Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.

image for Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.

Short takes

Not suitable under 8; parental guidance to 10 (themes)

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This topic contains:

  • overall comments and recommendations
  • details of classification and consumer advice lines for Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.
  • a review of Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 15 June 2023.

Overall comments and recommendations

Children under 8 Not suitable due to themes.
Children aged 8–10 Parental guidance recommended due to themes.
Children aged 11 and over Ok for this age group.

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Australian Government Classification Board and the associated consumer advice lines. Other classification advice (OC) is provided where the Australian film classification is not available.

Name of movie: Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.
Classification: PG
Consumer advice lines: Mild sex references, references to racism, emotional upset (OC)
Length: 106 minutes

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

A synopsis of the story

Set in the 1970’s, eleven year old Margaret (Abby Ryder Fortson) is upset to find out that her parents have decided to move to New Jersey from New York. Margaret is sad to leave behind her friends and, particularly, her grandmother Sylvia (Kathy Bates). It isn’t long, however, until Nancy (Elle Graham) from across the road invites her over to play in the sprinklers. Nancy is quite mature for her age and is obsessed with boys and growing up. Margaret and Nancy become good friends and, together with Gretchen (Katherine Mallen Kupferer) and Janie (Amari Alexis Price), they form a secret club.

Meanwhile, Margaret considers the idea of ‘God’ and prays regularly to God to help her in different ways. Her mother Barbara (Rachel McAdams) is a Christian and her father Herb (Benny Safdie) is Jewish, which caused a rift in Barbara’s family, with her devout parents cutting her off. Consequently, Barbara and Herb have avoided the topic of religion in Margaret’s life, allowing her to make her own choice when she’s old enough. Margaret is curious about her maternal grandparents, which subsequently prompts Barbara to get in touch with them and they want to come and meet Margaret for the first time. Sparks fly, however, when Sylvia and her new husband arrive on the scene at the same time to prevent Barbara’s parents converting Margaret to Christianity.

Themesinfo

Children and adolescents may react adversely at different ages to themes of crime, suicide, drug and alcohol dependence, death, serious illness, family breakdown, death or separation from a parent, animal distress or cruelty to animals, children as victims, natural disasters and racism. Occasionally reviews may also signal themes that some parents may simply wish to know about.

Puberty; Menstruation; Religion.

Use of violenceinfo

Research shows that children are at risk of learning that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution when violence is glamourised, performed by an attractive hero, successful, has few real life consequences, is set in a comic context and / or is mostly perpetrated by male characters with female victims, or by one race against another.

Repeated exposure to violent content can reinforce the message that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution. Repeated exposure also increases the risks that children will become desensitised to the use of violence in real life or develop an exaggerated view about the prevalence and likelihood of violence in their own world.

There is some violence in this movie, including:

  • Nancy’s brother throws a ball at her head.
  • Herb cuts his hand on the lawn mower.

Material that may scare or disturb children

Under fiveinfo

Children under five are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations.

  • Nothing particularly scary for this age group.

Aged five to eightinfo

Children aged five to eight will also be frightened by scary visual images and will also be disturbed by depictions of the death of a parent, a child abandoned or separated from parents, children or animals being hurt or threatened and / or natural disasters.

  • Nothing particularly scary for this age group.

Aged eight to thirteeninfo

Children aged eight to thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic threats and dangers, violence or threat of violence and / or stories in which children are hurt or threatened.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged eight to thirteen, including the following:

  • Margaret, being separated from her grandmother, is sad – they both cry.
  • Margaret feels inadequate for not being as advanced physically as her friends. She prays to increase her breast size, amongst other things.
  • Margaret plays a game at a party where someone picks a number and the two go into a closet to kiss. Margaret is picked and she’s obviously scared to go into the closet with the boy.
  • Nancy gets her period while out at a dinner. She cries and is scared. She asks Margaret to go and get her mother.

Thirteen and overinfo

Children over the age of thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic physical harm or threats, molestation or sexual assault and / or threats from aliens or the occult.

  • Nothing further noted.

Product placement

The following products are displayed or used in this movie:

  • Corn Flakes.

Sexual references

There are a lot of sexual references in this movie, including:

  • Nancy is surprised to see that Margaret is still ‘flat’. They compare their breast size.
  • One of the girls in the class is much taller than the others and it’s assumed she’s much older (which she isn’t). The girls talk about how boys must ‘feel her up’.
  • The girls often talk about getting their periods and when Gretchen does, she describes in detail what it’s like.
  • Margaret looks at pictures of women modelling underwear and decides she wants a bra. Barbara takes her to the store where the assistant says they don’t make them for her size but gives her a ‘grow bra’ instead.
  • The girls do exercises to increase their bust size.
  • Gretchen brings a book to the club that shows a picture of a boy’s anatomy. They all discuss what they think about that.
  • Margaret finds a copy of her dad’s Playboy which she brings to the club. They all look at the nude centrefold (not shown) and discuss the woman’s breasts.
  • The girls are shown a video at school called, ‘What Every Girl Should Know’, about growing up and the changing body.
  • A boy gives Margaret ‘a pinch to grow an inch’, indicating her chest area.

Nudity and sexual activity

There is some nudity and sexual activity in this movie, including:

  • No nudity but the girls wear two-piece bathing suits.
  • Nancy shows Margaret how she practises kissing boys on the bed post.
  • At a party they play spin the bottle where the spinner gets to kiss the person it points to. They also play a game where they pick a number and pair off to go into a closet to kiss. Margaret gets chosen and is very nervous. The boy is very sweet, however, and kisses her twice.

Use of substances

There is some use of substances in this movie, including:

  • Some drinking of wine at dinner.

Coarse language

There is some coarse language in this movie, including:

  • Oh My God
  • What the hell
  • Jeez.

In a nutshell

Based on the book by Judy Blume, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. is a coming-of-age drama, aimed at pre-pubescent girls. It is funny and light-hearted, while dealing with the facts of life in a very positive way. The film looks at the search to find oneself, and to form opinions about God and one’s place in the world. Due to its content, the film isn’t suitable for children under 8 and parental guidance is recommended for children aged 8-10.

The main messages from this movie are that everyone is different and puberty will happen at the right time; and that there’s no need to compare yourself with others.

Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include:

  • Kindness
  • Empathy
  • Honesty
  • Tolerance
  • Not to judge others by appearance
  • Forgiveness and self-forgiveness.

This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children attitudes and behaviours, and their real-life consequences, such as:

  • The negative impact exclusive girls’ clubs have on those who aren’t included and the hurt that’s caused by unfounded rumours.
  • Why did Barbara’s parents cut her off for marrying someone from a different religion?
  • This movie also provides a good opportunity for parents to talk to their daughters about puberty and the changes to their bodies they will experience.