When you were a kid, were you more into movies that had kids in them, necessarily? or not?

Not really, I mostly watched the Disney ones that were about animals or Princesses.

No, when I was a kid, I wanted to watch movies about people I wanted to be.
I was already a kid, so movies with kids were out.

When I was a kid, we watched 70’s and 80’s horror, sci-fi, and comedy movies. my parents rock, my brother and I basically grew up on Mad Max I’ve only seen a few Disney movies and one’s with children stars we never really were that interested in.

I didn’t really like ‘kid movies’ unless it was animated like Speed Racer or G-Force and Voltron.

I remember watching and liking Disney movies (Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Little Mermaid were my faves), as well as Star Wars, Star Trek and Indiana Jones, as well as The Mummy, Star Wars (newer episodes), The Matrix and Bond movies when I got a bit older (can’t count how many times I’ve seen GoldenEye!!).

I didn’t really watch movies with lots of kids, I think partly because I almost always watched movies with an adult, and they didn’t want to watch a movie with lots of kids.

But if you think about it, most of the earlier (animated) Disney movies didn’t have kids in them (or kids as prominent characters). Unless you count lions. :P

When I was a kid I was more into movies that had boobs in them. They were usually attached to teenaged girls.

When I was I kid The Goonies came out and I really wanted to be one of those kids. Anyone. Even the fat kid. Otherwise no, any hero or dashing character would have been fine.

I don’t think I really cared about that, but I didn’t mind movies with kids in them and I definitely liked plenty that did. However, when I read books, I always wanted there to be a kid as the main character and I read a lot of good books (elementary and middle school level) with kids as the main characters.

Coincidentally enough, all the stories I’ve ever written have kids as the main characters. My NaNoWriMo story is going to have two teenage kids as the main characters. Just what I like to write about.

When I was a kid I loved the Home Alone movies, and the Honey I Shrunk / Blew Up The Kid(s) movies. So, I guess the answer is yes. I can’t think of any moves off the top of my head that didn’t have a kid in them that were an absolute favorite.

My heroes were middle aged guys… and Snoopy. Thinking back about schoolyard conversations it was mostly about tv shows and movies where adults were the heroes, not kids.

When I was a kid, there were very few talkies. I enjoyed any matinee my folks would take me to. Especially Chaplin.

No, I watched grownup films as often as possible, especially comedies. I whiled away whole Saturday afternoons on Blazing Saddles, Monty Python and the Holy Grail and It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. But then, I also liked The Wizard of Oz, probably because it was on after Thanksgiving dinner every year and I’d curl up in front of the big set with a blanket and just stare at the screen.

I watched all types of movies when I was a kid. I wasn’t drawn to movies more if they had a prominent kid in the plot. I can understand they might think that kids would be drawn to movies that contained peers, but it didn’t make much of a difference to me. I was more concerned with the plot thant an age group.

When I was a kid I adored movies with children in them. Or animals that were children. It made it easier for me to identify with the movie and get ‘into it’. So from my personal experience it is an understandable practice.

Of course you also have to consider that these companies do a considerable amount of market testing and we can thus assume that the testing has shown that children in movies attract more children to the movies.

I’m not sure I’ve ever heard of this theory, but it seems to ignore tons and tons of well-known movies that kids enjoy. There are quite a few animated movies by Disney do not actually feature a child (Aladdin, Snow White, and Sleeping Beauty come to mind) and obviously they are hugely popular with children. If this is a well-known theory, how can we account for the popularity of (the original) Star Wars among children?

What I think is true is that kids certainly enjoy having a character they can relate to- and that’s true of any movie and any age group. People want to be able to understand and sympathize with a character, otherwise we aren’t going to become emotionally invested in the movie. As a kid I loved (and still love!) the movie Home Alone because having the house all to yourself and being able to take full advantage of it is every kid’s dream. I also liked movies that didn’t feature children at all (or at least not prominently)- most of which were musicals, because the singing and dancing held my attention.

well when i was a kid, if i wasnt watching animated videos, i would definitly be watching something with kids my own age were in…if they werent my age i would pretty much lose interest…i guess i couldnt relate

@404cassie Welcome to Fluther. Lurve.

I think the main reason kids are used in movies and television shows that target kids is not just that kids can relate to them, but also because story lines limited to acceptable material for children is easier and more believable to write when it involves kids. That being said, I was more of a Disney princess type myself, but I definitely watched things with other kids in them too. I was more interested in teen movies when I was a tween/younger teenager too, because I wanted my life to be like that.

When I was a kid, I preferred westerns, and the only one I remember with a kid in it was Shane. And I didn’t really care for the kid. whiny little bastard. =)

not really I don’t think. hated the goonies. little rascals was awesome though… but then again, I still think that movie’s awesome….