Showing Your Primary Colors

Our Buttery Bits of Wisdom about this film:

• Why It's Worth It: We don't recommend this film for everyone -- it has mature themes, and is a choice for kids over 11. But, we think it offers many discussion points for families about civil rights, morality and the progress of history. This film is over two hours long.
  
• Red Flags: There are many tough scenes for kids, notably a lynching. The young debaters come across a lynching while driving in their car and viewers will see a burning cross and a burning figure. It's shot to provide a powerful impact, but not gruesome or gratuitously shocking. Our heroes flee in their car, but the situation haunts them and plays a crucial role in the story's final debate scene. Other tough situations are that the oldest on the team (name) has a tendency to drink and pick up women, a trait with which he struggles and rejects by story's end. A father, played by Forrest Whitaker, strikes his son across the face but the two reconcile poignantly later in the story.
  
• Further Viewing: We have written up two films about politics: Kids over 8 will enjoy the intrigue of All the President's Men or can laugh along while learning about the political process in Mr Smith Goes to Washington. Mr Smith has two wonderful scenes for families. In one, Jean Arthur tries to explain how a bill is passed to a bewildered Jimmy Stewart and another is the wonderful filibuster scene that is perfect for explaining the political process to kids just starting to learn about American History. Younger Kids will love the great picture books we've selected at our Amazon Store.
  

Our Tips for talking with your kids about this film: 

• History Savvy: Women didn't get the vote until 1920 with the 19th Ammendment and in many states, African Americans waited until as late as 1960s for full suffrage rights, even though all men were guaranteed suffrage rights after the Civil War in 1850. For these reasons, having a woman and an African American candidate in the 2008 race is truly historic.
• Screenwriting Savvy: : In real life, the Wiley debate team defeated USC, not Harvard. Ask they kids why they think the filmmakers chose Harvard, instead?

Primary Education: Our tips for getting your kids involved:

• Great kid-friendly overview for all ages: Click here for Linda Ellerby's Nickolodeon show that explains primaries, caucuses, the electoral college system and then gives a brief overview of each of the candidates. The show uses a kid perspective, interviews kids about the candidates they like and runs about 20 minutes. After she posted her show last month, she had kids vote... McCain and Obama were the winners in the first Nick Kids' Primary.
• Pre-School and Early Elementary:
  
• What does "vote" mean? Making a choice. In our country, citizens get to vote for who is going to be President. [Kids of any age are allowed in the voting booth with you - and the older they get, the more they'll love punching the cards, dropping the ballot in the box and wearing an "I Voted" sticker around all day.]
  
• How old do I have to be to vote? Eighteen (it used to be 21 until the 26th Amendment was passed in 1971). In most states, to vote in a primary election, you have to be a registered member of either the Democratic or Republican party. Independents are people who don't choose a party. [This is a great time to tell your child which, if any, party you support and choose one or two issues to explain why].
• Elementary:
• Why do you have to be in a party to vote in a primary? The purpose of a primary election is to narrow all the candidates who want to be President down. In California, there will be candidates on the Democratic ticket and candidates on the Republican tickets. After Super Tuesday, Californians will let those parties know which one of those candidates from each party they think should be President. Then, in November, one candidate from each party runs and Americans vote for who they want to win. [Find an analogy to you child's life: how would they choose a captain for their basketball team? A child who brings the best snacks, the one with the best free throw average, or the one who gets along best with teammates].
• What happens between now and the general election? Each party holds a convention during the summer and chooses the one candidate that they'll support in November. [Kids can track the delegates as they add up on this cool website.]
  
• Late Elementary and Middle School:
• What's the difference between a primary and a caucus? Both are designed to narrow the field of candidates. Some states have one, and some the other. But both produce delegates to the parties' national convention. [Click here for a literal definition; Click here for a detailed article.]
  
• What is the Electoral College system? We have a system called the Electoral College, and the first candidate to reach 270 electoral votes becomes President. On election day, we really vote for people called electors, who then vote for the President. The electors are chosen from the Primaries. [If your kids can handle that, click here to see and test their political savvy at deciphering these political cartoons.]

• Great kid-friendly overview: Click here for Linda Ellerby's Nickolodeon show that explains primaries, caucuses, the electoral college system and then gives a brief overview of each of the candidates. The show uses a kid perspective, interviews kids about the candidates they like and runs about 20 minutes. After she posted her show last month, she had kids vote... McCain and Obama were the winners in the first Nick Kids' Primary.
• Why is Super Tuesday important? More than 20 states go to the polls on Super Tuesday, but news pundits nationwide can not agree whether these states alone can determine who the candidate will be from each party. Here's why: On Super Tuesday, the Democrats will choose over 1,600 delegates from 22 states, but 2.025 are needed for the nomination. On the Republican ticket, close to 1000 delegates are at stake from 21 states, yet it will take 1,191 to secure a nomination. California has 370 delegates. Click here for one great analysis about why any Democrat will still be shy of the delegates needed, but why a Republican candidate could emerge.
• We LOVE this Glassbooth Quiz: We had fun taking the Glassbooth quiz to see which candidates align with the issues dear to our hearts. This is also a great tool for kids and teens to think about their views on hot button issues. Their site has great information to compare candidates.