Boobs Will Give Your Kid’s Nightmares.

SPOILER WARNING: This post contains spoilers for Coraline.

Yesterday I went and saw Coraline . I’m a big fan of the book, and while several changes bugged me I was still very impressed with the movie. (Feminist friendly too. It even passes the Bechdel test and everything!) There was one part of the movie, and the reaction said scene gained, that once again illustrated how we villify the body.

In case you’re not familar with the story, it’s a about a girl whose family moves to an apartment with a door that leads to an alternate reality (it’s more than just that, but you’ll have to read/see for yourself!). This other world also has alternate versions of her family and the other people in the apartment building. In her real world there’s Miss Spink and Miss Forcible, who are two washed up actresses.

In the other world, however, they’re still "trodding the boards" and give Coraline a show. There’s one point where Miss Forcible shows up as Botticelli’s Venus. Here’s a pic that doesn’t really do it justice. I was shocked, but in a good way. It’s not often that you see a large woman decked out in body jewels and enjoying herself.

I didn’t think much more about it until leaving the theatre. There was a gaggle of 20 somethings and all they talked about was Miss Forcible’s Venus.

"Scariest thing in the movie!"

"Don’t think kids should see that!"

"What were they thinking?"

Few things piss me off more than this notion that seeing naked people will somehow scar children for life. Just what is it that’s so damn threatening to people? Horrible button-eyed spider women that eat children? Sure, bring the kids. Old lady boobs? OMG HIDE THEM!!!

I wonder if these people have ever seen Disney’s Fantasia . There’s no way in hell that movie would be made today. It pains me that movies like Kirikou and the Sorceress would never get an audience in America, while crap like Barnyard and Horton Hears a Who are readily available. Between a good movie filled with non-sexual nudity (like Kirikou or even Coraline ) and the next CGI wasteland, I’d rather my kids watch the former. Mediocrity  is more of a threat to a growing child’s mind than all the boobies in the world.