Movie Ratings not Reliable
by Kieth Merrill
Holding Ourselves to a Higher Standard
Last week I screened my short, 70mm film, The Witness, at the classic old Royal Theater in Santa Monica. It showed twice a day for three days, and thus was qualified for consideration by the Motion Picture Academy in the “live action short” category.
The film tells the story of a young man who witnessed and survived the massacre of Mystic Fort by the English under command of John Mason. It accurately depicts the well-documented tragedies in the so-called “Pequot War” of 1636-38.
Produced as a permanent exhibit for the Mashentucket Pequot Museum, the film was meticulously authentic. The costumes in the film–or lack thereof–are likewise accurate. In short, the film is violent and contains scenes with partial nudity.
After the screening, an LDS friend praised the movie then pointed out that if the film was submitted to the MPAA it might be rated “R.” “MPAA” stands for Motion Picture Association of America, who by the power of their self-appointed omniscience rate every commercial film shown in the United States.
I love the film. It may be one of my best. I am unabashed in its defense–violence and nudity notwithstanding. It tells the truth. It is tastefully done. It tells an important story that no one else has told. It is bringing pride and a sense of history to generations of young Pequot men and women. It will bring empathy to millions of non-Indians who see the film. It plays 20 times a day in twin 70 mm theaters as the major attraction in the Pequot’s new 150 million dollar museum.
Musing over my friend’s curious observation, I became ecstatic the film will not be rated. Otherwise, all the Mormons on the planet would be “forbidden” to watch it. As it is, they can see it without guilt, and I can sit in the audience with my children and grandchildren without embarrassment and with church leaders without guilt.
Being forced to see my own work through the rating eyes of the MPAA, I once again found myself ranting about movies, Mormons, and the motivation necessary to detach ourselves from the drifting secular standard of the MPAA rating system.
In spite of endless admonitions from the general pulpit to use discernment in the selection of all films, videos and TV, the widespread perception among Latter-Day Saints is that the policy of the church begins and ends with: ”Don’t go to R-rated movies.” That is good advice, but it goes farther.
In his address to the Aaronic priesthood, April conference, 1986, President Ezra Taft Benson, said;
“We counsel you, young men, not to pollute your minds with such degrading matter, for the mind through which this filth passes is never the same afterwards. Don’t see R-rated movies or vulgar videos or participate in any entertainment that is immoral, suggestive, or pornographic. Don’t listen to music that is degrading. “(1)
In the years following the establishment of the MPAA’s rating system (November of 1968), other General Authorities gave similar counsel. Still, President Benson’s pointed exhortation, ”Don’t see R-rated movies,” had the effect of elevating the admonition to the status of official church policy, if not doctrine.
Whatever else the prophet said that night, the mandate to avoid R-rated movies was the decree etched into memory. By implication, parents, teachers and church members inadvertently adopted the rating system of the MPAA as a standard consistent with the Church, or at least a reliable guideline for their own entertainment choices.
Unfortunately, singling out R-rated films gave PG and PG-13 unintended approval, especially among teenagers. That is not what was said. It is not what was intended. It is simply what happened. It is a connection that needs to be broken.
The PG-13 rating–added in 1984–had been around less than two years when President Benson issued his trenchant advice which included ”vulgar videos.” In the thirteen years since President Benson’s timely admonition to the Aaronic priesthood, the standards of the MPAA have continued to stray. PG-13 has become the acceptable playground for coming-of-age movies which cater to teens. The themes are often based on sexual promiscuity, smoking, drinking, crude language, and vulgar humor, each presented as “normal,” even expected. In other words, the playground for “vulgar videos,” which President Benson also warned against.
The mixed-up morality of the sixties which advocated we “make love not war” has polluted the thinking of those who rate today’s movies. Violence is considered more unacceptable for young audiences than sexual immorality. As a result we have action films like Payback rated R because five people get shot, and films like At First Sight which are sensual, promiscuous, immoral, and titillating rated PG-13. Because they are PG-13, too many of us think the sign says, “Approved for Mormons.”
As a voting member of the Motion Picture Academy required to see certain films, I saw both films the same night. Seeing them back-to-back resulted in an unexpected comparison; the impact of R with the impact of PG-13. It was very interesting. At First Sight (PG-13) is a love story. Payback is an R-rated action film with an ultra-coarse bad buy (Mel Gibson) against other even worse bad guys.
There is a good argument that neither of these films are appropriate for Latter Day Saints, but since PG-13 has been inadvertently “approved for Mormons” by default, there is no early warning system in place.
At First Sight (PG-13) was not well done, but well-intended as a heart-warming love story. There was no violence and no bad language and apparently not enough bare skin to persuade the secret Encino, California committee (the anonymous rating board) it was inappropriate for teens. They were dead wrong. The film was not appropriate for teens or anyone offended by the casual presumption of the world that love and sex are somehow the same.
The “romantic” scenes in this “condoned for Mormons” movie were clearly calculated to be erotic, arousing, and titillating. The very graphic and sensual massage scene will linger in my memory long after every brutal frame of Payback has been lost and forgotten.
