after

Bright Eyes still makes me cry :(

Scorpette · 07/01/2012 20:55

Oh God, just reading the words WD in the title made me feel funny. I saw it at a friend's house when I was @7 and had to sleep with my parents for a couple of months due to the nightmares and needed to sleep with a light on for many more months after that! I was almost phobic about rabbits for years as a result and still get freaked out if I hear Bright Eyes. A few years ago, before we lived together, my DP rang me from his place because he had been shaken up by a film he'd caught half an hour of on tv. Guess what it was... !

OP, glad you managed to stop another delicate soul being forever scarred by WD :)

SuePurblybilt · 07/01/2012 21:00

I read Plague Dogs when I was 11 or 12 and it made me throw up Sad. I remember liking WD as a younger child though

Do your children really watch a different film in bed, alone, every Friday? Don't they want to see them together?

working9while5 · 07/01/2012 21:13

I can make my sister all tearful just by engaging her in conversation about The Land Before Time (has Bambiesque theme). She is 27. Watership Down is very, very dark indeed in comparison. I would totally support your decision not to allow your six year old to see it. I think at six I would want to watch new films with her though... old ones for movie night, fine (my nieces have this) but kids can be so individual in their reactions to even "suitable" programming, I would be more comfortable with being around for first viewings.

Shutupanddrive · 07/01/2012 21:15

Really? That was my favourite film when I was little! Probably not 6 though, I don't remember it being horrible but when I watched it again a few years later I was shocked at the blood scenes in the field

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