It’s rare that the movie-making curtain gets pulled back for the general public. Typically, we get the end result and that’s it. But blogger Kelly Oxford was able to do just that for her seven year old daughter, Salinger. Salinger had seen the movie “Monster House,” and it scared her so much she was experiencing recurring nightmares about it. ” … It’s scary that someone is so mean that they could come back from the dead, become something that should not be alive and then try to kill people,” she said to her mother.
As it turns out, Kelly knew the screenwriter for the movie, Dan Harmon, who also the creator of “Community” on NBC. She wrote Harmon a letter, explaining what Salinger was going through, and asked him to write to her daughter to try to explain why the movie was so scary. The response she received is one of the finest, most sensitive letters I’ve ever read from an adult to a child.
Harmon explains that yes, the movie is scary, and that wasn’t his intention. In fact, Harmon’s original story was changed drastically by the studio from what he wanted it to be. Why? “Because Gil Kenan is a hack and Steven Spielberg is a moron. But hey, I shouldn’t be dumping this stuff on you.” He goes on to explain that sometimes smart people see more things to be afraid of than other people, but because of that, they can also use their brains to make sense of what’s scary and help others to feel less afraid. “But we know one thing for sure: you are going to be very special while you’re doing it, and you’re going to remove a lot of fear from other people’s lives, because you’re smart enough to see it, which means you’re smart enough to conquer it.”
This is the way adults should speak to children. There’s no denial of Salinger’s feelings, or any sense of condescension. It’s just straight talk, person to person. Harmon made this girl feel validated and special for having the reaction she did. And now she knows a little bit more about what goes into making a movie, as well, and that sort of insight will serve her well throughout her life. Well done, Dan, well done.
