Mrs Carey's Concert

This topic contains:

• overall comments and recommendations
• details about Mrs Carey's Concert's classification and consumer advice lines
• a review of Mrs Carey's Concert completed by The Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 2 May 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 Mrs Carey's Concert 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

Mrs Carey’s Concert is a documentary telling the story of how Mrs Carey, a music director at a Sydney girls school, and her staff prepare their students for a concert at the Sydney Opera House.

Mrs Carey sets dauntingly high standards for performance and commitment. The pressure is on students to push themselves to their capacity, but not all students share her passion for music and the event. Numerous students rebel and play up at rehearsals, proving a challenge to the teaching team. However for some students the process turns out to be a life changing event.

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.

Dealing with the past death of a family member; truancy; stress and anxiety

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:

• A teacher slaps a student, but good-naturedly rather than in anger

Material that may scare children

Under eight

Children under eight are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations, the death of a parent or child abandoned or separated from parents, children or animals being hurt or threatened and / or natural disasters.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes and scary visual images, there are some scenes in this movie that could worry children aged under eight, including the following:

• students getting into trouble and being told off by teachers
• students crying due to the pressure to perform well

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.

Younger children in this age group may also be disturbed by scenes of students in trouble and under pressure.

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.

Children in this age group are unlikely to be disturbed by anything in this film

Product placement

None of concern

Sexual references

There are some sexual references in this movie, including:

• reference to girls “hanging out” with boys and going away with them for the weekend

Nudity and sexual activity

None of concern

Use of substances

There is some reference to substance use in this movie, including:

• Violin student Emily talks to a teacher about being accused by other students of selling drugs.
• One of the teachers jokes that she should give a scotch to a student to help her calm down.

Coarse language

There is some coarse language in this movie, including:

• The student Iris calls herself a bitch because she has behaved so badly to the teachers.
• Emily says ‘shit’ when her dress zipper gets stuck.
  

The movie's message

Mrs Carey’s Concert is a documentary about school students who experience personal growth through pursuing their dreams with the support of their teachers. It is heartfelt portrayal of a journey for the teachers and students alike.
The main message of the movie is if you put in enough effort and fully commit to your goals, you can achieve things you may not have thought possible.

Values that parents may wish to encourage include:

• commitment and hard work
• supporting friends in times of need
• respecting for teachers

Parents may also wish to discuss

• school truancy
• lying to parents and teachers
• disrupting a class and preventing others from learning
• at-risk behaviour