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This topic comprises 6 pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6
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Author
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Topic: Why is there such a stupid hub-bub over "Bully?"
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Martin McCaffery
Film God
Posts: 2481
From: Montgomery, AL
Registered: Jun 99
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posted 03-13-2012 09:50 AM
Got bored and looked up the rules. Here's the PG 13 rules:
http://www.filmratings.com/filmRatings_Cara/downloads/pdf/ratings/cara_rating_rules.pdf
quote:
3) PG-13 - Parents Strongly Cautioned. Some Material May Be Inappropriate For Children Under 13.
A PG-13 rating is a sterner warning by the Rating Board to parents to determine whether their children under age 13 should view the motion picture, as some material might not be suited for them. A PG-13 motion picture may go beyond the PG rating in theme, violence, nudity, sensuality, language, adult activities or other elements, but does not reach the restricted R category. The theme of the motion picture by itself will not result in a rating greater than PG-13, although depictions of activities related to a mature theme may result in a restricted rating for the motion picture. Any drug use will initially require at least a PG-13 rating. More than brief nudity will require at least a PG-13 rating, but such nudity in a PG-13 rated motion picture generally will not be sexually oriented. There may be depictions of violence in a PG-13 movie, but generally not both realistic and extreme or persistent violence. A motion picture’s single use of one of the harsher sexually-derived words, though only as an expletive,initially requires at least a PG-13 rating. More than one such expletive requires an R rating, as must even one of those words used in a sexual context. The Rating Board nevertheless may rate such a motion picture PG-13 if, based on a special vote by a two-thirds majority, the Raters feel that most American parents would believe that a PG-13 rating is appropriate because of the context or manner in which the words are used or because the use of those words in the motion picture is inconspicuous.
Weinstein at least has a leg to stand on for an appeal on context and appropriateness.
I'd still prefer him to say "screw you" and release it unrated. I just love the arrogance of the MPAA/CARA thinking they speak for the average parent. Just because yo have to be a parent to be on the ratings board, doesn't mean you speak for anyone other than yourself (and the lobby wing of the motion picture industry).
As always, notice the ratings are warnings for parents, not admission instructions for theatres.
And just noticed the "any drug use." I'm sure they mean illegal, but would love to see someone appeal that ![[Wink]](wink.gif)
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Justin Hamaker
Film God
Posts: 2253
From: Lakeport, CA USA
Registered: Jan 2004
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posted 03-13-2012 09:59 PM
Seven 'F' bombs hardly qualifies as excessive in my opinion, especially if they basically all come at once. And the official rating reason says "Rated R for some language".
The real issue with this rating - as was the case with The King's Speech, is it undermines the integrity of the R rating.
Parents who might normally be concerned with their kids watching something like The Last House on the Left go to see a movie like The King's Speech, and they decide that R rated movies are not that bad.
I have said for a long time, the MPAA needs a rating between an R and a PG-13. However, the MPAA thinks the ratings descriptions are an adequate middle ground.
Maybe when they do their annual surveys, they need to ask questions that probe deeper. "Do you consider the MPAA ratings to be useful" is going to get a positive result from most parents. However, the question fails to determine whether parents feel each rating accurately reflect the content for various topics. By not asking more probing questions, the MPAA can easily support the view that the current system if fine and not in need of change.
With regard to Bully, apparently Joan Graves quoted a new survey that shows parents are more concerned with the 'F' word in PG-13 movies. When asked about the example of 2005's Gunner Palace which received a PG-13 despite 42 instances of the 'F' word, Graves simply dismissed the comparison by saying that was a different time and a different ratings board.
MPAA Survey: Parents Want F-Word Barred in PG-13 Movies
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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."
Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001
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posted 03-13-2012 10:23 PM
I'm surprised no one mentioned this article regarding Harvey Weinstein and Bully:
A Former Employee Asks Harvey Weinstein: "Can You Stop Being A Bully?"
There was a follow up article here where another employee said Weinstein was working on the problem and that Bully was a step toward redemption.
Anyway, I thought it was kind of humorous for the obvious contradictions between Weinstein's own volatile behavior and the campaign against bullying.
Regarding the profanity in the documentary, I agree with Mike. Why not just bleep out the words in order to get the PG or PG-13 rating? Most people can fill in the blanks and correctly imagine the profane word that was bleeped based on well known figures of speech, sentence structure, etc. So it's not like anyone is really missing any of the profane message being delivered, except for maybe young kids who haven't honed their chops at stringing together phrases of profanity yet. IIRC, a lot of my friends did this during little league baseball playing years. Bad News Bears thing I guess.
I haven't seen Bully yet so I don't know what all it did to earn a R-rating. So far I gather just a few curse words did it. You know what I find far more offensive and disturbing: explicit video of a group of kids singling out a particular kid and beating the living shit out of him/her. That sort of thing shows up on the news from time to time. It probably wouldn't be difficult to find such videos posted on YouTube. Recently here in the Lawton area a couple kids from Cache High School beat up a kid of Downs Syndrome, taped the beating and put it up on YouTube. The video was later taken down after the local news, school district and law enforcement got involved.
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