Bones, Blood and Bodies

Have you ever watched or read something that is really scary, even though you know it's really fake?

I really like Bones, and The Walking Dead. Last night I watched The Watchmen. But there are parts my mom and dad wouldn't let me see. I thought that wasn't fair and talked to my mom about it. She said she wouldn't have let me watch the movie at all. That made me feel a lot better.

I like scary stories, but sometimes, even when I know it's fake, I get caught up in it and I feel like stuff is really happening. Recently me and my mom were watching an episode of Bones where they were doing an autopsy on a severed head and they didn't follow protocols. Cam ended up poisoned by something a serial killer put in the head. The worst part was the severed head was from the serial killer's wife.

Now, I once day dreamed that I was pulled out of school and put in the part of a murder victim on Bones. They brought in the killer for me to meet. They took scans of my body to make fake bones and let me watch them put cuts and bruises and all that on the fake body to make it look like I'd been pretty beaten up. I know it's pretend. But I still got caught up in Cam nearly dying.

I've even seen episodes AFTER this one that she's in, and I still really thought she was going to die.

Sometimes I feel like I'm bigger than I really am. I think I can handle this stuff. I talked my mom into letting me read Moon Called by Patricia Briggs about Mercy Thompson. Today in the car we listened to part of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Sometimes it's hard to listen when Mom and Dad say that something is just too grown up for me. After all I do like to talk about things that other kids my age won't understand (or care about).

I think it's actually good that I got so caught up in that episode of Bones. It means I was emotionally invested (mom taught me that term) in the story. The details really screamed out to me. But maybe it's because I get so emotionally invested that Mom and Dad tell me to stop watching for a little bit.

I think other kids my age might not understand it like I do. Maybe it could emotionally hurt them because they could get into it and think will that happen to me when I grow up? But for older kids and kids who understand what's going on they might think the only really scary thing is the clothing!

I think it's a good thing that I have a mom and dad there to tell me yes you can watch/read this or no, you can't watch/read this. Even if I get frustrated, I still trust that they know what's best for me. Now if I could only talk mom and dad into letting me read one of mom's books...

Monster High Mistaken

I read this blog by MonsterLibrarian and I wanted to chime in with my opinion.

I have seen Monster High before and for a long while my mom wouldn't let me collect any dolls except the plush ones. My mom was afraid that I would grow up and want to make my body look like the dolls'. One day she asked me and I said, "Of course not, I'm not pink, green or blue." And then next thing I knew at Christmas Monster High was popping out of every bag!

I really didn't expect this. MonsterLibrarian also thinks kids would grow up to think their body should look like the dolls. And that they should be wearing short skirts and those big, big high heels. I think that is wrong because MonsterLibrarian and my mom have not seen Monster High like I have.

Kids don't really pay attention to the shape of the dolls unless their parents or someone they trust tell them they have to grow up to look like the dolls, or dress or do their hair a certain way. I think that people like siblings or parents around kids will influence kids way more than dolls. I think that dolls are made that shape because it's easier to dress them and probably because they can make more dolls out of the same amount of plastic.

Kids don't really think they're SUPPOSED to wear those clothes, but they do like to dress up! Kids like to dress up and play pretend because it's fun.  Monster High is like you get to dress up like whatever you want to do or be every day. And it's normal!

When I was at the bookstore with my mom a while ago I saw all these science fiction books with boy authors and boys on the cover. That made me think I was part boy because I liked science fiction. Horror is also like that, mostly about boys like Frankenstein, Dracula, The Werewolf and The Mummy, even. And the only real girl in horror is Frankenstein's Bride or the girls who get killed, which doesn't count as much as all the other monsters do. I like the monsters, but I think that it's not fair to girls that most all the monsters are boys.

I think that Monster High shows that girls can like horror too. (And Novi Stars show girls can like science fiction too!) I think it makes girls feel more secure about loving scary stories, like Goosebumps. I'm a girl and I like Goosebumps. Other girls should feel that they can like Goosebumps and scary stories too.

I think that kids my age only get the kid messages in Monster High. The messages that girls get are be unique, be yourself, even if you're a monster. They do not mean monster like mean. The only real mean monsters are bad guys, and that's okay because every good story needs a bad guy. But the main characters are nothing close to it. Yeah, Cleo is sassy, but there is a big difference between sassy and mean. That difference is Cleo does help out her friends and always comes through for them in the end. Mean means that you'll even go against your school or even your friends or family just to get someone back. Like the cat sisters who have no loyalty. They just act out of anger and selfishness.

I think that adults catch messages, like the Monster High dolls being sexy or mean that aren't actually there. I think the adults see something different because grown ups actually know what sexy is and kids don't. But that doesn't mean it's actually there it just means that the dolls are different to grown ups than to kids.  Kids know that things are pretend and that's all the fun. I think adults worry a lot about protecting their kids from stuff that kids don't even know about like being sexy or falling because of big high heels.

I know that I can't wear high heels that big without falling and hurting myself. But the dolls are pretend (and plus you can just sew Frankie back up!)

Some parents are cautious about Monster High because they're afraid their kids will get something out of it that isn't there.What is there is kids gaining self esteem about being themselves and being different (because everyone is different, no two people are perfectly the same) and girls can like scary stories too!

And that's my opinion.