Are Movie Ratings Still Relevant?

2114

Movie Ratings Need To Be Reviewed

By Isabella Evavold

PG13The PG-13 rating is a useful intermediary between R and PG ratings, but its undefined boundaries are undermining its original purpose. The rating, according to motionpictureassociationofamerica.org, is meant to caution parents that the material in a movie may not be suitable for children younger than 13.

All PG-13 movies have various amounts of adult content such as violence, profanity and nudity. This content is restricted in most PG-13 movies, but when questionable scenes are present, the restriction system breaks down.

Defined boundaries would ensure movies get the correct rating for the content they include. When there is extreme violence, movies ensure a PG-13 rating by eliminating gore. The action, like shooting someone, is still present, but the effects of that action are not shown.

This somehow justifies a PG-13 rating when the action should be considered rated R. The lack of a realistic consequence makes children misunderstand how violence affects others physically or emotionally. The actions should be restricted, rather than their consequences, to avoid this misunderstanding.

According to science.vt.edu and a study organized by James B. Weaver III and Dolf Zillmann, violence in movies causes some children to react to certain situations in a more aggressive manner.

Limiting violent actions in PG-13 movies would decrease such responses.

Profanity is dealt with much too seriously, compared to other adult content. Most PG-13 films are limited to only one F word. While there are exceptions to this rule, it still seems impractical to change a rating of a film because of using a word twice. Instead, the main points that decide the rating of a film should be focused on more serious themes like violence, sex and drug use.

R and PG-13 ratings do use helpful description boxes that describe what content is included in the film. This method should be used on all movies with ratings above PG-13, in order to explain what content may be inappropriate for children and why a movie received its rating.

While relaxing the restrictions on profanity, the PG-13 rating should be focused on violence, sex and drug use, since there are more serious themes that require maturity and are concerning to parents. Establishing these new, distinct boundaries would improve the Motion Picture Association of America PG-13 rating by making it realistic and trustworthy.

Isabella Evavold is a student at Superior High School and wrote this column for “The Spartan Spin”. Explore Superior feels privileged to reprint her article here.




Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

More in Arts & Entertainment, Lifestyle, SDS, Superior High School, Youth & Schools
(From left) Senior Kjersten Lisak, freshmen Annika Bergstrom and Kate Lisak and seniors Bailley Biwer and Julie Snyder show off their red hair in the second floor hallway on April 17. According to lifescience.com, only .05% of people are born with naturally red hair. Photo by Brandon Moe | Explore Superior
Getting To The Root of Being Red

Urban Legends Do Not Define Red Heads By Julie Snyder After being born with fiery red hair, myths and urban...

Caribou Coffee Coming to Superior through UWS

By Felicity Bosk Caribou Coffee is about to open its first location in Superior, located in UW-Superior's Yellow Jacket Union. It...

Close