Why don't kids die in American movies?

After watching Aliens again and seeing Newt survive attack after attack, I just realized something. Kids hardly ever die in American movies. A little girl with no training survives an alien infestation unscathed while a crack unit of Space Marines gets wiped out almost to the last man. In his DVD commentary (I forget which film), Jerry Bruckheimer stated that in order to win over an American audience, you never kill kids and you NEVER kill dogs.

There are exceptions, of course. Kids often die in horror movies (Mimic, Night of the Living Dead, and Dawn of the Dead and its remake). Then there are those films where a child's death serves as a plot device (ie. dying of cancer). You never see them get blown up by a grenade or ripped apart by an alien.

And I've noticed that this seems to be unique to American and Canadian films. I've seen plenty of Japanese, Korean, Chinese, and German films. It's not uncommon for kids to die in those. There was this one scene in Robotech where you see a two-year-old get vaporized in a nuclear explosion.

Anybody else notice this? I wonder why that is. What really gets to me is that the kid is often incredibly annoying and prone to wandering off. When people try to rescue them, the rescuers usually die themselves.

Simple really. No one wants to see children die, thus the makers of the movie don't put it in.

Yes Roman, but why does it seem to be a singular trait in American movies?

Take war movies, for example. There's a Korean film called Tae Guk Gi where you see the remains of a massacre by North Koreans. There are lots of dead kids in the body pile.

In the German film Stalingrad, the protagonist and his squad are forced to execute a Russian boy. You see them line him up and shoot him.

I've NEVER seen anything like that in American war movies.

Originally Posted by IronBrig4

Yes Roman, but why does it seem to be a singular trait in American movies?

Take war movies, for example. There's a Korean film called Tae Guk Gi where you see the remains of a massacre by North Koreans. There are lots of dead kids in the body pile.

In the German film Stalingrad, the protagonist and his squad are forced to execute a Russian boy. You see them line him up and shoot him.

I've NEVER seen anything like that in American war movies.

I suppose it's because it symbolizes the destruction of innocence.

And just so we're clear, I'm not talking about teenagers. Any slasher flick usually involves lots of teenagers being chopped up (usually after having teh sex).

I've noticed that dogs are hardly ever killed in ANY country's films. I suppose it's because of instinct. Humans and dogs are kindred spirits, so nobody likes seeing them get hurt. Dogs are killed, however, as a plot device (Old Yeller, anyone?).

For some reason, cats are often killed. It was nearly funny in Boondock Saints when Rocco shot his girlfriend's cat.

"I swear I will blow my brains out if you can even tell me his name!"
"Uh....um....Skippy! His name is Skippy."
"Damn! What color was he?"

Watch the Australian modern version of Macbeth

When Macbeth orders his guys to kill Macduff's family the burst into his house and grab the wife, the kid runs up, one of te guys grabs his (the kids) hair, throws him onto the couch, pulls out a gun and kills him (it doesnt hapen on camera, but I think you see the body afterwards) - then kills the mum after making her watch...

It was a great film - the witches were hot...

Originally Posted by Thanatos

I suppose it's because it symbolizes the destruction of innocence.

In "Platoon" and "Casualties of War" the director does show you have scenes with young girls being raped by GI's though.

And in probably the war movie with the most convoluted plot ever, "In Harm's Way", Kirk Douglas raped John Wayne's Son's girlfriend.

Or the part in blackhawk down where the small african child who is deliberately out to fight and kill us marines sees the marine kill his father, and the marine turns his gun to the child and let's him live...

Originally Posted by Ramtha

Or the part in blackhawk down where the small african child who is deliberately out to fight and kill us marines sees the marine kill his father, and the marine turns his gun to the child and let's him live...

Actually I believe you are mistaken. The marine slides out of the shaft thing and falls to the ground flat. The dad and kid are standing opposite of each other with ak47s, and hear the man coming so they wait. The marine comes out and falls flat on the ground, and the kid shoots but he misses and kills his own dad. Then he drops his weapon and jumps to his dad.

But anyways, I think it is because A) People dont like to see children die, although some movies it is occasionally alright(Enemy at the Gates) well not OK but you know what I mean. also B) Some politician will talk about how the film was made by satan himself and that the image caused little Billy to be horribly scarred for life and that is his excuse for shooting up his school or he deserves X millions of dollars for irreversible damage to his mental state.

As for killing dogs, NEVER. I have a huge soft spot for dogs. Even when I know it is fake I actually look away at times. I have seen quite a few videos of people being executed or killed in real life, but in a movie if a dog dies I get pretty pissed.

Because a marine really wants to kill a child...

And the kid in Enemy at the Gates gets hanged they show his corpse hanging.

Originally Posted by ramtha

Or the part in blackhawk down where the small african child who is deliberately out to fight and kill us marines sees the marine kill his father, and the marine turns his gun to the child and let's him live...

talking about the part where the kid shoots his dad by accident as the ranger falls out of the door? That's because Scott didn't want you to think Americans killed kids in war... and because it probably really happened that way.

Originally Posted by Shazbot

Because a marine really wants to kill a child...

And the kid in Enemy at the Gates gets hanged they show his corpse hanging.

That's because he's foreign. On the level of American sympathy for the dead in movies I think it goes:
American Child
Animated insects/animals
American Adult
Dogs
Primates
Large African animals
Dinosaurs
Murderers in horror flicks
Foreigner
Foreign Children
Cats
Non-animated insects

I could be wrong though

"And in probably the war movie with the most convoluted plot ever, "In Harm's Way", Kirk Douglas raped John Wayne's Son's girlfriend."
That Douglas, he's always being a jerk... except in Tough Guys... that was a good movie.

i dont care about killing kids, but killing dogs is definitely not cool with me.

Originally Posted by RZZZA

i dont care about killing kids, but killing dogs is definitely not cool with me.

you would rather see a kid die than a dog?

I remember the kids getting nuked in Terminator 2.

Originally Posted by Gaidin

I remember the kids getting nuked in Terminator 2.

That was gruesome. Nobody likes to see a kid die unless they are presented as evil

After watching Aliens again and seeing Newt survive attack after attack

Ah, but she died in Alien 3, along with Mr. Hicks and Bishop.

Originally Posted by Dorian Gray

Ah, but she died in Alien 3, along with Mr. Hicks and Bishop.

Indeed. And they postmortem-ise her

I guess its just a film convention really - the ones that flout this tend to be doing it for shock effect.

Jerry Bruckheimer stated that in order to win over an American audience, you never kill kids and you NEVER kill dogs.

a good example of this is in independence day where that labrador manage to dodge an explosion in slow-motion (I thought I was watching Lassie there for a moment)

In the German film Stalingrad, the protagonist and his squad are forced to execute a Russian boy. You see them line him up and shoot him.

I've NEVER seen anything like that in American war movies.

I don't think the american audience is prepared to see such depressing stuff. They would start questioning the existence of god and all that.

After watching Aliens again and seeing Newt survive attack after attack, I just realized something. Kids hardly ever die in American movies

damn I love that movie.

Well... what I'v heard, this is a law that many of the bigger studios (20th fox, Paramount etc) singned in the early 70ths. It also included having at least one black actor in every movie. (exccept certain historical movies)

Thats why you still can se some child/animal death in smaller independent films. Alien 3 is an excception when spike (the dog) dies quite horrific.

In man bites dog (c'est arrivé prez de chez vous)
there's also a murder on a kid (he suffoctes him after killing his father and mother)

the execution of a baby was even on the originial cover


but it was changed with teethe of a full grown men for the foreign release(in the countries that didn't ban it).