Some of the most fashionable costumes for this Halloween party are not welcome in many elementary schools in Quebec. Announced to parents late (Thursday in some cases), the decision to ban the green and pink costumes from the popular series Squid Game react.
Wednesday, The Journal of Quebec reported that schools prohibited children from wearing the outfits of Squid Game (The squid game), a South Korean 18+ rated series available on Netflix, where people are executed in bloodthirsty children’s games. In New York, some schools have also decided to ban these costumes, several American media reported.
It is not the very nature of the disguise that shocks, but rather what it evokes. In an article published earlier this month in Press, teachers said they were taken aback by the phenomenon as, in schoolyards, children pretended to shoot themselves or played a “deadly” version of 1, 2, 3, sun.
Read the article “The squid game comes to the schoolyard”
Many elementary school principals, in Montreal as in Laval, have thus decided to ban these costumes, noted Press by making calls to parents on social networks. We quickly identified about fifteen in the territory of several school service centers (CSS) in the Montreal region.
This would be a decision specific to each establishment. According to our sources, the Montreal school service center did not give instructions to this effect to the principals or to the parents. The Laval school service center has not done so either, although it has recently conveyed a call for vigilance to parents regarding the violence conveyed in the popular series.
“It is up to each school to send parents the applicable instructions each year concerning the Halloween festivities, in particular with regard to the costumes allowed,” explains Annie Goyette, spokesperson for CSS de Laval. It is customary that costumes with connotations of violence are prohibited at school. In 2016 in particular, schools had asked parents to avoid clown costumes while evil clowns, sometimes armed, having fun scaring or even attacking people, made the headlines.
PHOTO MOHD RASFAN, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE ARCHIVES
Costume lovers (cosplay) dressed as characters from the Netflix series Squid Game in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Parents from Saint-Jean-de-Brébeuf school, in the Rosemont district, learned Thursday morning that the costumes from the series Squid Game would be prohibited. In an email obtained by Press, the director of the primary school agreed that the directive came “a little late”.
“Given that this content is intended for adults and that the violence presented in this series is harmful to children in the opinion of many health and education specialists, I inform you that any costume or object that refers to this series is strictly prohibited, he wrote. This series (unfortunately) popular with young people in no way conveys the values of our school. ”
Other schools do not specify the name of the series in their Halloween guidelines, but do mention it, such as the Face school in Montreal: “A costume that recalls a violent television series or film is considered a unacceptable choice. The Marguerite-Bourgeoys school service center and the Pointe-de-l’Île school service center did not respond to our emails on Thursday.
Minister Roberge disagrees
Questioned on this subject, the Minister of Education, Jean-François Roberge, said he disagreed with the ban on costumes from Squid Game. In a written statement sent to Press, he says that “children have always dressed up as horror movie characters or other scary characters.”
“This is nothing new. I don’t think we should stop kids from dressing up as they wish for Halloween. We trust the judgment of parents and school teams, ”he says.
Read “Minister Roberge in favor of the costumes of Squid Game ”
However, on social networks, many parents said they were in favor of the decision of their school administration to ban disguise.
Philippe Jacques, whose 7-year-old son attends Saint-Jean-de-Brébeuf school, cannot get over the position of the minister, who, during a press scrum on Thursday, associated the ban on dress up as a character Squid Game to the “somewhat extreme banishment” culture.
According to Philippe Jacques, who works in the field of communications, the newly famous red jumpsuit in the series Squid Game simply has no place in schools.
“It’s so present in the news that I find it correct to ban it, just to stop promoting it,” he said.
I listened to this series out of curiosity. It’s very well done, it’s catchy, but it’s incredibly violent. The very concept is incredibly violent. Children do not have the maturity to sort things out.
Philippe Jacques
Her son hears a lot about it at school. He comes home with precise details about the series so much the comrades talk about it. “What society do we live in if we have to send an email to remind people that the values conveyed in this series are not consistent with the school? He asks himself.
Question of consistency
According to Audrey Caron, psychoeducator in private practice, it was the right decision to make. “When young people dress up, they tend to reproduce the gestures or behaviors of their character. This is what we are trying to avoid, ”she explains. Allowing these costumes at school could also help fuel the phenomenon.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY AUDREY CARON
Children who are lucky not to know Squid Game and who see young people arriving with this costume, they will ask questions.
Audrey Caron, psychoeducator in private practice
But shouldn’t an exception be made for Halloween, the feast of transgression and dread? “There is an issue of great violence in this series,” she recalls. Our interventions will be more effective if they are coherent. Telling the kids that it’s not appropriate for their age, but allowing them to wear these costumes, that wouldn’t make sense. ”
In his opinion, it is the degree of violence that should determine where the line is drawn. Batman, Superman and other superheroes of this world, fond of battle, are also welcome (and very many) in schools and daycares. “There is a difference between playing fight and imitating superheroes, and playing kill yourself,” says M.me Because we. Playing fight is part of a child’s learning. Squid Game, this is a level of violence to which we do not want to expose children. ”
With the collaboration of Hugo Pilon-Larose, Press