Goddess

image for Goddess

Short takes

Not recommended under 8, PG to 13 (Themes; Coarse language; sexual references)

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This topic contains:

  • overall comments and recommendations
  • details of classification and consumer advice lines for Goddess
  • a review of Goddess completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 18 March 2013.

Overall comments and recommendations

Children under 8 Not recommended due to themes, coarse language, sexual references, and lack of interest
Children 8 - 13 parental guidance recommended due to themes, coarse language and sexual references
Children 13 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: Goddess
Classification: PG
Consumer advice lines: Mild sexual references and coarse language
Length: 104 minutes

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

A synopsis of the story

James (Ronan Keating) and Elspeth (Laura Michelle Kelly) have moved from the UK to an idyllic but remote farmhouse in Tasmania. James is able to continue his research into saving whales from there while Elspeth raises their two-year-old twin boys. James is often away for long periods and Elspeth finds the role of looking after the boys, who are very demanding, difficult.  Isolated, and with no family or friends for support, she is often lonely. She finds herself looking back to the days when she used to sing in bars back in the UK.

On one of his trips home James gives Elspeth a webcam to keep in touch with him while he is away. When she can never raise him on the webcam, Elspeth decides to record herself singing her ‘kitchen songs’ which she uploads on to the Internet. She becomes a household sensation and is picked up by the ‘Goddess’ firm to be the face of a new computer tablet designed for women. At first Elspeth is thrilled with the attention but she soon finds the price of fame  too much to bear.

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.

Isolation; parenting; celebrity

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 comic violence in this movie including:

  • The twins have a temper tantrum in the supermarket and start screaming, kicking and pulling groceries off the shelf.
  • The children’s nanny hits James over the head with a frying pan.

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 of concern

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 of concern

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.

Children in this age group may be confused by scenes in which Elspeth and James flirt with others.

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 of concern

Product placement

The following products are displayed or used in this movie:

  • Supermarket goods such as: Schweppes, Cottees, Kellogs Corn Flakes, Pinoclean, Harpic and Dynamo.
  • Qantas airways.
  • IGA

Sexual references

There are some sexual references in this movie, including:

  • James is attracted to Cherry, the nanny and viewers on the Internet think that he might end up ‘bonking’ her
  • During a sexy dance routine men surround and touch-up Cassandra Wolfe (Magda Szubanski), the owner of the Goddess Company
  • Cherry gives James a shoulder massage and he makes sounds as if he is having sex

Nudity and sexual activity

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

  • Elspeth is attracted to Rory, a busker in Sydney and they end up kissing on the street.
  • Elspeth and James attempt to have sex a few times but are usually interrupted by tiredness or the boys coming into the room. One scene shows them after having sex, lying in bed naked, but under sheets.
  • James is shown on the webcam wearing only an apron and his naked bottom is seen.
  • Elspeth is told she must undress for one of the photo shoots which she is very reluctant to do. She is coerced into doing so but nothing is actually shown.

Use of substances

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

  • drinking by Elspeth who on one occasion drinks a whole glass of wine who then discards the glass and drinks out of the bottle
  • wine being drunk with dinner

Coarse language

There is some coarse language in this movie, including:

  • bitch, arse, sluttish, bloody, crap, bugger, piss

In a nutshell

Goddess is a romantic musical comedy. It is a very original, and quite refreshing, look at the difficulties that young mothers face in today’s world. It also looks at the ethical values of filming everyday activities and showing them on the Internet, particularly without a person’s knowledge. The film, rated PG, is not recommended for under 8s and parental guidance is recommended for 8-13 year olds. The coarse language, sexual references and themes make it more suitable for, and of more interest to, adolescents and adults

The main messages from this movie are that family is more important than fame and that the sacrifices needed to become famous are often not worth making.

Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include loyalty and forgiveness.