Violent Content Before PG Movies

I'm with you!

How about the "This film is not yet rated" trick. So, just don't rate
the movie (until opening day) and they can market violent, sex filled
content to children - but the trailer was clean. Nice one.

The MPAA does not work. You never know the films content because the
ratings change and the "parents" that rate the movies are paid by the
film industry. That is like the fox guarding the hen house. The
purpose of the MPAA is to help Hollywood market filth to children
while the rights of decent parents are trampled.

Im with you on the previews, the mpaa really needs to step in and get
do something if your watching a g movie you should see g rated
previews, same with pg, pg 13 and r. heck im 23 and recently i saw
prom night and there was a preview to the movie called the strangers
and it literally freaked me out. and of course the preview was rated
for all audiences now that preview would of scared my little nephew to
death not to mention some grown people.

I agree. And, the other part of this is that the images aren't just
violent, but they are huge and literally larger than life, with
booming sound. A kid might be fine to see a war image briefly on a
small tv screen, but magnify that image and add the sound and it
becomes more of a problem.

I thought whatever the rating of the film being shown, the previews
were at or below that rating???

http://www.screenit.com/movies/2007/fred_claus.html

I agree with you. Yes, the war is a reality, but does this mean we
have to start recruiting at a movie that's aimed at children? This
fact alone bothers me more than the violence in the previews does.

But I don't think being rigid and implying a boycott in an early
letter is effective. Shouldn't a business have a chance at possibly
righting a wrong with the possibility of earning a customer's trust
first?

I do hope you hear back from them and that they do take your
suggestion to heart.

Call the theater, they have to tell you the START TIME after ads of
the movie. I never show up for the 7:15 show at 7:15. I come at
7:25, or whenever they say the "actual start time" is.

I cannot agree with you more. If the rating is P or PG then the ads
and previews should also be appropriately aged.
And its not just at that particular theatre chain either...Cinemark
does this also.

You have got a right to be offended by this blatant disconcern for
your children.

I agree with the OP. No, I'm not a parent, but I've babysat a lot for
friends, and that is the extent of my parenting experience. I think
the OP is completely right. As usual, if BarbaraT or
TwinkleCheesePotatoeToesNichole can provide me with an argument as to
why I am wrong in this parenting issue, I will eat some crow and
change my mind. ;)

OK, first of all, you took your son to see a movie with Paul Giamotti
and Vince Vaughan and you're worried about violence?

I am far more concerned that my son will mimic the crude,
inappropriate humor in a movie like this over picking up a toy gun
(which he does not own) and emulating a violent exchange.

Secondly, the war is a reality. Had you taken two seconds to snap out
of your sheltered little life, you could have used that moment to
educate your son that there are indeed people facing realities like
that overseas every day (My sister and the loved ones of several on
this site have faced this personally). You aren't doing your son any
favors by trying to hide things like that from him.

As for the Bruce Willis trailer, I looked up one of the 3 trailers
that is currently in ciruclation for this movie. Now, obviously I
don't know if I watched the same one as you, but I saw nothing that
inherently bad and the movie has a PG-13 rating. How much worse could
the other trailers (or the movie itself) be?

There is no way that any company will be able to please everybody and
if your sensitivities are that high, perhaps going out to the movies
with your child is not a good idea for you.

I think that if you are personally this offended by trailers and ads,
perhaps you should consider waiting until the movie comes out on DVD
so that you can control what your son watches 100%.

http://www.mpaa.org/FlmRat_Advertising.asp

Take note: "According to the Advertising Administration guidelines,
advertising that is targeted for an audience attending a "G" or "PG"
feature will not be approved if it includes scenes depicting violence,
sensuality, offensive language, or other material that most parents
would find unacceptable for their younger children to see or hear."

The key here is "most parents." The MPAA defines this based on the
decisions of their raters, who they believe have the right "pulse" on
what "most parents" will find unacceptable.

Unless this theater is showing "limited audience" advertisements (see
the link I provided), then the ads are considered appropriate for a PG
movie.

Here we go again......look, Fred Claus is a movie that dosen't just
appeal to kids but to all ages, including people who would see Live
Free or Die Hard or movies such as this. I don't know what you
consider "appropriate" levels of violence, but I guarantee you if you
asked 10 different parents you might get 10 different answers.
There's no way they can make everybody happy. And, as somebody
already said, we live in a violent culture. Right or wrong, it is
what it is. I haven't seen Die Hard, but I did see the ads for it and
frankly I didn't find them overly violent or horribly inappropriate.
If a 2 minute preview is really too much for you and your son, I would
really suggest considering abandoning movie theatres altogether and
just waiting until they come out on DVD so you can fast forward
through anything you think is inappropriate. If you want to boycott,
that is certainly your right as a consumer in a free society, but
don't expect the cinemas to taylor the freaking previews to fit
everybody's moral convictions.

I can't imagine that. I would think the previews would be for all
audiences. I don't think violence such as you describe violates PG.
Life is pretty violent. Heck, even surfing PFB can be violent.

If you want your child to not see violence such as you describe, you
had better yank the cord off the tv set at home.

Anytime I'm see previews, they always say that the following preview
has been rated G by the group that does the ratings (I forget the
name). Perhaps you should complain to them.

Take a careful look before previews for movies. They often carry a
statement that says that the PREVIEW is rated for all audiences. This
doesn't refer to the movie.

Often (but not always), previews are actually submitted for a rating.
This is not necessary when the film being advertised is already rated,
since (we'd assume) that a clip from a PG movie would, at "worst," be
PG.

The thing is, the requirements for "all audiences" is actually fairly
low for things like this. Violence, in particular, is considered to
be acceptable for "all audiences." Take a look at network TV. Very
few movies will have violence cut when shown on TV: only language and
nudity. It's only very extreme violence (will we ever see Saw IV
shown on network TV?) that needs to be cut.

Ask yourself: can I expect to see something with this level of
violence at 9:00pm on television? If so, then it's "all audiences"
and most certainly PG. Note: I'm not asking how YOU feel about it.
But what you can expect.

I haven't seen the latest Die Hard movie, but I've caught the first
three on television a few times. Unless I'm mistaken, very little of
the violence (if any) was cut when shown on television.

As for the military recruitment ad: it's an advertisement for the US
military. I have to wonder how many people the military recruits,
though, by showing dead soldiers. I may have my beefs with the
military, but I find it beyond belief that they'd get people to sign
up by showing that they could, in fact, die. That's just bad
advertising.

How young is your son?

Instead of letting these previews parent him, why don't you
incorporate it into a talk putting it into perspective? Have you asked
what your son thinks of these issues?

I don't think this is the theatres' doing, but rather, the movie
production/distribution companies' doing.

n/t

is what 'Live Free or Die Hard' is rated. I don't think the 3 Doors
Down promo for the Army is rated, though.

One way to get around those pesky previews is to show up later. Or
maybe when they start coming on, go to the bathroom or to get a snack.
Most places that I know of don't show previews for R rated movies at
PG-13 or lower. You don't say where this theatre is located (I live in
Columbus GA, where Carmike's HQ is), so I can't tell you much more
than that.