The Motion Picture Association of America is crystal clear when it describes why its \u201cPG\u201d rating exists \u2014 it\u2019s a warning flag.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cThe theme of a PG-rated film may itself call for parental guidance,\u201d states the online explanation of the rating system. \u201cThere may be some profanity in these films. There may be some violence or brief nudity. \u2026 The PG rating, suggesting parental guidance, is thus an alert for examination of a film by parents before deciding on its viewing by their children. Obviously such a line is difficult to draw.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Disagreements are a given. The Christian moviemakers behind a low-budget film called \u201cFacing the Giants\u201d were stunned when the MPAA pinned a PG rating on their gentle movie about a burned-out, depressed football coach whose life \u2014 on and off the field \u2014 takes a miraculous turn for the better.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cWhat the MPAA said is that the movie contained strong \u2018thematic elements\u2019 that might disturb some parents,\u201d said Kris Fuhr, vice president for marketing at Provident Films, which is owned by Sony BMG. Provident plans to open the film next fall in 380 theaters nationwide with the help of Samuel Goldwyn Films, which has worked with indie movies like \u201cThe Squid and the Whale.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Which \u201cthematic elements\u201d earned this squeaky-clean movie its PG?<\/p>\n\n
\u201cFacing the Giants\u201d is too evangelistic.<\/p>\n\n
The MPAA, noted Fuhr, tends to offer cryptic explanations for its ratings. In this case, she was told that it \u201cdecided that the movie was heavily laden with messages from one religion and that this might offend people from other religions. It\u2019s important that they used the word \u2018proselytizing\u2019 when they talked about giving this movie a PG. \u2026<\/p>\n\n
\u201cIt is kind of interesting that faith has joined that list of deadly sins that the MPAA board wants to warn parents to worry about.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Overt Christian messages are woven throughout \u201cFacing the Giants,\u201d which isn\u2019t surprising since the film was co-written and co-produced by brothers Alex and Stephen Kendrick, who are the \u201cassociate pastors of media\u201d at Sherwood Baptist Church in Albany, Ga. In addition to working with the megachurch\u2019s cable-television channel, they created its Sherwood Pictures ministry \u2014 collecting private donations to fund a $25,000 movie called \u201cFlywheel,\u201d about a wayward Christian used-car salesman.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cFacing the Giants\u201d cost $100,000 and resembles a fusion of the Book of Job and a homemade \u201cHoosiers,\u201d or perhaps a small-school \u201cFriday Night Lights\u201d blended with the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association movies that used to appear in some mainstream theaters. Sherwood Pictures used local volunteers as actors and extras, backed by a small crew of tech professionals.<\/p>\n\n
The movie includes waves of answered prayers, a medical miracle, a mysterious silver-haired mystic who delivers a message from God and a bench-warmer who kicks a 51-yard field goal to win the big game when his handicapped father pulls himself out of a wheelchair and stands under the goal post to inspire his son\u2019s faith. There\u2019s a prayer-driven gust of wind in there, too.<\/p>\n\n
But the scene that caught the MPAA\u2019s attention may have been the chat between football coach Grant Taylor \u2014 played by Alex Kendrick \u2014 and a rich brat named Matt Prader. The coach says that he needs to stop bad-mouthing his bossy father and get right with God.<\/p>\n\n
The boy replies: \u201cYou really believe in all that honoring God and following Jesus stuff? \u2026 Well, I ain\u2019t trying to be disrespectful, but not everybody believes in that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
The coach says: \u201cMatt, nobody\u2019s forcing anything on you. Following Jesus Christ is the decision that you\u2019re going to have to make for yourself. You may not want to accept it, because it\u2019ll change your life. You\u2019ll never be the same.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
That kind of talk may be too blunt for some moviegoers, said Kendrick, but that\u2019s the way real people actually talk in Christian high schools in Georgia. Sherwood Baptist isn\u2019t going to apologize for making the kinds of movies that it wants to make.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cLook, I have those kinds of conversations about faith all the time and I\u2019ve seen young people make decisions that change their lives,\u201d he said. \u201cThe reason we\u2019re making movies in the first place is that we hope they inspire people to think twice about their relationships with God.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cSo we\u2019re going to tell the stories that we believe God wants us to tell. We have nothing to hide.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Motion Picture Association of America is crystal clear when it describes why its \u201cPG\u201d rating exists \u2014 it\u2019s a warning flag. \u201cThe theme of a PG-rated film may itself call for parental guidance,\u201d states the online explanation of the rating system. \u201cThere may be some profanity in these films. There may be some violence […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":610,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[198,431,1542,655,710,813],"class_list":["post-1389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-christian-music","tag-hollywood","tag-movies","tag-pg","tag-ratings","tag-southern-baptists"],"yoast_head":"\n