The “acceptable PG-13” included disrobing, partial nudity, fornication, and making love in a variety of places, including the shower. Clever snipping in the editing room prevented it from “crossing the line” for the MPAA raters, but for me–and I am more liberal than most when it comes to movies–it was so far over the line, the line had vanished.
The lead characters were not married, but “in love,” which presumed to make their sexual intimacies appropriate. And as if the central scenes were not enough to titillate the audience, one totally unnecessary scene was set in a topless bar.
The PG-13 movie was about sex masquerading as love in the 90’s. The action R was about revenge and violence. The first was far more seductive and damaging in my opinion than the latter. My argument is simple. We are engineered to be aroused by sex and driven by hormones to give expression to those feelings. On the other hand, we have no innate biological predisposition to violence.
May I repeat for my grandchildren and unseen readers in a future generation. I am not arguing that either film was necessarily appropriate for an LDS audience. I am not condoning violence. I am not disagreeing with President Benson. I am not recommending anyone go to R-rated movies. I am simply pounding the pulpit in favor of disconnecting the never-changing standard of the church from the forever-changing standard of the MPAA rating system.
The movie I love to hate the most is In & Out. It was an enormously popular and successful movie when it was released a couple of years ago. It is rated PG-13, and it lives on in video. It is one of the most astounding examples of why we can not rely on the MPAA to rate film for Mormon families.
Entertainment Magazine‘s cover feature called it: ”In & Out’rageous . How the Surprise Smash, and its shocking kiss, is turning Gay into Gold.”
GLAAD (Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) officially endorsed the film, praising its ”important message about job discrimination.” Of course, the real victory for GLAAD according to media director, Chastity Bono, was that two men kiss in broad daylight and the camera ”didn’t cut away.”
People who mistakenly tethered themselves to the secular morality of the MPAA and felt safe seeing In & Out–or allowed their children to go because PG-13 is on the acceptable side of the barbed R-rated barrier– were blind-sided by this film.
It starts with good humor and an optimistic promise of positive resolution– ”redeeming social value” I think it’s called–but it turns sour. The most accurate review of the film I’ve read comes from Movieguide presented by Ted Baehr. They called it ”Sneak Attack.”
”Strong homosexual worldview to promote homosexuality, rebuke homophobia and normalize a politically correct agenda. It includes obscenities, profanity, strong homosexual innuendo with graphic descriptions, sexual humor and one homosexual kiss, upper male nudity, alcohol use, smoking and lying. ‘In & Out’ is not a movie for those who hold that sexual relations are a sacred gift from God.”
“Oh, it’s OK Mom ,” says a young Laurel to her mother as she heads out the door to the movies. “It’s a film with that Magnum PI guy, it’s rated PG-13, and the Laurels and the Priests are all going together.”
Standards vary. Even within the LDS community, there is no uniform notion of appropriateness. There are some, no doubt, who think In & Out is charming, funny, accepting, and even enlightening. But dissected, the film is 104 minutes of propaganda for the homosexual lifestyle.
I wondered about the thousands of young boys, some from homes without dads, struggling with sexual identity in a macho world, who sat two hours in the dark while clever writers and charismatic characters put questions –and then answers –in their fragile minds:
Am I gay? I’m not gay. Are you sure you’re not gay? I don’t think I’m gay. Maybe you’re gay. If you like to dance you’re gay. I like to dance. Maybe it is OK to be gay. It is OK to be gay. By golly, I am gay after all!
That is the sum and substance of the film. The damage it may have done and be doing in the lives of impressionable kids–the PG-13 gang–is sobering indeed.
In & Out is but one more striking example of the distance between Mormons and the MPAA. There are many others.
PG-13-rated Tommy Boy is a comedic farce created for Saturday Night Live’s Chris Farley. In addition to predictable potty humor and vulgar innuendos, one scene would make parents cringe who unwittingly said ”no R-rated movies, you guys” as the kids head out the door to Blockbuster.
These same parents might wish their kids had come home with Air Force One or Braveheart. (both rated R)
I am certainly not arguing for R-rated films. What is instructive to realize is the vulgarity, permissive sexuality, and immoral implications of many of the “safe” PG-13 movies are arguably more damaging that what is in some R-films. The point is that the standards of the LDS culture are so vastly different than the standards of the MPAA that we can not rely with any confidence on the ratings they propose.
We must abandon the standard of the world and establish our own, individually, in groups, and by support of other conservative Christian organizations who review and rate films on their own.(2)Disconnecting ourselves from the standards of the MPAA will require a new level of personal responsibility, but the world, and the movies, and the rating system have changed since 1968. It is time we change as well.
[Editors’ Note: Many of our readers have mentioned that screenit.com is a good source of movie advice. At this web site the movies are analyzed for their specific content that might be offensive.]
Notes
1. Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, Pg.222 CR April 1986, Ensign 16 [May 1986]: 45.
2. Examples: Parents Television Council, Family Entertainment Review, Focus on the Family “Plugged In”. Each should be evaluated in terms of individual standards.
3. Examples: Parents Television Council, Family Entertainment Review, Focus on the Family “Plugged In”. Each should be evaluated in terms of individual standards.
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