I went to my local library to borrow a copy of Ran, by Kurosawa.
Got it on DVD.
All cool.
But I had to show my ID. :mad:
Yes, the Nashville Library system thinks Kurosawa films are smutty, and would pervert Our Cleanly Xtian Youth! :smack: :smack:
Doubtless, it is because they are “foreign”.
I don’t understand why they would ask for ID.
It shouldn’t be to prove your age; your library card should already be categorized as Adult or Youth (or Children, or whatever).
My local library system has a habit of asking what street you live on, apparently to ensure that you either haven’t moved or that it’s your card.
But never have I been asked for ID. And I’ve checked out some pretty off-beat things. F’rinstance, I’m currently requesting a whole bunch of non-fiction books about ninjas. (It’s for an article I’m writing.) No one’s raised an eyebrow.
This worries me rather.
Is it because most foreign films aren’t rated? That would make sense to me, rather than expecting the librarian to be familiar with (and responsible for) the contents of all the movies. If the library gets too many complaints from parents (“I can’t believe you let my Timmy borrow ‘Big-Eyed Schoolgirls and the Naughty Tentacles of Planet Oooo!’”), they might start carding for R, NC17, and NR . It seems like a reasonable solution to me.
::tap, tap:: Is this thing on?
Not every library works on the same set of rules.
The library I work at doesn’t require ID for anything. But another library in the next town over (and part of the same system) does require ID for all R and Unrated movies.
For instance, I had an “adult” library card by the age of 12 or 13, simply because my mother was sick of having to check out books for me. I was mature and had a very advanced reading level. It’s possible that the library in question does not track age in their system, or that for legal reasons, they feel that verifying all R/NC 17/unrated film checkouts with additional, legal photo ID is in their best interest.
Also, in the public library system where I’m from they don’t really check to make sure the library card you’re using is your own–after I lost my fourth card or so at age 12 I just used my mom’s all the time. Going by the status of the card alone (and I think they were classed as adult/child, although it’s kind of fuzzy to me now), I would have been allowed to take out unrated materials.
I’m guessing Bosda doesn’t look like a kid who snuck out to the library with his dad’s card to rent questionable material, but I can see why they’d institute a carding policy.
Ran is rated R in the United States. A lot of anime isn’t rated because they never hit theaters but I suspect most foreign films released in theaters are rated by the MPAA.
Marc
I don’t think it’s most. I see lots of foreign films in theaters and they are usually unrated. The ones that get MPAA certificates are the few that are picked up by major distributors (the popular animes, Crouching Tiger type stuff, etc.)
Well, of course they’re not going to card you. They’re afraid you might flip out and kill the whole town.
My library only allows foreign film DVDs to be taken out by local residents. They can’t tell that from just the library card – folks from nearby suburbs can get a card from our library. So, asking for ID is a way of being sure that the people taking out the film are local residents.
Why they should require that, I dunno… perhaps foreign DVDs are more expensive, and harder to replace if stolen/lost?
Feydeau, not every library has a child/adult card system. I had the same card when I was a kid as I do as an adult-same with my sister.