|
Entertainment Topics
Movie Night With Your Teens
PG-13 Ratings
PG-13 films should be characterized by content that falls squarely between PG
and R. Today, far too many PG-13 titles might better be described as "almost
an R." This is happening for two reasons.
-
A relativistic slide. When envelope-pushing films like Scary Movie
and South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut barely escape the adults-only
NC-17 and garner an R, it makes everything else seem tamer by comparison.
What might have been a "low-end R" in the mid-90s has
become a "high-end PG-13" today.
-
Money. Box-office receipts consistently show that PG-13 movies are more
profitable than R-rated films. This has been particularly the case since
2001 when the Federal Trade Commission cracked down on the marketing of
R-rated fare to moviegoers between the ages of 12 and 16.
Filmmakers with a prospective R on their hands will trim just enough objectionable
content to land in the financially fertile PG-13 category. Theres a technical
term for this finagling: ratings creep. Hollywood has learned to play
the game. And the 12-person ratings board at the Motion Picture Association
of America (MPAA) is a willing accomplice.
Do you have thoughts, questions, advice on this topic? Post your stories and comments in the forum for other parents to respond to. Enter the forum now.
|
 |
|
