Reasoning Behind It

Okay. So now that we got the history behind us, the fun part is next. Though this is the part that could actually be more difficult to discuss. Simply because from here on out, most of what I will say will be opinions and personal commentary, which is usually one-sided and harder to substantiate, especially about a topic like this one.

So at first glance, the philosophy of the ratings system seems to be to provide a way for everyone, especially parents, to gauge what quality a movie is, and what they should be aware of in choosing the movie. That seems to be the consensus at second glance, too. And at third glance, and so on.

In my opinion, the ratings have proven to be helpful in choosing movies and gauging quality. We generally know the different requirements of the ratings and what will be in the movie if it's PG compared to R. So the basic principle makes sense, but really in the last years especially the ratings have started to become somewhat blended together so that there is gray area left between each one. This isn't so apparent between G and PG movies, but I think that between PG-13 and R-rated movies the line is becoming increasingly blurry. As well, it seems that the requirements of a PG-13 movie are seeming to become more relaxed than before, and things are passing into these movies that shouldn't be there.

So the philosophy behind the ratings system is a very good one. Ideally, it should keeps movie producers and the movie's content in check. At the same time it is supposed provide a system that parents and normal people can look at and make educated entertainment choices.

Now whether or not this is actually what is happening is up for debate, but that still has yet to be decided. And talked about in future posts.