Are the kids alright? Kid-centric film and TV in the 21st century and what it means

Obviously, this comes about in different ways in each work. In the limited series’ “Mare of Easttown” and “Sharp Objects,” for example, the murderer ends up being a teenager. Both are rated TV-MA.

THERE ARE SPOILERS IN THIS ARTICLE. CONTINUE FORWARD AT YOUR OWN RISK.

In “Cry Macho” and “News of the World,” the whole plot centers on a quest to get a teenager home, in both instances by older men who lost their families tragically. Both are rated PG-13.

With the exception of “Mare of Easttown,” all of these movies are based on books. “Cry Macho” was published in 1975, “Sharp Objects” was published in 2006 and “News of the World” was published in 2016.

I can see the appeal of “Cry Macho” and “News of the World.” After all, who doesn’t love a good quest?

I think it’s worth noting that in “Cry Macho,” the teen who leads Clint Eastwood’s Miko simply leads him to his happily ever after with Natalia Traven’s Marta, whereas in “News of the World,” the teen who leads Tom Hanks’ Captain Kidd ends up being his happily ever after. He takes her in as his daughter.

At this point, I can only speculate, but I imagine that the difference in endings for Hanks’ and Eastwoods’ characters has to do with the time they were written in. In 1975, the nuclear family and romantic partnership were embraced as the American dream. But now, in the 2010s and 2020s, the idea of found family is much more embraced. Having a spouse and romantic love is slowly but surely being edged out as the be-all-end-all, with it becoming more and more common to find happiness in other areas of life.

Honestly, it isn’t hard for me to understand why “Cry Macho” and “News of the World” are a part of a new generation of movies for adults where children are the focal point. After all, kids are kind of the point of life. Procreation is what keeps the species alive. We literally wouldn’t exist without kids. And western society is slowly starting to realize that the“seen and not heard” way of being that has been historically embraced for children is not really realistic. Because while children may not be able to legally drive or drink or vote, they’re still people who not only have interesting inner lives, but also greatly enrich the lives of adults.

What tripped me up is the number of media pieces that feature child murderers, like “Sharp Objects” and “The Mare of Easttown.” Don’t get me wrong, they’re both great shows, but the first time I saw “Sharp Objects,” the ending quite honestly shocked me.

“Sharp Objects” is perhaps more shocking than “Mare of Easttown” because the murders committed by its child killer are a lot more gruesome and calculated. In the former, Adams’ 13-year-old half-sister, Amma, is revealed to be a serial killer who not only murdered multiple girls around her age and let her mother take the blame, but also pulls out the teeth of her victims to use for the floor in her doll house, which is a mirror of her mother’s.

Meanwhile, in “Mare of Easttown,” the murderer is 13-year-old Ryan Ross, who shoots his father’s 17-year-old lover whom he happens to share a kid with. As a lover of true crime and fictional thrillers, “Sharp Objects” was the first time I saw a child be the serial killer. And then when I saw that a child was the killer in “Mare of Easttown,” I was intrgued by the pattern.

After a lot of thought, I have a couple hypotheses for why this trend seems to be emerging. As I mentioned earlier, kids are becoming seen more and more as complex humans who are just as full of emotional depth as adults. I think “Sharp Objects” and “Mare of Easttown” are reflections of that.

Specifically, I think they are reflections of how a toxic home life can effect children. In both shows, the 13-year-olds in question are from volatile homes. In “Sharp Objects,” Amma’s mom has Munchausen syndrome by proxy and is alluded to being responsible for the death of Amma’s older half-sister, Marian, which hangs over the family like a dark cloud throughout the story.

In “Mare of Easttown,” Ryan is from a home where his father has not only cheated on his mother, but cheated on her with someone only a few years older than him. To say that both he and Amma are under a lot of pressure and have dysfunctional role models is an understatement.

I think both of these shows can deeply speak to the negative side of what children can be capable of and why we need to stop turning a blind eye to their homelives and the effect those homelives can have on their emotions and eventually, their actions.

I don’t think it needs to be repeated, but, just in case: kids are humans and deserve our full attention.