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How The PG-13 Rating Ruined Movies
Apr. 6th, 2012 07:57 amWe all know how, after Indiana Jones And The Temple of Doom shocked family audiences by having 100% more ripped-out hearts than the previous movie, the MPAA created the PG-13 rating to further delineate between what was appropriate for kids and what wasn't. (To those who don't know, after Indiana Jones And The Temple of Doom shocked family audiences by having 100% more ripped-out hearts than the previous movie, the MPAA created the PG-13 rating to further delineate between what was appropriate for kids and what wasn't.)
The weird thing is, this has had the exact opposite effect. Instead of separating inappropriate from appropriate, we've simply made everything appropriate for kids. Like in The Dark Knight, where a man has half his face burned off and walks around like that for half the movie.
"Don't worry, parents, I didn't say 'fuck' as the flames consumed my flesh on camera."
Or Revenge of the Sith, where a man has all his limbs cut off and is burned alive in retaliation for murdering children and assaulting his wife.
"Don't worry, parents, I didn't say 'fuck'... err, right now. I'm not saying it."
Or X-Men, where pretty much the only bit of continuity between four movies is that a naked blue woman walks around. Except in Wolverine, where Hugh Jackman shows off his... shit, what's a word for buttocks that is also a reference to a Canadian samurai wolfperson with a mutant healing factor?
From the caption: "There is something very oddly arousing about Rebecca Romijn as Mystique. I have no idea what it is but she’s just as hot." Really? You really have no idea what it is?
Let's think about this. Let's spend five seconds on it. How many ratings do you really need? I'd say three. "Okay for kids," "maybe okay for kids," and "not okay for kids." That's it. Everything else is bullshit. The fact that we have a government agency devoted to bullshit is... well, pretty par for course, really.
The thing is, these days any parent who's really concerned about what their kids are exposed to can easily find information on the web devoted to exactly what's in a movie. So having an agency presented to making that judgment for them is like having a government task force devoted to curbing the rampant phone booth stuffing epidemic.
The weird thing is, this has had the exact opposite effect. Instead of separating inappropriate from appropriate, we've simply made everything appropriate for kids. Like in The Dark Knight, where a man has half his face burned off and walks around like that for half the movie.
"Don't worry, parents, I didn't say 'fuck' as the flames consumed my flesh on camera."
Or Revenge of the Sith, where a man has all his limbs cut off and is burned alive in retaliation for murdering children and assaulting his wife.
"Don't worry, parents, I didn't say 'fuck'... err, right now. I'm not saying it."
Or X-Men, where pretty much the only bit of continuity between four movies is that a naked blue woman walks around. Except in Wolverine, where Hugh Jackman shows off his... shit, what's a word for buttocks that is also a reference to a Canadian samurai wolfperson with a mutant healing factor?
From the caption: "There is something very oddly arousing about Rebecca Romijn as Mystique. I have no idea what it is but she’s just as hot." Really? You really have no idea what it is?
Let's think about this. Let's spend five seconds on it. How many ratings do you really need? I'd say three. "Okay for kids," "maybe okay for kids," and "not okay for kids." That's it. Everything else is bullshit. The fact that we have a government agency devoted to bullshit is... well, pretty par for course, really.
The thing is, these days any parent who's really concerned about what their kids are exposed to can easily find information on the web devoted to exactly what's in a movie. So having an agency presented to making that judgment for them is like having a government task force devoted to curbing the rampant phone booth stuffing epidemic.
