I never could understand the double standard the MPAA inflicts upon movies, penalizing sex more than violence. What ever happened to parental responsibility in the first place? How many really follow the guidlelines anyway?
Hollywood’s movie-ratings system, which critics call a secretive process that leaves filmmakers in the dark, will implement changes to make it more open and understandable to parents and filmmakers, its overseers said.
Dan Glickman, who heads the Motion Picture Association of America that manages the ratings system, plans to meet with filmmakers Monday at the Sundance Film Festival to discuss the plans.
The most substantive change for directors would be in the appeals process, allowing filmmakers to cite similar objectionable scenes in past movies when trying to overturn what they think is an overly harsh rating that restricts the ages of movie-goers.
Do you use the ratings to help you decide what to watch with your kids? Do you think the ratings provide any real assessment of a movie’s wholesomeness and suitability?
To me the sole basis for the current rating system is to push movies into demographics. G means purely for the very young kid demographic. PG means for the pre-teen market. PG13 means teens and adults. R means “a really cool movie” that teens will have to wait until it’s released on DVD to watch.
R just means “R“ealistic dialogue.
Way back when I was just barely a teenager and we had only the three channels on TV, my mother & I were watching some long-forgotten movie.
All I remember about it was that it was that at one point, a woman character peeled down to her underwear. She did not believe that that was appropriate for a 12-year-old to watch.
We never saw the rest of the movie.
Why does it so difficult today for a parent to just flip the switch?
No. I am more opposed to violence then “sex” any time.
In my humble opinion, I think the fundies are so used to their god and prophets killing on such a grand scale that Ramboes and Die Harders are par for the course. But damn it, because Eve showed some titty back in the Garden of Eden that got Mankind sentenced to live like an animal, making the showing of any titty verboten.
Sex is healthy. Violence is usually bad for your health.
For my very first post this morning and I get told to “slow down cowboy, I can only post every 15 seconds” is annoying and needs to be classified as XXX.
4,
Eve got banned for HIDING titty and kitty, not the other way around…
#6 – Go back to Catholic school! The punishment was for eating the fruit of the forbidden tree, and the punishment was shame in the form of modesty.
Back to our regularly-scheduled rantings:
Let’s face it, the rating system means absolutely nothing nowadays. Back in the early 80s, “PG” meant no “damns” or “hells.” Now, PG movies have some mild profanity (usually “bitch” or “shit”), but a lot of either suggestive behavior or mild nudity.
Not that I’m complaining. 🙂
But hey, when was the last G-rated movie? Not even Disney seems to be interested in releasing new G-rated movies.
I think the whole ratings mess should be looked at, and I wholeheartedly agree that the current rating system is too lenient on violence, and too harsh on sex.
R rated violence should be NC-17, PG-13 violence should be rated R. Meanwhile, profanity said in an offhand manner (as opposed to threatening), covered up sex, or brief non-contact nudity should be considered PG-13.
NC-17 should be a viable rating, not associated with “explicit porn” which should get another rating all together. Ultra violent films like “Kill Bill” or “Saw III” should be NC-17.
The documentary, “This Film has not been Rated” is an interesting look at the impact of the rating system on the independent film maker, as well as the attempt to identify the secret members of the rating board and the rating appeal board.
BECAUSE,
They use it as a baby sitter, and there are NOT enough movies to watch.
For the last several years, the rating has been accompanied by a brief description of the elements that caused the board to give it that rating. That is much more useful than the mere rating.
Full frontal nudity should be part of all broadcast television.
Everything else shouldn’t be filmed at all. (What else is worth watching? 🙂 )
13. “Full frontal nudity should be part of all broadcast television. Everything else shouldn’t be filmed at all.”
I appreciate what you’re saying, but some guys are more interested in the junk in the truck than what’s going on in the front.
Any decent parrent with a 1/4 of a brain does not use the rating system to determine what their kids can and can not watch. They go by their personal values, what the movie contains and their knowledge of what their kid can and can not handle and understand. Not what some phony group of people think.
Any value judgement about parents is wildly speculative and ultimately useless. Some in our culture make an industry out of acting self-righteously indignant over every little percieved slight to their own draconian value system, but do so without really having clue #1 about the people they pass judgement on…
The reality, most parents today are no better or worse than your parents were.
What is bad is the arbitrary and ridiculous use of ratings in the first place. A rating should do nothing more than inform a potential viewer what sort of content may be in the movie. Well, a teen sex comedy like The Girl Next Door (which is actually a delightfully funny movie) is rated R and Schindler’s List (which isn’t nearly as funny) is also Rated R. Is the content even remotely similar? What about being rated R do we really know about American Pie, Die Hard, Syriana, Porky’s II, or The Matrix?
Scrap the system and let people decide… They do that just fine anyway, without making use of the BS ratings.
I believe that what a parent really needs to know is what sort of potentially objectionable material is in the movie. There should be a resource in the form of an MPAA produced web site and in theater printed info that just says – This movie contains X minutes of simulated sex and X minutes of violence against women and X minutes of a remarkably wooden performance by Keanu Reeves…
My son is 18, but was there really any reason why I should have shielded him from Aliens at age 11? No… Aliens is a great action movie and he wanted to see it, and despite seeing it, he has not yet gone to another planet and blown up a nuclear fusion plant… He also saw Schindler’s List and The Godfather when he was younger and he has yet to commit genocide against the Jews or join the Mafia. I’m quite grateful to learn that my suspisions were correct. Watching R rated movies does not screw up kids for life.
16,
I wasn’t decrying the state of parenting today, I was asking why can’t we just rely on a parent’s judgement in these matters? Why do we need a group of people to tell us what we are allowed to see and when?
Interesting thoughts..
We laugh at the Covers the middle east places on the women, but LOOK at our own sociaty, when you place a Naked lady on the screen. Or a streaker passes…We are as bad as they are.
IMHO,
I would rather my kids being more interested in watching a few Ribald/racy senes then to have them worship and want GUNS that are always shown on TV/ and the movies..
#19, Pedro,
#18 There’s an age for everything and children are not supposed to be exposed to nudity until they are mature enough to handle it. Teen pregnancy anyone?
Your question shows why your first sentence is all wrong. It isn’t the nudity that is the problem. It is the ignorance. Curiosity has caused more accidents then knowledge ever has.
There have been teen pregnancies throughout history so there is nothing new there. I am unaware of nudity causing a single pregnancy though. The actual cause is the fertilization of an egg with sperm. Almost always through intercourse.
It is shown that sex education actually lowers the rate of teen and unwed pregnancies. Also, easy access to birth control and protection as well as consequence education have a far better influence then simply saying no.
So it is knowledge, not ignorance, that will keep Pedro from becoming Grampy Pedro before his time.
(Grampy Pedro, gee, sounds kinda cute)
19,
Yet strangely Spain has a lower teen pregnancy rate (most western European nations do) than America, even with prominent magazine content of an adult nature.
With the closed-door ratings system holding power over the success of most movies, the MPAA either needs to open its doors to the process or be held accountable for engaging in practices that force filmakers to censor their content. To quote :