Website Review: StarWars.com
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What Parents Should Know
Parents need to know this nicely designed site plays homage
to
the
stellar movies of the same name. Like the films, there's
plenty of sci-fi violence shown through video clips, games,
action figures armed with weapons for sale, and in some of the
info about the making of the art and special effects of the
movies. Wars between characters, guns, lightsabers, grenades,
and tons of battling can all be found. However, the amount of
advertising -- animated banner ads, commercials running before
video snippets and lots of Target store tie-ins -- was a little
surprising. If your kids stumble across the Star Wars online
store, hide your wallet as there are many movie-related goodies
to be purchased. There's also a link to join the official Star
Wars fan club ($14.95 a year). Like the films, the site is also
very creative: Kids can practice drawing, learn to make videos,
and figure out how characters are related.
Families can talk about how online advertising can have an impact on buying habits. Are there new products introduced on the site that your kids may have not heard about before, but may then think they suddenly need to have? What feeling and/or affect does the Target sign appearing over the red army in The Clone Wars video clip have? Will seeing the logo make a difference of where kids want to shop?
Common Sense Media Review
May the force be with you...and your kids. Fans of the films
can find character descriptions, data about the movies and its
makers, downloadable goodies, and of course, merchandise for
sale. Registering with the site (with name, email and password,
birthday, and zip code) is free and allows access to MashUp (a
video making tool), the newsletter, message boards, and
blogs.
The Star Wars films are popular for a reason and STARWARS.COM seems like a good vehicle to further the franchises' reputation. Fans will get lost in the more than 10,000 pages filled with spectacular graphics and fun things to see and do. But, like the movies, there's no escaping the force of sci-fi violence -- in the movie clips of combating foes, descriptive drawings of battleships, heroes holding weapons, and games that involve intense violence. And for a site aimed at tweens, the few games that involve players shooting enemies (one in particular has the player looking down the barrel of a gun shooting at moving, though not "live," targets) shouldn't be an option.
Violence aside, it's nice to see product-related site actually teaching kids something: The educational making of the animated Clone Wars, tutorials on how to draw comic strips or popular characters, and crew and artists discussions on how animated or other films are made and what types of people are involved in the creation of a film.
For other popular movie- and book-related sites, check out: LordoftheRings.net and Harry Potter's The-Leaky-Cauldron.org.
Common Sense Media is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing information to help parents make media and entertainment choices for their families.
