h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Yes the child prodigy is bleeding smart and could probably get my VCR to stop blinking 12:00, but what kind of FUN has the kid ever had.

In America too much emphasis is placed on achievement by the young.

"All animals, except man, know that the principal business of life is to enjoy it."
-- Samuel Butler

(The title quote being, of course, from Billy Joel's "It's Still Rock and Roll to Me")

Raukodraug

I;m not a prodigy, but I am pretty smart (hello, cambridge?) and basically I think any more would be bad for your life in general. Going to university when you're not old enough to have fun and go out would be pointless. And you'd miss all the good stuff in school, like lunchtimes hanging out and not doing anything.

I agree. This kid does have some cool friends tho, they'll skip going to bars and stuff after class and go home and watch PG movies so he can join them I say, if he enjoys what he does, and isn't being pushed into it, then more power to him!

DZ

"watch PG movies so he can join them"

That sounds wrong. If they're watching the film because they want to see it, then the rating should have no effect. It's as if you're saying that people normally only go to watch films that are at the maximum rating that they are permitted to see. (v untrue)

I'm just saying that instead of picking out a movie they may want to see that's rated R or PG-13, they make it a point to get a lower rated movie so that he can be allowed to join them. I like a ton of PG movies. My point was that they are more than willing to include him in their activities, and even adjust their plans to suit his age.

DZ

How old is he again?
And can you explain PG-13? (R is 17 or over, as far as I'm aware)
If they're renting films it shouldn't make a difference, surely, at least not with the medium-rate ones. (obviously some things are unsuitable for small kiddies, but there are scarier PG films around than most that here are rated 12)

He's 12:

PG is for most any age, PG-13 means it's not realy suitable for kids under 13, R is for 17 and up, yes. His mom probably doesn't want him watching all those upper-ratings movies that many of his fellow students may take interest in.

DZ

What is there that a 13 year-old can see that a sensible 12-year-old wouldn't already be aware of? (unless they've been locked away in a little room with books for the whole of their lives, which I doubt is the case here)

Seen Pirates of the Caribbean? It was a 12 here, but I don't know why, really. The ghost bits were much less scary than certain black-clad riders in a PG film I know of.

Yeah, I've experienced the ill effects of ratings before. I tried to get into the new Matrix movie eleven days before I turned 17--I was turned down. Even when I had a fake aunt and uncle there helping me get in, they said I had to have my parent! Which technically isn't true, my aunt and uncle could have been my legal guardian if my parents died in a horrific car accident or something Either way, I wasn't let in, and wasted two and a half hours waiting for my peers who WERE 17 to get out of the movie. GRR. Damned ratings--I was 11 days away!!!!! ACK!

DZ

"What is there that a 13 year-old can see that a sensible 12-year-old wouldn't already be aware of?"

And mind you that this isn't simply a sensible twelve year old. This kid is a genius who has problably seen more naked bodies than I have (granted his are cadavers, but we can argue that point later). I understand that intelligence doesn't imply wisdom, but a twelve year old in Med School must have some concept of right and wrong. One would think that a PG-13 movie wouldn't be a shock to him.

The funniest thing here is that basically no-one under 17 (when driving licenses come into play) has ID in England. So for 15-rated films (which I think Matrix Reloaded was) people just have to guess.

It wasn't that good anyway.