Parental Guidance?
Darren Lang
Darren Lang
Remember that movie from your childhood that you really wanted to watch, but you just were not allowed. All of us at one point in time have had something like this happen with some said movie and most likely this said movie was rated R.
In case you were not familiar, an R rating means that the movie is restricted to anyone under the age of 17 and requires an accompanying parent or adult guardian to watch the movie with them. This system of ratings, including G, PG, PG-13, R, and NC-17, was created by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and has been in effect ever since 1968.
A rating system such as this can be useful, keeping those underage out of movie that they may not be mature enough for. There is however some controversy in the way they go about giving these ratings, with some films not necessarily deserving of an R. One such film that has stirred up some controversy was the 2011 documentary Bully. This film was about peer-to-peer bullying in schools across America, with the majority of the footage being of real life students. This film got rave reviews, had a positive message, and spread awareness about the damaging effects of bullying. It was a film that could do a lot of good if it were to be shown in high schools. Unfortunately it was rated R because of the language used by students.
Is this fair? Anyone in high school, at least at some point in time, has heard profanity being used by another peer, whether it be in the halls, during lunch, or even in class. It’s just something to be expected when you put hundreds of teens in and around the same building at the same time. The MPAA however deems these uses of profanity something nobody under the age of 17 can not endure. A movie gets an R rating if it has more than 3 uses of the F-word or 1 use of it as a verb. “That’s actually really ridiculous. You can literally come outside and hear people say the F-word, the S-word, the D-word, any curse words.” states student, Kyndyl Cathy when hearing about this rule.
Although many reading this may think of this as an overreaction (and some not), the rating system used to be a lot more unbalanced. Before 1984 there was no PG-13, creating a large gap between films rated PG and R. This meant that PG rated movies marketed for kids were quite inappropriate and the ones rated R were even more so. This however changed in 1984 after the release of Steven Spielberg’s Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. This movie was quite disturbing, with people getting their hearts pulled out of their body, slavery, mutilated corpses, and people getting eaten alive. Despite the content level of the film it is was not deemed graphic enough for and R rating. Also, even if it were to receive an R rating, it would have ruined the sales of this film which was meant for younger audience. It was after this film was released (giving nightmares to kids all around the world), that Steven Spielberg met up with the MPAA and created the now used PG-13 rating, for movies that fit in between both categories.
A new adjustment like this is what can balance out this rating system even more. Already, in Canada they use a 15-A rating for those 15 and older for many of the movies that we give an R. “Yes, definitely. There should be a change. I can’t go see a horror movie that really isn’t that graphic without bringing my parents.” states Kyndyl Cathey. If we were to add in an adjustment between the two extremes (PG-13 and R) we would be much more informed on the actual content levels of the film and would not have to waste our parents time just to watch a movie with moderate profanity. After all, do us teens really need such parental guidance?
In case you were not familiar, an R rating means that the movie is restricted to anyone under the age of 17 and requires an accompanying parent or adult guardian to watch the movie with them. This system of ratings, including G, PG, PG-13, R, and NC-17, was created by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and has been in effect ever since 1968.
A rating system such as this can be useful, keeping those underage out of movie that they may not be mature enough for. There is however some controversy in the way they go about giving these ratings, with some films not necessarily deserving of an R. One such film that has stirred up some controversy was the 2011 documentary Bully. This film was about peer-to-peer bullying in schools across America, with the majority of the footage being of real life students. This film got rave reviews, had a positive message, and spread awareness about the damaging effects of bullying. It was a film that could do a lot of good if it were to be shown in high schools. Unfortunately it was rated R because of the language used by students.
Is this fair? Anyone in high school, at least at some point in time, has heard profanity being used by another peer, whether it be in the halls, during lunch, or even in class. It’s just something to be expected when you put hundreds of teens in and around the same building at the same time. The MPAA however deems these uses of profanity something nobody under the age of 17 can not endure. A movie gets an R rating if it has more than 3 uses of the F-word or 1 use of it as a verb. “That’s actually really ridiculous. You can literally come outside and hear people say the F-word, the S-word, the D-word, any curse words.” states student, Kyndyl Cathy when hearing about this rule.
Although many reading this may think of this as an overreaction (and some not), the rating system used to be a lot more unbalanced. Before 1984 there was no PG-13, creating a large gap between films rated PG and R. This meant that PG rated movies marketed for kids were quite inappropriate and the ones rated R were even more so. This however changed in 1984 after the release of Steven Spielberg’s Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. This movie was quite disturbing, with people getting their hearts pulled out of their body, slavery, mutilated corpses, and people getting eaten alive. Despite the content level of the film it is was not deemed graphic enough for and R rating. Also, even if it were to receive an R rating, it would have ruined the sales of this film which was meant for younger audience. It was after this film was released (giving nightmares to kids all around the world), that Steven Spielberg met up with the MPAA and created the now used PG-13 rating, for movies that fit in between both categories.
A new adjustment like this is what can balance out this rating system even more. Already, in Canada they use a 15-A rating for those 15 and older for many of the movies that we give an R. “Yes, definitely. There should be a change. I can’t go see a horror movie that really isn’t that graphic without bringing my parents.” states Kyndyl Cathey. If we were to add in an adjustment between the two extremes (PG-13 and R) we would be much more informed on the actual content levels of the film and would not have to waste our parents time just to watch a movie with moderate profanity. After all, do us teens really need such parental guidance?