Musings on a Sick Society
Okay, so I wanted everyone's thoughts on this.
Last night, Russ and I were watching the Supernatural episode "Croatoan," right? And there's this one scene where Dean has found an abandoned car and there's blood all in it. The first shot we have of the car is that of a baby seat covered in blood. There's no bodies in this scene...only blood.
But that doesn't mean we still weren't disturbed as hell (which, obviously, was the point of the scene).
Which got us to pause the episode and start talking.
The MPAA usually decides on ratings by content, correct? You all know the parameters, so I won't go into that. Furthermore, you can always check IMDB's Parents Guide for a specific movie and see the FULL extent of why the movie was rated such. Unfortunately, these are not always updated as soon as the movie is in theaters.
BUT recently the MPAA added "smoking" as a reason for a higher rating. (I STILL see movies that have smoking in them without this reason listed, but whatever.) So, here's our argument:
You can add smoking to a rating. It makes the reasoning more specific. Obviously, parents who are taking their kids to a PG-13 or R-rated movie (don't get me started there) who are against smoking would want to know if smoking was involved in the movie. But what about the parents of young kids?
Most of you know that anything in a movie or TV show that shows or alludes to a child or baby being hurt or endangered in some way just wrecks me and my spirit. It's practically psychologically damaging to me. "Gone Baby Gone" was a NIGHTMARE for us to watch. But NOWHERE in the rating reasons did it say "child endangerment" or "child murder" or "references to child molestation." It simply says "Rated R for violence, drug content and pervasive language."
*STARE*
It's a long shot it ever WOULD be added to the ratings, but hell, if we can add SMOKING to the rating--something SO specific--what's wrong with anything related to children being hurt?
Thoughts?
Last night, Russ and I were watching the Supernatural episode "Croatoan," right? And there's this one scene where Dean has found an abandoned car and there's blood all in it. The first shot we have of the car is that of a baby seat covered in blood. There's no bodies in this scene...only blood.
But that doesn't mean we still weren't disturbed as hell (which, obviously, was the point of the scene).
Which got us to pause the episode and start talking.
The MPAA usually decides on ratings by content, correct? You all know the parameters, so I won't go into that. Furthermore, you can always check IMDB's Parents Guide for a specific movie and see the FULL extent of why the movie was rated such. Unfortunately, these are not always updated as soon as the movie is in theaters.
BUT recently the MPAA added "smoking" as a reason for a higher rating. (I STILL see movies that have smoking in them without this reason listed, but whatever.) So, here's our argument:
You can add smoking to a rating. It makes the reasoning more specific. Obviously, parents who are taking their kids to a PG-13 or R-rated movie (don't get me started there) who are against smoking would want to know if smoking was involved in the movie. But what about the parents of young kids?
Most of you know that anything in a movie or TV show that shows or alludes to a child or baby being hurt or endangered in some way just wrecks me and my spirit. It's practically psychologically damaging to me. "Gone Baby Gone" was a NIGHTMARE for us to watch. But NOWHERE in the rating reasons did it say "child endangerment" or "child murder" or "references to child molestation." It simply says "Rated R for violence, drug content and pervasive language."
*STARE*
It's a long shot it ever WOULD be added to the ratings, but hell, if we can add SMOKING to the rating--something SO specific--what's wrong with anything related to children being hurt?
Thoughts?