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Topic: Classic Cinemas' new R-rated policy for kids

Martin McCaffery
Film God

Posts: 2481
From: Montgomery, AL
Registered: Jun 99

posted 02-23-2012 08:43 AM

quote:
The R rating WAS once a way to dictate morality and decency to the masses,

Jeez, I hope you're being snarky. The Hayes board may have pretended to be a way to dictate morality, but (as Edward suggests) the Ratings system was specifically set up to protect the studios from having to fight legal battles in every jurisdiction in the US. I'm old enough to have run films in Maryland which had to be approved by the Board of Censors, which was one little old broad who had been there forever, and who lasted into the late 70's or early 80's despite the ratings.

And who in their right mind would take dictates on morality from the lobbying arm of the motion picture industry?

If you read what the MPAA says about their ratings you will see they are only meant to be guide for Parents as to the suitability of the film for THEIR children. The Ratings are a suggestion and you can take it or leave it.

I'm not really sure why the MPAA or NATO thinks theater operators should be in the business of "enforcing" suggestions from lobbying organizations, but the theatre operators are free to ignore them. If they choose to enforce them, just remember, they aren't "the Law."

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Paul Mayer
Oh get out of it Melvin, before it pulls you under!

Posts: 3836
From: Albuquerque, NM
Registered: Feb 2000

posted 02-23-2012 11:09 AM

Except in some communities, where the MPAA guidelines have indeed been codified into local laws.

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Martin McCaffery
Film God

Posts: 2481
From: Montgomery, AL
Registered: Jun 99

posted 02-23-2012 11:39 AM

If they have then they are violating copyright. The MPAA forbids them to be codified. The locals tried it here once and the MPAA's lawyers and lobbyists were all over them.

Do you know of a community that has actually codified the ratings?

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Mike Blakesley
Film God

Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99

posted 02-23-2012 06:01 PM

We need a new rating: "NB-03"

...for "No Babies Under 3." It would be applied to every movie over 60 minutes long that isn't rated G.

And if I had my way, that rating WOULD be codified!

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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."

Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001

posted 02-23-2012 10:10 PM

Obviously the MPAA could introduce a "NP" rating for No Phones. But that would end up being applied to ALL movies.

40 years ago the MPAA movie ratings system was more relevant, more effective and more effective as a marketing tool. I remember a joke from the Welcome Back Kotter TV series where one of the students summed up the ratings system as "G: good, PG: pretty good, R: really good!"

The content in Hollywood movies hasn't really pushed the boundaries of sex and violence in perhaps 20 years -not that it should either. Now the objectionable content in Hollywood movies is pretty tame compared to what can be seen on premium cable TV series. And the Internet has lots of explicit (read: real) sex and violence available for anyone to see if they click onto the right web sites. So many people watched beheading videos on the Internet that it probably encouraged the psychopaths responsible in places like Iraq and Mexico to murder many more people in the same horrific manner.

In an odd sort of way the movie theater could possibly be seen as a relatively clean sanctuary from a home with more harmful entertainment.

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Frank Cox
Film God

Posts: 2234
From: Melville Saskatchewan Canada
Registered: Apr 2011

posted 02-23-2012 10:39 PM

G=Guns, PG=Plenty of Guns, PG-13=More than 12 guns

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Martin McCaffery
Film God

Posts: 2481
From: Montgomery, AL
Registered: Jun 99

posted 02-24-2012 09:11 AM

If the MPAA could come up with a Brain Dead rating, I might be willing to play along.

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Scott D. Neff
Theatre Dork

Posts: 919
From: San Francisco, CA
Registered: Oct 1999

posted 02-24-2012 02:58 PM

The company I used to work for does this. I think it's brilliant. Often times parents bring their children with them because the idea of a discounted admission is cheaper than the idea of paying a babysitter. If parents begin to realize they're going to have to pay the same for their seven year old to come as they do themselves, the perceived value may not be there.

Not only that if a parent thinks their child is adult enough to handle the content of a certain film, then they should pay the adult price.

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