PG-13 And The Death Of Movies!!!

            I almost missed it. The very man who produced and co-wrote the film responsible for the introduction of the PG-13 film rating is executive producer on Red Tails. And this discussion on Red Tails’ shortcomings brought me back to this blog I started nearly a year ago. PG-13 is one part of what is killing the entertainment industry. It’s not piracy. Piracy is so much lower than lack of creativity, reality television and PG-13 (among other things).

            So while  a few of my friends were discussing George Lucas’ latest non-Oscar film, his connection to the debacle that his PG-13 became a little more clear and then another friend posted this:

Over the weekend Redtails was number one on my agenda however, I was able to get in this movie Joyful noise which is rated PG13. Most parents think PG13 is a safe movie for their kids to watch, not necessarily true with this movie. I decided to look up what does PG13 really mean? here's the definition: PG-13 means that the MPAA board thinks that the film is okay for kids over 13, but that parents are strongly urged to make their own decisions as to whether the movie will be appropriate for younger children. Oral or written permissions are not required by theaters for PG-13 films, as this is a “guidance only” situation. 

I thought the movie had entirely too much profanity, so much so that a parent gathered her children up and headed for the exit. I enjoyed the movie and thought it was quite funny but some scenes were inappropriate for kids under the age of 16 years old. Just my take on this movie. 

No problem! Again it's based on the parents discretion, I had my 15,12,& 13 year old cousins with me and we had a talk with them after the movie to let them know not to get any ideas from that movie. KeKe Palmer's character developed a relationship with a guy in the movie and some scenes (trying not to tell the movie) were somewhat pushing it. Some parents may think my analysis is a bit much, but I say that's whats wrong with kids today, parents being too relaxed on things the their kids are exposed to. They continued to use the word "Bitch" and even so much so where KeKe Plamer's character used it when speaking to her own mother.

Thanks for the heads up! I took the kids to see Red Tail this weekend which is also PG-13 and I thought it was pushing my limit on what I'll allow for my kids but the story and the historical significance overshadowed the damns and craps, for us at least. WARNING, they did say the N word once...that almost had me walking out but we stayed and I'm glad we did because it started a long dialogue on the ride home.
FYI the site www.dove.org is a great resource for parents to review movies before they take their kids. It lists in detail all foul language, sexual scenes/inuendos, violence, and drug stuff.

            In 1984 the MPAA ratings were:

§  Rated G: General Audiences — All Ages Admitted.

§  Rated PG: Parental Guidance Suggested — Some Material May Not be Suitable for Pre-Teenagers.

§  Rated R: Restricted — Under 17 Requires Accompanying Parent or Adult Guardian.

§  Rated X: No One Under 17 Admitted.

Notice the wording of Rated PG? Pre-Teenagers are under 13. Was there even a need for a PG-13 rating? Not for parents. But there were some complaints about Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Steven Spielberg led the lobbying that resulted in the new PG-13 rating.

Rated PG-13: Parents Are Strongly Cautioned to Give Special Guidance for Attendance of Children Under 13 – Some Material may be Inappropriate for Children Under 13.

In 1986, the PG-13 rating’s wording was changed to: Parents Strongly Cautioned – Some Material May be Inappropriate for Children Under 13

Seem familiar? So why the need?


The answer is simple. The Motion Pictures Producers and Distributors Association (MPPDA), which later became the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) realized that a vital consumer group was being ignored. The fact is teenagers go to the movies. That is the original teenaged date. Teenagers want to go see decent movies they may or may not pay attention to alone. So, just like pop-music, PG-13 was for the teenagers.
The very way in which PG-13 was introduced shows that the film industry was attempting to create a new niche specifically for the teenage market. PG-13 has been misunderstood to include teenagers.
The truth is there was too large a gap between PG and R. As long as a few parents agree to send their teenage children to the movies unsupervised, the language is loose enough that ALL theaters will sell tickets to PG-13 movies to anyone. So PG-13 is the pop category of film making.
Notice that Oscar Films are mostly rated R. The best films are usually the ones where the film makers are not concerned with box office receipts and only with telling a story. Even The King’s Speech was rated R.
Some may have noticed an onslaught of bad movies from 2009 to 2011. That would have to do with the one of the adjustments Hollywood made to make money in spite of the WGA strike of 2007-2008. Movies that would have been rated R or even just more well written were rushed and slapped with a PG-13 rating to bring more people into the theaters. Movies theaters tried to pretend they had an abundance of scripts lying around so they weren't affected by the strike. I know better. That pile of scripts existed before 2007 and there was a reason they weren't made into films then. Now because there is nothing new being created those films are good enough to be made? Bullshit. 

The bullshit is PG-13. The motion picture producers, distributors and theater owners got together and took over the movie rating system to help themselves. By their own admission, censoring films bothered them. To make everyone happy they made the ratings system “easier”. It was never intended as anything more than a guide.

“   PG-13 places larger responsibilities on parents for their children's movie-going.  The voluntary rating system is not a surrogate parent, nor should it be.  It cannot, and should not, insert itself in family decisions that only parents can, and should, make.  Its purpose is to give prescreening advance informational warnings, so that parents can form their own judgments.  PG-13 is designed to make these parental decisions easier for those films between PG and R.” – Jack Valenti

The responsibility has always been upon the parent when it comes to children. When it comes to movies, the responsibility is upon the consumers. As consumers, it’s up to us to reject crap films and embrace good movies.
PG-13 is nothing more than a marketing tool. We all know the entertainment industry is not interested in raising our children. They are interested in raising profits to their own detriment. It’s a vicious cycle. The movie industry made the PG-13 rating in order to sell more tickets. The over use of PG-13 makes films seem inauthentic and sub-par. The audience doesn’t want to be bother with these half-assed films. So the industry sees declines in sales. The answer? More PG-13 films!
What can we do? Demand quality. Don’t settle for PG-13. Let children get exposed to movies the way I did, by sneaking in. (I bought a ticket MPAA!)