What’s Good About "A Good Scare"
by Chris Byrne

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets will easily be one of the leading movies of this holiday season. The box office receipts are already at record-breaking levels, and parents report that children are seeing the film two or even three times.

At the same time, some parents and grandparents are reporting that they are concerned that the movie is "too scary" and that their children shouldn’t be exposed to an army of marauding spiders or a basilisk who deals death with his stare. Some of these parents say that this is unnecessary, and believe that it’s wrong to scare kids in that way. "Why can’t it just be fun?" one parent asked.

Before we get into that, it’s important to restate that parents can and should make the specific choices for what their individual kids should see. Issues such as "too scary" or "too violent" or "too sophisticated" should figure in every decision that’s made regarding the entertainment and toys that specific children should have. It’s important that the decisions parents make are consistent with their values and their belief systems.

At the same time, a "good scare" isn’t necessarily a bad thing, and the new Harry Potter movie is a prime example of why. Forget that many of the children who will see this movie are familiar with the story from the books. There is something about seeing something represented on film that gives a level of reality—and potential scaring—that goes beyond the printed page. It would not be surprising for children who approach the descriptions of spiders and snakes with perfect equanimity in print to be scared by the movie.

But this isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

In fact, being scared in a movie may actually be beneficial, for it can model for children that being scared is a natural part of life and how one confronts that fear can actually make the child stronger than he or she was before.

Consider the part in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets where Harry and his pal Ron Weasly go into the woods to search for an answer to who has opened the Chamber. Ron is clearly terrified of spiders, musing at one point, "Why couldn’t they be butterflies?" something he’s not scared of at all. Nonetheless, with the support of Harry, Ron finds sufficient courage not to panic, to confront his fear and move on anyway. Harry by his presence and courage, which isn’t any too solid, helps Ron to face his fears. Now, there comes a point when the threat of being devoured by spiders becomes too much, and Ron says, "Can we panic now?" But at that point they are pretty much out of the woods—literally and figuratively—having been saved by the flying car.

Many adults have told us that this scene is far too scary for kids and should have been eliminated. However, we would suggest that it might be approached in a different way. Ron and Harry are committed to solving the mystery and saving Hagrid—not because they are braver than anyone else but because by their moral code it is the right thing to do. To achieve this, though, they must confront their fears and push on and do the best they can. It’s clear that neither boy could confront the spiders alone, so the strength of their friendship gives them the power to overcome their fear. It all ends all right, with nothing more than a few bruises—and racing heartbeats.

Why is this a good thing? Well, though few children will ever have to face down an army of ravening arachnids, there will be things in children’s lives that they dread or fear, but which they’ll have to do anyway. Experiencing this in a fictional setting—but with real emotional impact—is essentially practice. Children begin to recognize the feeling of fear and, perhaps, inspired by Harry and Ron’s bravery, may summon up their courage to do what is required of them. Quite simply, fear is a part of life, and recognizing and experiencing it—and most importantly overcoming it—is an important part of growing up. That’s where the story becomes powerful, for it gives children an experience in the abstract that prepares them for reality.

All of this works best in an environment where children are encouraged to express themselves and to feel fear within the context of safe and loving parents and caregivers. It’s important to talk to kids about what scared them at the same time encouraging them to focus not so much on the fear as on the more positive experience of overcoming it.

The wonderful thing is that children are incredibly resilient and often much smarter than their parents or
caregivers in confronting fears. Moreover seeing characters they have come to trust and identify with confronting their fears can go a lot further than simply being told not to be afraid—or being shielded altogether from that which might scare them.

Perhaps the best example of how one can face and overcome fear through movies or other media came from a six-year-old girl who was talking to me about The Wizard of Oz. "When I was young," she said earnestly, "I was really, really scared of the Wicked Witch. I used to hide from her behind our big chair. She still scares me, but everyone fights her and wins ‘cause they melt her, so she’s really not as bad as I used to think. My sister is still scared of her, but that’s because she’s a baby."

And that’s exactly the process—being afraid, seeing a way out of it and being proud that one has overcome fear. It’s an important—and essential—step in preparing children for the world and everything we can’t protect them from.