07-30-2003, 08:52 AM
That's pretty rough. I was allowed to watch Back to the Future during class time as an elementary student (5th grade, I think). It was probably the TV edit, but I don't recall there being all that much difference.
On the original subject, I think the rating system is usually pretty fair. Sometimes one that should be R slips in at PG-13 and occasionally PG are a bit raunchy and tasteless, so it's not perfect. As someone else said, if it's not G (or PG for teens), parents should either prescreen or talk to other parents about the movie before letting their kids see it. The thing that I find aggravating is how many good movies could have been G or PG but end up being potentially unsuitable for children because of something completely gratuitous and unnecessary, to the extent that the only G movies are movies targetted specifically at young children. Titanic may be the ultimate example of this... people actually started a business to edit the nude scene and the car scene out of the video tape for parents who wanted it to be a family movie.
On the original subject, I think the rating system is usually pretty fair. Sometimes one that should be R slips in at PG-13 and occasionally PG are a bit raunchy and tasteless, so it's not perfect. As someone else said, if it's not G (or PG for teens), parents should either prescreen or talk to other parents about the movie before letting their kids see it. The thing that I find aggravating is how many good movies could have been G or PG but end up being potentially unsuitable for children because of something completely gratuitous and unnecessary, to the extent that the only G movies are movies targetted specifically at young children. Titanic may be the ultimate example of this... people actually started a business to edit the nude scene and the car scene out of the video tape for parents who wanted it to be a family movie.