From A. O. Scott’s review of the movie “Wendy and Lucy”:
“Wendy and Lucy” is rated R (Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian). It has some swearing, a little drug use and a brief implication of violence, but no nudity, sex or murder. The rating seems to reflect, above all, an impulse to protect children from learning that people are lonely and that life can be hard.
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Wow. I didn’t need a movie to tell me that one.
I love me a smart reviewer. Roger Ebert’s review of Expelled is another good one.
My parents protected me as best they could from the fact that life can be hard. It’s why I’m a liberal (and a feminist, and pro-choice, and a bunch of other things considered related).
I can only suspect that Hershele is being ironic.
I have never found the movie ratings system helpful, whether as a moviegoer or as a parent. Reviews, blurbs and a few quick judgments of aesthetics tend to be a better guide.
But to get at A.O. Scott’s point, to “protect” children from such a lesson is no protection at all. I wouldn’t take my 5-year-old to such a movie, because, well, he’d get bored really quick. But there are plenty of teens under the age of 17 who might benefit – or omigoodness, even enjoy! – a movie about people struggling with real problems.
Admittedly, I have problems referring to anyone over 12 as a “child” simply because their lives, minds and bodies are undergoing dramatic changes in maturity, social pressure, and expectations of responsibility. Adults do them no favors treating them as vulnerable as toddlers.
You know, the movie “Ma Vie en Rose” who won Best Foreign Film of 1998, a Belgium movie about the struggles of a MtF transsexual in a realistic suburban setting. It went R-rated in the US. Said MtF is 7 years old, no mention of surgery or hormones, but apparently, just the topic warranted a R rating.