After yesterday's post I began to think about media, and just random stuff about it.
Then today I was reading the new issue of Breakaway (Christian magazine for teen guys). I got to the last section where readers write in and ask about media and different artists. One of the readers had asked about Jessy McCartney's new CD. The editor was mentioning that Jessy's lyrics had turned in more of a sexual direction on this latest CD. It said in the article that McCartney thought his previous albums were when he was going through musical puberty, and that now he was 'grown up' in his music style.
This got me to thinking,"What do media ratings mean?!" Everyone knows that an 'R' rated movie means 'Restricted', and you must be 17 or have a guardian at least 21 years old to see it. My thought was "Why is '17' the magical number?" The media assumes that at that age (and older) we have the disernment and maturity to choose our movies wisely, and also to be able to handle what they call 'Adult Content'.
Here's a thought for you though,"Look around at all of the men who struggle with an addiction to pornography. These men obviously can't handle the so called 'Adult Content'."
Bottom line: There is no such special age where you can suddenly watch bad media and be able to leave the theatre unaffected. There are a few people who can handle such media, or have been so involved with it that it doesn't even cross their minds when it crosses the screen. These people are few and far between though.
I know this is hard to swallow, but if a movie is rated for nudity, language, violence, disturbing images, or rated for anything it will affect how you live and think once you leave. It's best to avoid media that tells you that there's a problem in it. Try to go find a different movie. Preferably something G, PG, or possibly PG-13 depending on if it has a healthy story line.
1 comment:
I would have to disagree with your whole statement and point in general. For starters pornography can be viewed at any ages; it is not the hard to see. Saying that 17 (which by the way would still be illegal to watch porn) is the magic number is not true. Going to see an R rated movie pales in comparison to choosing to drink, gamble, go to a strip club or smoke cigarettes. 17 is the number that lets you watch R rated movies, but seeing the Matrix is not going to change people’s way of living in the significant way that you are saying. Mostly discussions the movie seems all the impact it will have on our lives. People don’t ideas to kill each other or have sex because in the movie they did as well. I would agree if the individual was younger but by that time you would understand the conciseness of such actions. Our media and culture has made sure you know what would happen if you choose to do this. Attacking a rating system that stems from your choice to watch the movie won’t help when worse images can easily be watch via internet. Deaths are a common thing in the daily news and by such by a 2 year old will hear well over a thousand people’s death thanks to the media. By the time we are 17 we are numb and these images are fictional to us hence remove us from the films “intensity.” Basically this is part of our culture: death is profuse, sex is profuse, drug use is profuse, and violence is profuse. The problem isn’t the rating systems or the movies, it’s our culture that exposes these images to youth. We are not suddenly exposed to these images because they are exposed to us throughout our lives.
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