Almost all of what you’re talking about happens in the prequels, where Lucas tried to make it a more serious thing.
Lion King and Land Before Time have way more impactful family deaths. (Admittedly, it’s been dozens of years since I’ve seen Land Before Time.)
But if you put the same degree of thought into it, most children’s movies aren’t light hearted.
How many burning corpses are there in the Lion King? How many of Simba’s friends die on screen? Does anyone get tortured in the Lion King?
I feel like you need to go back and watch A New Hope again. It’s a lot darker than you seem to be remembering. And empire strikes back is straight up tragic, it isn’t even a little light hearted.
How many burning corpses are there in the Lion King? How many of Simba’s friends die on screen? Does anyone get tortured in the Lion King?
Yet all of this stuff warranted a PG rating because the rating board, like most people, including George Lucas, understood that these were movies for children and that the violence was pretty minimal. "I wasn’t supposed to say this then, or now, but it’s a film for 12-year-olds,” he says. “In the real world … critics … certain fans. They’re not very nice.” https://ew.com/movies/2017/04/13/star-wars-40th-anniversary-celebration/
Now maybe myself, the ratings board and the writer/director/creator have no idea what constitutes a children’s movie but I’d be surprised.
Almost all of what you’re talking about happens in the prequels, where Lucas tried to make it a more serious thing. Lion King and Land Before Time have way more impactful family deaths. (Admittedly, it’s been dozens of years since I’ve seen Land Before Time.)
But if you put the same degree of thought into it, most children’s movies aren’t light hearted.
How many burning corpses are there in the Lion King? How many of Simba’s friends die on screen? Does anyone get tortured in the Lion King?
I feel like you need to go back and watch A New Hope again. It’s a lot darker than you seem to be remembering. And empire strikes back is straight up tragic, it isn’t even a little light hearted.
Yet all of this stuff warranted a PG rating because the rating board, like most people, including George Lucas, understood that these were movies for children and that the violence was pretty minimal. "I wasn’t supposed to say this then, or now, but it’s a film for 12-year-olds,” he says. “In the real world … critics … certain fans. They’re not very nice.” https://ew.com/movies/2017/04/13/star-wars-40th-anniversary-celebration/
Now maybe myself, the ratings board and the writer/director/creator have no idea what constitutes a children’s movie but I’d be surprised.