Free Range Kids in Film

Remembering childhood as it should be now.

• • Jan 19
  • Author

  Not really a film, but an interesting article about how kids used to hand out with other kids in arcades.

  Interesting quote: “Arcades in the late 1970s and early 1980s held a particular place in the American way of life. Like shopping malls and roller skating rinks, they were safe, isolated areas where kids and teenagers could hang out, and, with a reasonable amount of money, spend hours without their parents. Bill Disney, a pinball enthusiast and owner of The Pinball Gallery in Downingtown, Pennsylvania, says of his younger years that “most parents, they basically didn’t know what their kids were doing any time of the day. They were on their bikes, out the whole day,” and “they didn’t care where they were.” This laid-back attitude varied by family, as well as by geography, but the relative autonomy of older children in the ‘50s, ‘60s, ‘70s, and early 1980s, was much greater than it would be moving into the ‘90s. Films of the early ‘80s such as E.T. andThe Wizard show typical, American kids, left to their own devices, playing video games and capturing aliens with their friends while their parents are at work.”

• • Oct 2
  • Author

  Freaky Friday is a 1976 American fantasy comedy film starring Jodie Foster as Annabel Andrews and Barbara Harris as her mother.

  The film is based on the novel of the same name by Mary Rodgers, in which mother and daughter switch bodies and get a taste of each other’s lives. The cause of the switch is left unexplained in this film, but occurs one Friday the 13th, when Mrs. Andrews and Annabel, in different places, say about each other at the same time “I wish I could switch places with her for just one day.”

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freaky_Friday_(1976_film)

  Set in the 70s, the audience sees a lot of FRK behavior that would be considered dangerous today. For example, Jodi Foster’s character Annabel, age 13, gets herself to school on a city bus after stopping with friends to eat breakfast in a diner. Later, it is obvious that she is quite capable of getting to field hockey practice herself. Her little brother plays a pick-up game of baseball in the park with only Annabel’s mom to supervise. None of the other kids’ parents are around to make sure no on gets hurt. In fact, I was quite happy to see that at the big field hockey game and practice before the only adults present were the coaches. Annabel gets teased a lot at school because of her braces, but she doesn’t run to an adult for help. Standing up for herself strengthens her resolve and character. While I enjoyed seeing  the comedy of the big switch between Annabel and her mom, I really enjoyed how much the kids were in charge of their own fun back in 1976 America. What’s freaky about that?

  • #Jodi Foster walk to school 1970s pick up baseball Freaky Friday
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• • Jul 16
  • Author

  Hey look, Molly Ringwald is baby-sitting small children in a raisin commercial from the 80s. A friend pointed out to me that she must be about 10 years old and she is feeding them small things on which they might choke. It is just proof that back in the 80s it was acceptable for a preteen to look after smaller children unsupervised. I bet no one stopped eating raisins because of this ad campaign. Those dancing California Raisins, however, are another story. 

  • #Molly Ringwald 80s Commercial Raisins
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• • Sep 5
  • Author

  Grad school is over. More posts to come.

  Guys, grad school is over. I have my MEd, so I promise to update this blog more.

• • Sep 5
  • Author

  “Anthony” Prince Pasta commercial. Not sure when this was filmed, but it seems like it is the late 60s or early 70s. It shows a school-age boy, Anthony, running home through the streets of the North End of Boston to get his dinner. He is alone. The streets are crowded, but he gets home safely. According to the article below, this spot ran for 13 years. I bet no one felt it was strange that a boy would be out by himself back then.

  Here’s a link with more info:

  http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2009/07/_globe_photodav.html

• • Jun 25
  • Author
  MOAR PLZ!

  Asked by karinanotcinerina

  Sorry. Master’s is kicking my ass! But I will be finished in July! Yay!

• • 1
  • Dec 8
  • Author

  The Sixth Sense is a 1999 American psychological thriller written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan. The film tells the story of Cole Sear (Haley Joel Osment), a troubled, isolated boy who is able to see and talk to the dead, and an equally troubled child psychologist (Bruce Willis) who tries to help him.

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sixth_Sense

  This thriller seems like an unlikely candidate for a FRK film, but then one has to remember that Cole (age 9) is mostly alone throughout the whole film since he is the only one who can see and interact with dead people. To other people, the dead people aren’t really there. Cole is at his free-range best once he realizes, on his own,  that sometimes the dead people want him to help them. Using this information, he ventures across town on his own to help a girl who is the victim of Munchausen by Proxy syndrome by exposing her mother at the girl’s funeral. Helping someone gives Cole strength to overcome his differences. In addition, he also walks to school and lingers in a church without parental supervision. Even after a harrowing incident at a birthday party while he was playing unsupervised upstairs with other boys, his mother still lets him engage in other free range activities. Clearly, Cole is a troubled boy and his single mother worries about his troubles. She doesn’t, however, prevent him from solving them himself. When The Sixth Sense is viewed in terms of Cole’s journey, rather than Bruce Willis’, you see a boy who was once very withdrawn blossom into someone who takes the lead in the school play all because of his ability to face both external and internal challenges. 

