{"id":17640,"date":"2006-07-21T08:00:17","date_gmt":"2006-07-21T15:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/?p=17640"},"modified":"2014-04-18T19:51:32","modified_gmt":"2014-04-19T02:51:32","slug":"much-ado-about-movie-ratings-ratings-now-flag-religious-and-political-agendas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2006\/07\/much-ado-about-movie-ratings-ratings-now-flag-religious-and-political-agendas.html","title":{"rendered":"Much ado about movie ratings \/ Ratings now flag religious and political agendas"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a>Facing the Giants<\/a><\/i>, a low-budget movie about a high-school football team, was recently rated PG for parental guidance in the U.S. The film\u2019s Christian producers and the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), which hands out movie ratings south of the border, agree the film should be rated PG. But they don\u2019t agree on why<\/i> the film was rated PG \u2014 thus launching one of the latest and silliest skirmishes in the culture wars.<\/p>\n

Kris Fuhr, vice-president of marketing for Provident Films, told one reporter she had expected the film to be rated PG because the story dealt with mature subject matter, such as infertility. But when she asked the MPAA why the film got that rating in the end, the person she spoke to reportedly referred to the film\u2019s evangelistic content.<\/p>\n

Now, however, the MPAA says the rating was based on other factors. The organization has been flooded with tens of thousands of protest e-mails, but its representatives insist the film\u2019s religious elements had nothing to do with their decision. Instead, they point to the very same story elements that led Fuhr to think the film would be rated PG anyway.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the federal government is threatening to get involved. In a stern letter to MPAA chairman Dan Glickman, Republican House Majority Whip Roy Blunt stated, \u201cThis incident raises the disquieting possibility that MPAA considers exposure to Christian themes more dangerous for children than exposure to gratuitous sex and mindless violence.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a pretty ignorant remark, but it may be par for the course where federal politics are concerned. PG-rated films, which are pretty rare these days, are almost always made for children or family audiences. If it\u2019s gratuitous sex and mindless violence you want, you usually have to look for films rated at least PG-13.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to take either side of this debate seriously. The MPAA is notoriously secretive, unpredictable and prone to treating independent films more strictly than it treats the films that are made by the major studios \u2014 which established the MPAA in the first place.<\/p>\n

There once was a time when the MPAA did bend over backwards to be lenient to films with a religious element. In the late 1960s and 1970s, when the ratings system was still new, nearly every movie with a crucifixion was rated G, even if it had other forms of violence as well; the list includes Ben-Hur<\/a><\/i>, The Greatest Story Ever Told<\/a><\/i>, Godspell<\/a><\/i>, The Gospel Road<\/a><\/i> and even the rather controversial and slightly drug-addled Jesus Christ Superstar<\/a><\/i>.<\/p>\n

These days, the rules are more strict. The Gospel of John<\/a><\/i> was rated PG-13 \u2014 \u201cfor violence involving the crucifixion\u201d \u2014 and so was King of Kings<\/a><\/i>, a 1961 film that was not submitted for a rating until the DVD came out in 2004. What\u2019s more, Campus Crusade\u2019s Jesus film<\/a> was rated G in 1979, but when elements of it were edited into The Story of Jesus for Children<\/i> in 2005, the resulting film was rated PG \u201cfor some violent and thematic elements.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition, nearly every theatrical Billy Graham movie<\/a> produced since the ratings came into effect has been rated PG or PG-13; the only exceptions are Two a Penny<\/a><\/i> (1969) and Joni<\/a><\/i> (1979). And ever since the mid-1990s, when the MPAA began to explain its ratings, these films have earned their PG ratings for \u201cthematic elements\u201d or \u201cthematic material.\u201d<\/p>\n

Finally, it isn\u2019t just religious red-staters who get this treatment. Al Gore\u2019s global-warming documentary An Inconvenient Truth<\/i> \u2014 basically just a filmed lecture \u2014 has also been rated PG \u201cfor mild thematic elements.\u201d So it does seem the MPAA is acting on the principle that parents need to be alerted whenever a film has a specific religious or political agenda.<\/p>\n

But the fact that the MPAA has been so consistent on this point lately is exactly what makes the controversy over Facing the Giants<\/i> so ridiculous. You can hardly blame the filmmakers for exaggerating the significance of this rating, since it generates publicity for their film, which comes out in September. But everyone else should stop being so sensitive.<\/p>\n

Peter T. Chattaway reviews movies for B.C. Christian News, ChristianWeek, ChristianityTodayMovies.com and other publications. He also blogs about film at filmchatblog.blogspot.com<\/i><\/p>\n

\u2014 A version of this article was first published in ChristianWeek.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Facing the Giants, a low-budget movie about a high-school football team, was recently rated PG for parental guidance in the U.S. The film\u2019s Christian producers and the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), which hands out movie ratings south of the border, agree the film should be rated PG. But they don\u2019t agree on why […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1116,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[167],"tags":[2132,1429,360,2130,1424,2131],"class_list":["post-17640","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christianweek","tag-dan-glickman","tag-facing-the-giants","tag-jesus-1979","tag-kris-fuhr","tag-ratings","tag-roy-blunt"],"yoast_head":"\nMuch ado about movie ratings \/ Ratings now flag religious and political agendas<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Facing the Giants, a low-budget movie about a high-school football team, was recently rated PG for parental guidance in the U.S. The film’s\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2006\/07\/much-ado-about-movie-ratings-ratings-now-flag-religious-and-political-agendas.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Much ado about movie ratings \/ Ratings now flag religious and political agendas\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Facing the Giants, a low-budget movie about a high-school football team, was recently rated PG for parental guidance in the U.S. The film’s\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2006\/07\/much-ado-about-movie-ratings-ratings-now-flag-religious-and-political-agendas.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"FilmChat\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2006-07-21T15:00:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-04-19T02:51:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/files\/2014\/04\/facingthegiants-300x167.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Peter T. 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