Jul 01 2006
Rated Pg-13 for Thematic Confusion
So it’s late on a Saturday and I’m scrambling to finish up the Sunday School lesson for tomorrow when Son #1 pops this one on me:
S#1: “Dad, can I watch Lemony Snickett? It has thematic elements. What are those?”
Me: “Uh… Go to bed, it’s late. We’ll discuss it tomorrow.”
I did a quick search on the movie rating and sure enough, it was rated “PG for thematic elements, scary situations and brief language”. I’ve got a handle on the “scary situations” part and I figure that “brief language” must mean a lot of contractions. No?
“Thematic elements” had me stumped, so I consulted the ever-handy Alberta [as in Canada] Community Development site. It provides a nifty guide to film rating terms. They define it as “the attitude, tone, and intention of the film”. (Okay… Can we be a little more specific here? Are there films that don’t have attitude, tone or intention?)
It turns out there’s not much standardization (or logic) among MPAA ratings warnings. Pick up three different PG-13 movies with similar content and you’ll likely find three different comments.
Jim Emerson at scanners:blog, on the other hand, knows his thematic elements. He’s done some digging and culled some of the finest ratings blurbs known to man. Here’s a sample:
Gummo: ‘Rated R for pervasive depiction of anti-social behavior of juveniles,including violence, substance abuse,sexuality and language.’ (I didn’t know that anti-social behavior was restricted to those over 17 years of age.)The Day After Tomorrow: ‘Rated PG-13 for intense situations of peril. (Straight, to the point, and most importantly, meaningless.)”
Jonathan Walker extolls a particularly atmospheric rating for the disastrous 1996 movie Twister: “Rated PG-13 for intense depiction of very bad weather.”
And Dan Maloney and Eric Mees write separately regarding the masterful blurb for 2004’s Team America: World Police: “Rated R for graphic crude and sexual humor, violent images and strong language - all involving puppets.”
I couldn’t have said it better myself.
