Justin Bieber: Never Say Never

This topic contains:

• overall comments and recommendations
• details about Justin Bieber: Never Say Never's classification and consumer advice lines
• a review of Justin Bieber: Never Say Never completed by The Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 12 April 2011.

Overall comments and recommendations

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Australian Government Classification Board and the associated consumer advice lines.

ACCM review

This review of the movie Justin Bieber: Never Say Never contains the following information:

• a synopsis of the story
• themes
• use of violence
• material that may scare children
• product placement
• sexual references
• nudity and sexual activity
• use of substances
• coarse language
• the movie's message

A synopsis of the story

This documentary follows 16-year-old Justin Bieber's recent concert tour and final performance at New York's Madison Square Garden. The film also traces his rise as a global pop-music phenomenon, showing how YouTube and social networks brought him to the attention of record producers and radio stations throughout North America. During the film, we meet the people who have run the Justin Bieber marketing machine, including his manager, his voice coach, his head of security, and his mother and grandparents. We also see his devoted fans - numerous tween and teenage girls

Themes

Children and adolescents may react adversely at different ages to themes of crime, suicide, drug and alcohol dependence, death, serious illness, family breakdown, death or separation from a parent, animal distress or cruelty to animals, children as victims, natural disasters and racism. Occasionally reviews may also signal themes that some parents may simply wish to know about.

Pop music celebrity

Use of violence

Research shows that children are at risk of learning that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution when violence is glamourised, performed by an attractive hero, successful, has few real life consequences, is set in a comic context and / or is mostly perpetrated by male characters with female victims, or by one race against another.

Repeated exposure to violent content can reinforce the message that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution. Repeated exposure also increases the risks that children will become desensitised to the use of violence in real life or develop an exaggerated view about the prevalence and likelihood of violence in their own world.

There is some violence in this movie including:

• rough-house play between Justin and members of his crew
• security guards restrain fans

Material that may scare children

Under five

Children under five are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children under the age of five, including the following:

•  crowds of fans mob Justin Bieber

Aged five to eight

Children aged five to eight will also be frightened by scary visual images and will also be disturbed by depictions of the death of a parent, a child abandoned or separated from parents, children or animals being hurt or threatened and / or natural disasters.

Nothing of concern

Aged eight to thirteen

Children aged eight to thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic threats and dangers, violence or threat of violence and / or stories in which children are hurt or threatened.

Nothing of concern

Over the age of thirteen

Children over the age of thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic physical harm or threats, molestation or sexual assault and / or threats from aliens or the occult.

Nothing of concern

Product placement

There is some product placement including:

• McDonalds

Sexual references

There are some sexual references in this movie, including:

• Fans talk about their love for Justin, their desire to marry him and how “hot” he is

Nudity and sexual activity

There is some brief clothing in this movie, including:

• Miley Cyrus wears a tight and revealing dress
• Some of the fans wear brief and tight clothing

Use of substances

None of concern

Coarse language

Mild language includes

• “Oh God”, “blew me off”, “knuckleheads”, “gross monkey”

The movie's message

Justin Bieber: Never Say Never is a documentary that is sure to appeal to young girls and teenage fans, but will probably lack interest for young children. It is full of the star’s musical hits that display his talents to the full.

The main messages from this movie are to follow your dreams and never give up.

Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include:

• determination
• importance of family
• modesty
• hard work
  

Parents may also wish to discuss the implications of being a pop star and the possible effects of stardom on a young person.