Question of the Week
Apple has chosen, as App Store Pick of the Week, an app called Shakespeare that was put together by PlayShakespeare.com and Readdle. It’s a great app. I have it on my iPhone, and it’s really useful for looking up a reference or browsing through the plays. It doesn’t do anything fancy; it’s just an easy way to navigate the text of the Complete Works.
When it got the Apple nod, I returned to the store to read the description of the app, which I was surprised to find now includes a warning that it may not be suitable for children under 12:
Rated 12+ for the following:
Infrequent/Mild Profanity or Crude Humor
Infrequent/Mild Alcohol, Tobacco, or Drug Use or Reference
Infrequent/Mild Sexual Content or Nudity
Infrequent/Mild Horror/Fear Themes
Frequent/Intense Realistic Violence
Infrequent/Mild Mature/Suggestive Themes
Frequent/Intense Cartoon or Fantasy Violence
Parents, you’ve been warned.
I put the question to my readers: What might we be afraid our younger children will do after reading Shakespeare on their iPhones?
Poison their sisters? Usurp the crown? Dress like a boy and flee into the forest?
Let me know what you think.
June 5th, 2010 at 9:36 am
Wow. This one has been sitting around for a while!
Answer – probably none of the above.
I hate to argue with questions, but Shakespeare Teacher is asking the wrong one. The better query is – should parents have autonomy over what their children see, read and experience whether at the movies, on the Internet or even at church? The answer has to be “Yes.” If not parents – remember the children in question are 11 and under – then who?
Apple is doing families a favor by alerting them to something questionable. (Yes – it’s OK to question Shakespeare!) Most will probably take note of the author and let it pass. Is any harm done? I think not.
June 5th, 2010 at 10:38 am
Of all of the controversial questions on the site, you take issue with this one?
I’ll concede your point. I found the warning amusing, but not particularly offensive.
A lot of my work in Shakespeare has been with students aged 9-13, and a lot of my colleagues in the Shakespeare Teacher community teach students even younger than that, so the warning is particularly amusing in that context.
I suspect that this is less of a genuine attempt to warn parents as it is a legal protection, and I think the people who put the warning on probably had a bit of chuckle themselves as they decided what categories to include.
Remember that this is only the text of the plays, not performances of them. So a stage direction “They fight” would not be my idea of “Frequent/Intense Realistic Violence” and so on.