Not suitable under 8; parental guidance to 10 (themes)
This topic contains:
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. |
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 |
This review of the movie contains the following information:
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.
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.
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:
Children under five are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations.
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.
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:
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.
The following products are displayed or used in this movie:
There are a lot of sexual references in this movie, including:
There is some nudity and sexual activity in this movie, including:
There is some use of substances in this movie, including:
There is some coarse language in this movie, including:
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:
This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children attitudes and behaviours, and their real-life consequences, such as:
Tip: Leave out the first A, An or The
Selecting an age will provide a list of movies with content suitable for this age group. Children may also enjoy movies selected via a lower age.
Content is age appropriate for children this age
Some content may not be appropriate for children this age. Parental guidance recommended
Content is not age appropriate for children this age
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