Not recommended under 13, PG to 15 (Violence; Disturbing scenes and themes)
This topic contains:
Children under 13 | Not recommended due to violence and disturbing scenes and themes |
Children aged 13 to 15 | Parental guidance recommended due to violence and disturbing scenes and themes |
Children 15 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: | Butler, The |
Classification: | M |
Consumer advice lines: | Mature themes, violence and coarse language |
Length: | 132 minutes |
This review of the movie contains the following information:
The Butler is based on a true story. Cecil Gaines (Forest Whittaker) has a hard start to life working in a cotton field in Georgia during the 1920s. There he sees his mother abused and raped by the son of the plantation owner and his father shot dead by the same man. As soon as he is old enough, he leaves the plantation to find work out in the real world. This is much harder than expected and when he has to rob a store to get some food, he appeals to the cook’s better nature and asks him to take him in. This he does and trains him to be a ‘house nigger’.
Cecil is so good at his job that he is spotted by an employee of the White House where he is offered a job as butler during Eisenhower’s term as President. Cecil goes on to serve eight different presidents during a time of many momentous events including as the Civil Rights Movement and the Vietnam War. One of Cecil’s sons Louis (David Oyelowo) joins the Civil Rights Movement and later, the Black Panthers, which causes much division between them. Eventually Louis is estranged from his father. All of these events have much impact on Cecil’s life and that of his wife Gloria (Oprah Winfrey) as well as on American society.
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.
Racial prejudice and civil rights; Protest riots
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 quite a lot of violence in this movie including:
Children under five are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations.
Children in this age group are likely to be disturbed by the violent scenes described above
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 in this age group are also likely to be disturbed by the violent scenes described above
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.
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.
Children in this age group may also be disturbed by some of the above-mentioned scenes
The following products are displayed or used in this movie:
There are some sexual references in this movie, including:
There is some nudity in this movie, including:
There is some use of substances in this movie, including:
There is some coarse language in this movie, including:
The Butler is a drama based on a true story which is both heart wrenching and triumphant. It is a long film, spanning many years from the time of slavery, covering the Civil Rights Movement and years up to the eventual election of Barack Obama. It is historically important to realise that all this happened during the life of one man. Due to the themes and a number of violent and disturbing scenes the film is more suited to older teens and adolescents as well as adults.
The main messages from this movie are that people shouldn’t be discriminated against because of the colour of their skin and that it’s important to stand up for what you believe in.
Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include:
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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ABN: 16 005 214 531