Sex, Drugs, and Violence!
So I made a post about violence/sex/drugs/other mature content in RPG materials (particular Pathfinder), and I thought I'd post it here as well. The thing that I'm most curious about is why there seems to be different levels of acceptance of these types of themes in different types of entertainment.
Anyway, violence and sex and drugs and profanity are all a part of our culture, and as a result they're also part of our entertainment. It's interesting as well how different TYPES of entertainment are held to different standards. Obviously sex and violence in videogames is a huge hot-button right now, and some stores don't stock games that are rated Mature. It's easier to get away with violence and sex in movies, with hundreds of critically-acclaimed and successful movies FILLED with content we'd never be able to get away with in Pathfinder (Platoon, The Godfather, The Terminator, There's Something About Mary, Saw, Passion of the Christ, etc.). And in books novels it's even EASIER. A lot of Stephen King's novels, if they were filmed scene for exact scene, would be beyond R-rated, yet you can buy Stephen King books at Safeway without showing your ID.
Of course... novels aren't a visual medium, but nonetheless, I wonder if it's not that as much as it is the fact that we've had novels available for a LOT longer than movies, video games, or RPGs that's made them "safer" ways to deliver mature content. Same goes for movies; they're older than video games or RPGs, and therefore "safer" to deliver mature content. Check out the list of top 100 movies at IMDB. Just in the top ten, you've got movies filled with profanity, rape, drugs, nudity, violence, torture, genocide, and worse, yet all of those top ten movies are more or less universally hailed as masterpieces.
Put another way... why is it a bare breast in "Clash of the Titans" (a PG movie) is less onerous than a bare breast in an RPG? Why is it that a depiction of a child being killed is fine for a movie like "Jaws" (also a PG movie), but it's a taboo subject in an RPG?
And what about classic books like "Lord of the Flies?" That thing's FILLED with kids getting messed up, but they teach it in High School english classes!
Anyway, violence and sex and drugs and profanity are all a part of our culture, and as a result they're also part of our entertainment. It's interesting as well how different TYPES of entertainment are held to different standards. Obviously sex and violence in videogames is a huge hot-button right now, and some stores don't stock games that are rated Mature. It's easier to get away with violence and sex in movies, with hundreds of critically-acclaimed and successful movies FILLED with content we'd never be able to get away with in Pathfinder (Platoon, The Godfather, The Terminator, There's Something About Mary, Saw, Passion of the Christ, etc.). And in books novels it's even EASIER. A lot of Stephen King's novels, if they were filmed scene for exact scene, would be beyond R-rated, yet you can buy Stephen King books at Safeway without showing your ID.
Of course... novels aren't a visual medium, but nonetheless, I wonder if it's not that as much as it is the fact that we've had novels available for a LOT longer than movies, video games, or RPGs that's made them "safer" ways to deliver mature content. Same goes for movies; they're older than video games or RPGs, and therefore "safer" to deliver mature content. Check out the list of top 100 movies at IMDB. Just in the top ten, you've got movies filled with profanity, rape, drugs, nudity, violence, torture, genocide, and worse, yet all of those top ten movies are more or less universally hailed as masterpieces.
Put another way... why is it a bare breast in "Clash of the Titans" (a PG movie) is less onerous than a bare breast in an RPG? Why is it that a depiction of a child being killed is fine for a movie like "Jaws" (also a PG movie), but it's a taboo subject in an RPG?
And what about classic books like "Lord of the Flies?" That thing's FILLED with kids getting messed up, but they teach it in High School english classes!