Transformers - Why the need to 'sex it up'...

[Neil]

Watched about 3/4 of the film last night... One thing confuses me.. Why the need to 'sex it up'? The film is obviously aimed at kids, so why the need to put in the sexual references? From a parents point of view I'd love to let my little one watch this (in a couple of years) except for:- 1) One or two violent scenes (maybe?) 2) The unecessary sexual references etc... Am I a prude or something!?

[Danny]

nope the lead gal was only there for the male gaze factor, i mean that shot were it goes up her legs and back as she lifts up the bonnet?, yeah, thats kid freindly, she couldnt act for ****, only eye candy, plus the "golden shower" bit was unneeded.

[Neil]

Shame they had to taint what is really a kids film in this way

[bassman]

It's not exactly a kids film. It's rated PG13 over here. Besides....it's Michael Bay. He's not much of a children's filmmaker. I would say that it's aimed more at the 13-30 male demographic. My friend has 3 boys ranging from 5 years old to 12 years old and all of them love Transformers and have never even noticed the girl being flaunted around. To them...it's just a movie.

[Neil]

It's not exactly a kids film. It's rated PG13 over here. Besides....it's Michael Bay. He's not much of a children's filmmaker. I would say that it's aimed more at the 13-30 male demographic. My friend has 3 boys ranging from 5 years old to 12 years old and all of them love Transformers and have never even noticed the girl being flaunted around. To them...it's just a movie. Hmmm... Sure if I'd put a 5yr thru that film... Kids pick up on things even at an early age and I'm sure my nugget would pick up on the sexual stuff, but not understand what it's about. I don't want him bothering himself about that sort of stuff yet... ie: Looking at the world in that way yet...

[bassman]

Which is why the film's rated for teenagers.

[Graebel]

We let my 6 yr old watch it only because I knew I'd hear about it for the rest of my life if I didn't. Previously the worst movie he's seen for violence was the original Star Wars trilogy. This was well worth the two hours of seeing his little face light up at the giant transforming robots. And while there was some violence it was very non-graphic. He thought the one girl was "pretty" but missed most of the connotations. However, my husband completely missed the see-through top the blond was wearing for half the movie. So some of the sexing it up didn't even hit the big ones.

[CornishCorpse]

We let my 6 yr old watch it only because I knew I'd hear about it for the rest of my life if I didn't. Previously the worst movie he's seen for violence was the original Star Wars trilogy. This was well worth the two hours of seeing his little face light up at the giant transforming robots. And while there was some violence it was very non-graphic. He thought the one girl was "pretty" but missed most of the connotations. However, my husband completely missed the see-through top the blond was wearing for half the movie. So some of the sexing it up didn't even hit the big ones. Lol He missed the see through top or told you he missed it? Big diffrence

[bassman]

We let my 6 yr old watch it only because I knew I'd hear about it for the rest of my life if I didn't. Previously the worst movie he's seen for violence was the original Star Wars trilogy. This was well worth the two hours of seeing his little face light up at the giant transforming robots. And while there was some violence it was very non-graphic. He thought the one girl was "pretty" but missed most of the connotations. However, my husband completely missed the see-through top the blond was wearing for half the movie. So some of the sexing it up didn't even hit the big ones. Wait. See-through top?

[Ivarr]

This double standard is crazy. Destruction and violence are fine... sex is not? We are all doomed. And anyone who thought this file was made for kids has to be fouling themselves. Its not a cartoon, it has very graphic battle scenes and the girl showing off her hot, glistening tight... what was I talking about? Well, I hope you get my point. The film was marketed at young adults and not "kids". It reminds me of standing in line for the first Jurasic Park movie when the theater ower came out and saw all the parents standing in line with small children and he anounced: "Parents... This is not Barney! This movie is very inapropriate for small children. I repeat... it is NOT Barney!" I think only one parent took their child out of line. So later we were all treated to crying children who I am sure had nightmares for weeks. The point being that at least in America, the average parent does not really pay much atention to what a movie is targeted at... they just assume and let fly. God help us all

[Danny]

This double standard is crazy. Destruction and violence are fine... sex is not? We are all doomed. yes, becuase just the other week i had to throw one of my sneakers at devastator and preceptor having a scrap behind the skatepark at 1am

[Neil]

This double standard is crazy. Destruction and violence are fine... sex is not? We are all doomed. And anyone who thought this file was made for kids has to be fouling themselves. Its not a cartoon, it has very graphic battle scenes and the girl showing off her hot, glistening tight... what was I talking about? Well, I hope you get my point. The film was marketed at young adults and not "kids". It reminds me of standing in line for the first Jurasic Park movie when the theater ower came out and saw all the parents standing in line with small children and he anounced: "Parents... This is not Barney! This movie is very inapropriate for small children. I repeat... it is NOT Barney!" I think only one parent took their child out of line. So later we were all treated to crying children who I am sure had nightmares for weeks. The point being that at least in America, the average parent does not really pay much atention to what a movie is targeted at... they just assume and let fly. God help us all You're right of course in some respects... I suspect it's just me seeing ow unecessary the sexing up was... The explosions and violence are part in part with f***** large robots blowing up things. But the sex aspect was just cheep IMHO... So you're right, but I think I have a point in there somewhere

[Rottedfreak]

What they should work on in the next movie is the TFs dialogue and motions, I would have accepted that the good bots speak that way to communicate better with various humans but the Decepticon actiond- mostly the gremlin like Frenzy - destroy it.

[MinionZombie]

I was perhaps a smidge surprised by the sex-ish talk, like the masturbation talk (although I found it funny)...but to be honest, kids have no idea what that stuff means and it flies over their head. Look at Ghostbusters - that film has LOADS of sex-jokes or sex-related lines in it - they ALL flew right over my head and I didn't even notice them until I was 22! It's a bunch of robots smashing the place up, that's what a kid will see when they watch the film, they won't be paying attention to dialogue or understand any adult jokes. I mean heck, the Aardman Animation films have plenty of adult-aimed jokes in them...be they references only adults would get to films or tv or whatever, or if it's a nude Wallace using a box that says "may contain nuts" on it to hide his shame. I think there's a bit of prudishness on your part Neil to be honest, but at least you're concerned about what the "nuggets" are viewing...but thinking about the films I'd watch as a kid, and then watching them back again as an adult, there's LOADS of stuff I never noticed or understood back in those days...sometimes it might even be something shown on screen that 'they' would never get away with these days, or something that I know think "blimey, that's a bit rough/scary/violent for a family film"...but to be honest, it's fine. Heck, Jurassic Park - "that's one big pile of sh*t", the adult relationship jokes, the lawyer getting eaten off the bog. I think kids are surprisingly resilient to the moving image, and if there's something they don't like or they're scared, they'll flat out tell you or run away or hide, so I think you'd be fine. But "Transformers" is probably more aimed at the audience bassman was mentioning, it being a Michael Bay film...but then again, I don't see anything wrong with letting a kid see it...they won't understand that robot is essentially giving that guy a golden shower.

[bassman]

Heh heh. The same happened with me and Ghostbusters. I wish I could have seen the look on my own face when I realized some of the adult jokes. But seriously.....it's really up to the parent to decide if the child should see it. Like I said, my buddy let his youngins watch Tranformers. I probably wouldn't have....but it was his decision. And then on the other hand, just as MZ said, kids really won't notice the references. They'll most likely just stare at the screen in a daze and not even listen to the audio. And Neil - Did you seriously not know how Transformers was going to be? I think the first official picture released for the film was of the girl bending over looking at Bumble Bee's engine.