Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Watching movies turns teens into drunks; to fix it, let's create more R-rated movies

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Topic: Watching movies turns teens into drunks; to fix it, let's create more R-rated movies

Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."

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

posted 04-19-2015 10:25 AM

I think the MPAA's movie ratings system has become pretty irrelevant over the past 30 years due to all the different ways people can access adult-oriented content now.

When the MPAA's ratings system was first adopted in the late 1960's most people could only see adult oriented content by watching movies in theaters. Obviously this made the ratings system very important. Not many people had cable TV back then. They just had 3 regular channels and maybe PBS. Premium cable channels like HBO, which showed movies uncensored, didn't become widely available until the mid 1970's. Most music back then was pretty sanitized to be radio-friendly.

Today any parent trying to shield their kids from objectionable content is fighting a losing battle. There are many sources for viewing movies with uncut adult oriented content. The Internet has lots of other outlets for adult oriented content that just Hollywood studio movies. Premium cable networks are airing some shows with content that would get a NC-17 rating if put in a Hollywood studio movie release.

This study involving R-rated movies and their effect on teens is obviously pretty tainted. It assumes Hollywood movies are the only outlet teens have in accessing adult oriented content. That might have been true in 1970. But it is way off base in 2015.

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Leo Enticknap
Film God

Posts: 7474
From: Loma Linda, CA
Registered: Jul 2000

posted 04-19-2015 11:26 AM

Agreed. The problem that all attempts at censorship/classification/rating has to crack is that in the developed world at least, the infrastructure simply isn't there to enforce these decisions online. It is in some totalitarian societies, but even in those countries the determined have technological workarounds (e.g. VPNs, TOR, satellite connections and that sort of stuff).

quote: Scott Norwood
There are actually arguments that have been made that smokers are good for the economy

I once heard the claim that the tax on cigarettes in the UK raises £9 for every £1 the National Health Service spends on treating smoking-related diseases. It was made by a pro-smoking lobby group, no doubt funded lavishly by the tobacco industry, and so they will have crunched the numbers as favorably to them as they credibly could. But still, the economics of public health issues are rarely as simple as they seem at first glance.

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Mike Blakesley
Film God

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

posted 04-19-2015 12:40 PM

quote: Terry Lynn-Stevens
Leave the R ratings criteria the way they are. I do remember that rating used to stricter in the years past.

In my theatre we generally let kids who are in high school into R-rated movies unaccompanied. Most of the high school kids are at least 16, or they turn 16 during their freshman year. Of course it's easy for us since we know almost everyone, and if a parent of a high school kid wants us to keep their kid out of R-rated movies we're more than happy to comply. (It's been years since we've had a request like that though.)

I like this system becuase that way a whole group of kids becomes "eligible" to go to R-rated movies at once, and we don't have to check IDs.

I think the R-rated admission age should be lowered to 16 or even 15. That way, most high school kids could attend R-rated movies. High school is a "rite of passage" for kids anyway so that could be one more perk they get when they enter high school age, along with getting their drivers license.

There are very few parents who don't allow kids of that age (or even lower ages) to watch R content at home anyway.

There were a couple of kids in our lobby not too long ago looking at movie posters. One of them pointed at an R-rated poster and said "I wanna see this one." The other said "It's rated R, we'll have to wait and watch it at home."

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Justin Hamaker
Film God

Posts: 2253
From: Lakeport, CA USA
Registered: Jan 2004

posted 04-19-2015 04:34 PM

Besides the point already mentioned, I think there has to be a distinction between depictions of teens partying and having fun while drinking, and adults being responsible when drinking - such as a glass of wine or cocktail with a meal.

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Justin Hamaker
Film God

Posts: 2253
From: Lakeport, CA USA
Registered: Jan 2004

posted 04-19-2015 06:46 PM

quote: Bobby Henderson
I think the MPAA's movie ratings system has become pretty irrelevant over the past 30 years

I think there is still value in rating content for those parents who do take advantage of the information. And there are still kids who respect their parents enough to not watch restricted content, even if they could do so without their parent knowing.

But I do think enforcement of the ratings at the movie theatre has become a pointless exercise. It does little more than create an adversarial relationship between the theatre and it's customers. Teens will constantly try to game the system, and then get angry when they get caught. And now days, there are many parents who will get angry about having to come to the theatre to give their kids permission, or watch the movie with their kids (depending on the specific theatre's policy).

I can't remember the last time I had a parent actually respond positively to me blocking their kids from seeing an R rated movie. Even when you inform the parent the movie is rated R when they are buying tickets for younger kids, they almost never change their mind. And I can only remember two or three instances in the last 10 years where a parent came back and said they wish they had listened to my warning.

I'm sure there are many parents who do prevent their kids from watching R rated movies. And I'm sure there are plenty of kids who respect their parents about that. But those decisions are made before they arrive at the theatre and have virtually nothing to do with the theatre's enforcement of the ratings.

If I have one complaint about the ratings system, it's that I do not think they have adapted to changing societal values. For example, they still give too much weight to language when rating movies. This despite the fact we are seeing stronger language in the 9:00 and 10:00 hour on network TV.

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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."

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

posted 04-19-2015 07:46 PM

One area where I do have a strong objection to the MPAA's ratings system: how they handle the NC-17 rating. They refuse to make a distinction between porn and movies that aren't porn but are still only for adults anyway. Any movies rated NC-17 won't be booked by certain movie theater chains (like Carmike for example). Newspapers aren't nearly as important for advertising as they used to be, but still some publications have refused to carry ads for NC-17 rated movies. In general, a NC-17 rating is a commercial kiss of death for nearly any theatrical movie release.

I have a feeling major Hollywood studios are going to start breathing down the necks of those running the MPAA (the studios are what fund the MPAA) over the NC-17 issue. Hollywood movies are no longer cutting edge. A lot more edgy and ground-breaking content is being originated on cable and the Internet. Hollywood studio movies are often tame and predictable by comparison. I think the ratings system as it is currently managed is starting to put Hollywood movies at a competitive disadvantage.

Getting back to the original topic, did the people who were conducting this study bother to think about all the different influences that might be turning teens into drunks? I guarantee movies alone aren't the key in it.

Teens often get involved with using drugs, alcohol, smoking, etc. due to people they know personally doing the same thing. Any correlation with movies may only be a reflection of the teens' interests. If the kids are into partying hard they're probably going to be a whole lot more interested in watching movies featuring young people partying hard. They're going to be less likely to watch some high brow Merchant-Ivory picture.

If these guys really want to fight teen drinking they gotta reach teens on a personal level. Alcoholism gets passed to young people by way of family and friends. Blaming it on movies is a cop out.

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Marcel Birgelen
Film God

Posts: 3357
From: Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands
Registered: Feb 2012

posted 04-22-2015 03:42 PM

quote:
In that Facebook movie "Social Network", late teen/early 20 somethings were snorting cocaine off teenage girls breasts and it got a PG13 rating!!!???

Maybe they convinced the MPAA it was a documentary and not a movie. [Wink]

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