Have a news tip for us?
Just email . Ideas for stories, links to interesting articles, and press releases are welcome.
Theater renders movie ratings totally useless
posted by
Michael Zoldessy
on
November 21, 2006 at 5:00 am
Here’s one man’s take on how theaters are dropping the ball again, but this time by not properly patrolling their R- rated screens for underage children.
The big surprise came when the movie ended, and the house lights were turned up. As we filed from the theater, it was obvious that a good portion of the crowd were kids without adult supervision. Simply put, they either were sold tickets to an R-rated movie, or they bought a ticket to a G-rated movie and then went into a theater to watch an R-rated film.
Either way, it is wrong, and the theater is at fault.
I’m not one to blame someone else for a parent’s mistake. Mom and Dad are responsible for the behavior of their children. Corporate America shouldn’t be required to be surrogate parents.
For more, go to The Pueblo Chieftan.
Comments (6)
The ratings system is voluntary. Always has been. A theater can choose to either use or not use the system. In my opinion the ratings system today is totally useless anyway.
Hi Michael,
I couldn’t agree more.Here in the UK exactly the same is going on. The difference is the rating system here is mandatory. In a number of cases it has resulted in Theatre Management being taken to court and fined. The top penalty is to be closed down. There is very little control on what the kids are doing. As you say the Theatre pays for the wrong doing. They should fine the kids as well,that would maybe make some of them think twice,but to some it would make no difference. I don’t the the answer to it.
Regards, George.
As a theater manager I can only say that while my staff does everything they can to maintain the integrity of the ratings system, many times it is to no avail. Parents will come and buy tickets for their children to see R rated films but not accompany them. Children will also buy for one movie then slip into the R film. Or an adult will buy a block of tickets and then bring a group, some of which are not 17. The ratings are voluntary and the theaters usualy don’t have the staff to police the individual auditorium entrances. And lastly Movie Theaters are NOT parents or babysitters, it is not our collective responcibility to be the moral arbitrator of youth. Also the ratings system is corrupt and useless, I’ve seen hundreds of films and many times can not figure out how a rating was given. Some R films should be PG-13 and other PG & PG-13 should definatly be R. I know for fact that their are no guidelines at the MPAA, the ratings board uses its own personal judgement based on each film screened and who is sitting on the board that day. Anyway I have found that most theaters do what they can, but it is an almost imposible task given the nature of how modern theaters are conctructed and ethics of most kids today.
The rating system avoids non-industry censorship and Theatres ignore it at their own risk.
In the US rating were done by each community as resulted in stupid and racist decisions in places as diverse as Salt Lake City, Baltimore and Memphis.
In the UK, since it is a law, theatres can easily lose their license to operate if the local council feels they are ignoring teh classifications.
Anyone who thinks ratings serve no purpose should do a history check on the American Films censorship shambles when the Catholic Church made themselves the last word and when movies were banned in the UK because they might offend the Queen.
The rating system avoids non-industry censorship and Theatres ignore it at their own risk.
In the US rating were done by each community as resulted in stupid and racist decisions in places as diverse as Salt Lake City, Baltimore and Memphis.
In the UK, since it is a law, theatres can easily lose their license to operate if the local council feels they are ignoring teh classifications.
Anyone who thinks ratings serve no purpose should do a history check on the American Films censorship shambles when the Catholic Church made themselves the last word and when movies were banned in the UK because they might offend the Queen.
What is the Queen rated?