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发帖数: 19713 | 1 The documentary “Bully” has been officially retagged PG-13 by the Motion
Picture Association of America. This shift from its initial R rating for
language occurred after a drawn-out battle of wills among the studio, the
trade association responsible for the voluntary ratings system, and vocal
advocates of antibullying initiatives.
A compromise version, which cuts the number of "F-bombs," will be in
theaters beginning April 13, when the film goes into national distribution.
Now that the critically lauded, but by all accounts emotionally difficult
film will be open to the teen crowd it depicts, the question is: Was the
film itself a victim of “bullying” by an outmoded, out-of-touch ratings
group, or is it an example of the free-market system finding the best
balance between freedom of expression and protecting family values in the
marketplace?
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“Ironically, 'Bully' the movie was bullied by the MPAA,” says Marie Newman
, co-author of "When Your Child Is Being Bullied: Real Solutions," via e-
mail.
The MPAA has done this before, she says, but not with a film that mattered
so much to the audience being excluded.
“If all children and parents are not allowed to see this documentary, it
will defeat it purpose to generate higher awareness of the bullying epidemic
and education of what bullying truly looks and feels like,” she says. “
Thirteen million children being bullied everyday is 13 million too many.”
The rating system, which dates to 1968, “is in any case a childish system,
” says Paul Levinson, author of “New New Media,” in an e-mail. Adults use
this system, he says, “in a wrongheaded attempt to regulate what their
children can see, especially in this online age in which people of all ages
can see anything they like.”
But in the case of the "Bully" movie, he adds, “putting anything in the way
of kids seeing this movie – kids who could well be victims of bullying
themselves –was not only foolish but destructive."
Others suggest that in an age of free-for-all media, the ratings system
provides a last vestige of guidance for parents hoping to steer their
children to appropriate entertainment options. On Friday, the Parents
Television Council knocked the MPAA for what it called an arbitrary and
destructive decision to change the rating for "Bully" “despite the
unprecedented inclusion of multiple instances of the harshest profanity.”
IN a statement, the council called for more accountability from the MPAA,
such as a reform of the ratings system to allow greater input from the
public “rather than just Hollywood insiders.”
The notoriously arms-length MPAA, which does not reveal the names of so-
called “average” parents and community members that help assess a film’s
rating, however, has said that this process of negotiation between studios
and the ratings board shows the resilience and flexibility of the ratings
system in a swiftly evolving media environment.
The MPAA did not answer calls to either its Los Angeles or Washington
offices, but in a statement in the Los Angeles Times, Joan Graves, head of
the MPAA division that oversees ratings, said: “Per the standard rating
process available to all filmmakers, The Weinstein Company decided to
resubmit a new, edited version of 'Bully' to be rated, and the ratings board
gave this new version of the film a PG-13....”
She continued, “In the case of 'Bully,' the ratings system has worked
exactly as it is supposed to: Parents have been kept informed of the content
of each version of the film, and they have been given the information they
need to make moviegoing decisions on behalf of their kids." |
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