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"Coming soon to theaters near you… Rated R" Last Wednesday, WGN ran a story titled "Breaking the R rule," it explained how many teens and pre-teens were getting easy access to movies with unsuitable content. "The R rule," clearly states that no child under 17 can watch such movies, unless they are accompanied by an adult. Yet, many children are attracted to it as bees are attracted to nectar. The rating, R, warns parents that the content of the movie is unsuitable for their children. However, the rating is now seen everywhere, and the rating G, has apparently disappeared. Where are those old cartoon films that once were playing everywhere? Those pleasant movies with simple, proper, sane plots? Currently, even animated movies are now trying to exploit the teen market too, "Small Soldiers" is a perfect example, an animated movie that has been rated PG-13. Writers are now hooked to writing sick movies; movies that are always rated R. Naming ten movies that are not rated R is now a daunting challenge. The Movie Industry is just trying to provide guidelines for parents to follow, but the recent outburst of R movies certainly suggests that they are enforcing a rating system that they are overdoing the entire process of rating movies. They know that Hollywood writers are attracted to writing dirty plots, and they know that rating the movie R will not stop children under 17 from viewing it. In addition, they certainly know that every child under 17 has watched at least one R movie, yet, they continue to rate almost every movie R. Every child today is exposed, directly or indirectly, to crime. They are much more aware of what is right and what is wrong. The recent school shootings that have occurred have given everybody a much better idea of reality, and fiction. They know now what to believe and what not to believe. If the Movie Industry remains as tough as it is now on their ratings, soon the news will be rated TV-14. The kids that watch the news know all about murders. Although it is true the news people do not show disgusting scenes, they do give enough information about the murder to paint a vivid picture, far more intense than can be shown on screen. The Movie Industry should ease-up a little on movie ratings; instead, they are doing just the contrary. The tougher they are on ratings, the more kids want to watch the movie, and they do manage to do so, if not in the theaters, on videocassettes. One of the things that surprises me is that with the toughness enforced in the rating television shows and movies, there is no rating system for the print media. Many journalists write unfit columns, containing abusive language, and material unfit for printing. Their columns contain material that contaminates children’s mind. The materials they write is such that children should not even know about. Incidents such as the Capitol shooting, are topics that children younger than 10 years should not be allowed to read. Topics such as the shooting gives them a message that suggests breaching security is a cakewalk, and can be done in the most important of places. In addition to serious isolated incidents, several of the stories are about everyday violence that involves fatalities. Our priorities now should be toward establishing a rating system for print media, not making R the standard movie rating. The more movies that are rated R the more kids want to see them. As I mentioned in my previous article, the more you restrict children the more curious they become. So shutting out children from movie theaters only increases their desire to sneak in.
Date posted : July 26, 1998. What do you think about this? |