• • 1
  • Oct 22
  • Author

  A Christmas Story  (1983) is an American Christmas comedy film based on the short stories and semi-fictional anecdotes of author Jean Shepherd, including material from his books In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash, and Wanda Hickey’s Night of Golden Memories. It was directed by Bob Clark. The film has since become a holiday classic and is known to be shown numerous times on television during the Christmas season, usually in a 24-hour marathon.

  The film is set in the city of Hammond, Indiana in the 1940s. Nine-year-old Ralphie Parker wants only one thing for Christmas: “an official Red Ryder carbine-action 200-shot range model air rifle with a compass in the stock, and this thing which tells time.” Between run-ins with his younger brother Randy and having to handle school bully Scut Farkus, and his “toadie” Grover Dill, Ralphie does not know how he will ever survive long enough to get the BB gun for Christmas.
  

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Christmas_Story

  This movie plays constantly on TV during the holiday season. Since it is obviously a favorite, let’s take some time to examine how is a free range kid film.  I love how Ralphie and his brother wait in line to see Santa by themselves while their parents shop in the store. Nowadays, people drag their children through the mall, wait in an endless line with their kids to see Santa only to be harassed to buy an over-priced picture to commemorate the “happy” experience. Malls have missed out on what the department stores of the past knew: Santa is an opportunity to trap parents in the store for more shopping. But I digress, Ralphie walks to school and back on his own. At recess, the kids are unsupervised in the freezing cold weather while their teacher takes a much-needed break. When a kid learns a lesson about cold flag pole and his tongue, the teacher is not fired for negligence. Furthermore, when Ralphie gets a low grade on an assignment, his parents do not step in to “right the injustice.” In the end when Ralphie gets the BB gun, he is allowed to play with it by himself despite a few risks.

  
  

  

• • Oct 16
  • Author

  Kit Kittredge: An American Girl (2008)

  Kit Kittredge: An American Girl is a 2008 American comedy-drama film directed by Patricia Rozema. The screenplay by Ann Peacock (based on the Kit Kittredge stories by Valerie Tripp) focuses on the American Girl character Kit Kittredge,.

  Set in Cincinnati at the height of the Great Depression, Kit Kittredge, a resourceful young girl, helps her mother run a boardinghouse after her father loses his job.

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kit_Kittredge

  In this movie, the title character exemplifies what it means to be a free range kid. At age 10, she roller skates down the street. She takes a street car downtown to pay a visit on her father. She roams through the neighborhood selling eggs, despite a recent crime wave in her city and a camp of hobos on the outskirts of town. Throughout the movie, she arranges games other entertainment for her friends. She talks to and seeks the advice of strangers. In the end, she uses all of her acquired savvy to thwart criminals and right an injustice. Note to parents: If you let your kid just play with the Kit Kitteredge  doll instead of attending the high-priced American Girl Doll boutique workshop, you might get the same results with your child.

  
  

• • Oct 15
  • Author

  The Red Balloon (French: Le Ballon rouge) is a 1956 fantasy short film, directed by French filmmaker Albert Lamorisse.^[1]

  The thirty-four minute short, which follows the adventures of a young boy who one day finds a sentient, mute, red balloon, was filmed in the Ménilmontant neighborhood of Paris, France.

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Red_Balloon

  So this is the ultimate free range kid film. 34 minutes of walking around the dangerous streets of Paris in the 1950s. Notice how the other kids walk home from school themselves. Notice how his mother shoos him out of the house to play by himself. When he is bullied, he outsmarts the bullies with no help from adults.

  I loved this movie as a child. It is a beautiful expression of childhood and freedom.  

About

Inspired by the book Free Range Kids by Lenore Skenazy

http://freerangekids.wordpress.com/



This is my attempt to show the world that kids playing outside alone and doing things on their own, despite some small risks, was once the norm. It is my hope to recapture childhood from fear-mongering adults by showing different film depictions of childhood as it should be.

Why do this? I have a daughter. We live in Plano, Texas which was called the safest city in the US by Forbes magazine recently. I don’t want her to fear the world just because adults are too afraid to let her experience it.

Yes, I know bad stuff happens. 17 years ago, Ashely Estelle (age 7) was abducted and killed near our neighborhood. I used to babysit one of the girls murdered in the infamous Yogurt Store murders in Austin in the 1990s.

These stories are tragic and scary, but they are also over-reported in the media because it glues viewers to the TV which, in turn, sells products.

I don’t want to let fear guide my child’s life in the “safest city in America.”

I am not selling my daughter’s childhood to TV fear-mongering.

So take some time to remember what it was like for you to walk down your street by yourself, or go to the store, or ride your bike to the park. The world is safe despite what your TV tells you. The kids in the films are here to remind you.

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