Information for Parents

Sharp Objects

Sharp Objects

Common Sense Media Age 16

Parents Need To Know

Positive Messages
Themes include confronting one's past and moving forward confidently into the future, but images of self-harm and death make these messages too complex and mature for young teens to absorb.
Positive Role Models & Representations
Violence
Show's plot revolves around pair of murdered young girls. Their deaths are described briefly and we watch as the dead body of one is discovered, unnaturally pale and limp and streaked with blood. A woman self-harms by compulsively plucking out her eyelashes; another scratches, cuts herself with sharp things. A young girl's sudden death is seen in flashbacks, and her body is seen in a casket with grieving relatives at funeral.
Sex
Nude body parts and images of couples having sex are clearly visible in pages ripped from hard-core pornographic magazines taped up on a building's walls. A woman masturbates in a bed and bathtub; we see her arm moving rhythmically and hear orgasmic moans.
Language
Cursing and language includes "f---ing," "s--t," "hell," "damn," "goddamn," "a--hole."
Consumerism
Not applicable
Education Value
Ease of Play
Privacy
Alcohol plays an important role. A woman has a drinking problem, drinks straight liquor. We see her drinking frequently, and see many empties in her car's trunk and lined up on edge of bathtub. She drinks before driving, hiding liquor in a water bottle and drinking at a bar before passing out at the wheel in a parking lot. Other characters drink cocktails, appear sloppy. A main character smokes cigarettes, as do other characters; three teen girls pass something they're smoking around; unclear if it's tobacco or marijuana. Teens steal a bottle of vodka from a convenience store.
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