It's a classic debate. Death exists in G-rated movies (like Bambi). It's hard to really classify the dividing line between G and PG. It's more of a marketing term, whether a film is specifically targeted for kids or not. Since G became the kiss-of-death in the 80s, the rating is rarely given out anymore even for kids movies. And movies kids see (let alone television) is now chock full of stuff that is borderline R (Guardians of the Galaxy is a good example).
This is correct. It was Gremlins and Temple of Doom, especially the removing the heart scene, that were the main reasons for PG 13 being created. Red Dawn was one of the first films to RECEIVE it after it was created. It wasn't a reason for it being created.
Comparable films such as The Black Hole were far more dark and violent than The Motion Picture and had the same rating.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I knew Red Dawn had something to do with it, but I got it backwards. Sue me. Just because I don't come here with all my reference material stacked beside me all the time doesn't make me an idiot, you know. Someone here complained that they don't trust people that rely on their memory. I don't trust people that don't. Memory is how we got to the point where we could invent written language. Without it, we'd still be naked savages living in caves. I really don't mean to rant like this, but it gets tiresome to get replies to my posts, from everyone it seems at times, that present themselves as "You posted, therefore you are wrong." I guess today I'm a little testy.
No, The Black Hole was PG. It was in fact rather famous for that at the time, being the first Disney film to carry a PG rating.* * - First to enter production, second released if you count Take Down, sez wiki. Needless to say, The Black Hole was way more high-profile than Take Down.
Just as an aside, PG and PG-13 movies have had the F bomb (in variants) in them on quite a few occasions. A lot of times though, it is probably the context of the word that is part of what determines a film's rating. Tank PG Spaceballs PG Armageddon PG-13 U2 Rattle and Hum PG-13 (on at least two occasions) Bring on the Night PG-13 (also on at least a couple of occasions) Skyfall PG-13 (to my knowledge, the first time I've ever heard the F bomb in a Bond film) Red Dawn (remake) PG-13 Just to name a few.
There's unsuitable content? I can't remember because it's the most boring film I've ever seen, so I don't remember. Maybe someone is killed or something in there? Edit: saw the Nostalgia Critic review, and there's this grim transporter scene in there for no reason, but it is pretty creepy and disturbing.
I don't know. That correction didn't seem particularly snarky to me. The other poster just seemed to be trying to clarify a question of fact relating to the issue at hand--rather than trying to "catch" someone in an error. To my mind, straightening out a misunderstanding or a factual error, in order to dispel future confusion, is not necessarily an attack on the person who was mistaken. It's just keeping the discussion on track and accurate with regards to what's being discussed. If we're talking about the origins of the PG-13 rating, it's not inappropriate to make sure that we're all on the same page and have our facts straight. If my memory failed me and I got my facts mixed up (as has been known to happen), I would certainly hope that somebody would correct me--just to clear things up. Heck, just the other day, on another board, I was talking about the "1964 World's Fair in Seattle." Turns out it was actually 1962. Oops. Thankfully, this got straightened out in no time.
A PG-13 movie can get away with one "fuck" provided it isn't used in a sexual context. "I can't fucking believe this" would get a PG-13. "Let's go fuck." would get an R. If a movie has two instances of the word, it gets an "R" regardless of context. Neil
Well the weird thing is, here in America, content is both more and less censored. G and PG movies could get away a lot more (Indiana Jones for example) but R movies not as much, now stuff designated for older audiences can do a lot more while G and PG movies have to be kid friendly films now.
Although her, uh, assets were camouflaged or turned away from the camera -- except for a few frames of the famous zero-g striptease title sequence. (The producers of Barbarella never anticipated home video or the "pause" button!) Law of Unintended Consequences Department: When the rating system was established in 1968, the G, M and R ratings were trademarked by the MPAA. You couldn't legally market a film as being rated G, M or R without submitting it to the MPAA for review. However, the X rating was never trademarked. Any film could be self-rated X. Thus, the X rating, which was originally meant for the occasional film that's truly suitable only for adults, quickly became an exploitation device for hardcore porn. To this day, "X-rated" is a colloquial synonym for "pornographic." What if a character says "Oh, go fuck yourself"?
FWIW, what I posted about Red Dawn &c. was from memory. Being 14 in 1984, I was pretty interested in what this new rating was going to be like. I don't think anyone was implying you were an idiot. It happens to all of us. Yeah, I don't know if I'd even count Take Down as Disney. IIRC Take Down was an independent production that got a Buena Vista distribution deal after it did well in regional release. But The Black Hole was "Walt Disney Productions presents" and distributed by Buena Vista. Yes, no question. Of course, if it was filmed around your hometown, had your neighbor the wrestling coach appearing as a wrestling coach, and your uncle saw Maureen McCormick driving around town smoking a cigarette, Take Down might loom a little larger, as it does for me! Not a bad little movie as I remember; all but impossible to see it now. As I remember, when I saw The Black Hole the matinee audience was almost completely kids, and Tony Perkins getting spinning blades driven through his chest... it was fairly shocking I think.
I remember The Black Hole's PG rating being controversial, with Letters to the Editor wondering what the world had come to now that Disney--Disney, no less--had trashed Walt's legacy by issuing (gasp!) a PG-rated movie! I believe it was to avoid such complaints that Disney eventually invented the "Touchstone" label for movies like SPLASH that were a little more PG-rated than traditional Disney fare, so that they could put out PG films without sullying the "Disney" label. (Just looked it up: According to Wikipedia, SPLASH was in fact the first "Touchstone" release. And, yes, is another example of a PG film that featured some minor nudity.)
Kirk (in TCOTEOF) said "let's get the hell out of here," hell was used a term of emphasis, and was okay with the censers. Kirk (in TDOTD) told to Kang "go to the devil," if Kirk had instead said "go to hell" it likely wouldn't have made it pass the censors. Religious condemnation in the 1960's.
Actually they had to fight the censors to keep "Let's get the hell out of here" in the episode. The censors were okay with it as a proper name -- "Better to rule in Hell" in "Space Seed," "I'll chase you into the very fires of Hell" in "The Alternative Factor," or Decker's "Right out of Hell" to describe the titular "Doomsday Machine" -- or as part of a phrase, like McCoy's "Hell-for-leather, right out of history" to describe Tombstone in "Spectre of the Gun" (a corruption of the phrase "hell-bent for leather"). But "Let's get the hell out of here" was explicitly using "hell" as an expletive, and the censors did have a problem with that and asked for its removal. The only reason the show got away with it that one time is because it was important enough that Roddenberry fought for it.