Jottings on science, religion, technology, pop culture and faith from the Antipodes.

Comics, General

Neil Gaiman and writing for family viewing

Dropped by Suspension of Disbelief today after many months away and some how ended up at the following interview Time did recently with Neil Gaiman and Joss Whedon. Gaiman (who’s a Brit) had this interesting thing to say about writing scripts in the US aimed at family viewing,

But then, I get fascinated because, in America, it almost seems like family has become a code word for something that you can put a five-year-old in front of, go out for two hours, and come back secure in the knowledge that your child will not have been exposed to any ideas. I didn’t want to do that. I like the idea of family as something where a seven-year-old would see a film and get stuff out of it, and a fifteen-year-old would get something else out of it, and a 25-year-old would get a different thing out of it.

That’s something I’ve been thinking about recently as I’ve been watching things with my kids. I like material that treats my children seriously. Not that it doesn’t pitch things at their level but creatively introduces them to ideas and beginning critical reflection upon them. Like understanding and participating in narrative without someone spelling out for them what the moral is. Or letting them make connections between different things and stimulating them to follow up on things later on – drawing, reading, conversations, games etc.

Full interview at: TIME.com: Interview: Neil Gaiman and Joss Whedon.

BTW – Gaiman claims a readership of his blog of 1.2 million! No pressure.