I just finished watching It Might Get Loud, a rock documentary in which Jimmy Paige, The Edge, and Jack White discuss their craft, history and influences, on Netflix. I highly recommend it, but do be sure to discuss the mild thematic elements, brief language, and smoking with your kids if you decide to let them watch three incredible guitarists get together to talk and jam. It’s rated PG due to those mild thematic elements–what does that mean? And smoking? Not even pot smoking. Just smoking. I didn’t catch the brief language myself, but then I curse like a sailor.
Is it just me or does this rating seem a little over the top?
It doesn’t take a lot to pull a PG. Jack White’s imitation of a chimney in that film is quite enough, even without any cursing.
Remember, a G rating is for stuff that’s so inoffensive that any hypothetical parent on the planet would be OK with their kid seeing it alone. Many parents would not be OK with their precious snowflakes being exposed to 90 minutes of evil cancerstick fellatio.
Smoking in general now gets you a PG rating, or so I’ve read. The logic is that a parent will want to talk to their kids about smoking, so they don’t think it’s cool because their favorite character does it. In other words, the Parents need to Guide them.
The same thing is used in obviously pro-religious movies. (at least one movie became PG because of it’s strongly pro-Christian theme.)
I guess I just don’t really see a point to rating a documentary. It seems to me that the subject matter should dictate whether or not it’s necessary to guide children through it. Though, in the case of documentaries, guidance seems to me to be of educational benefit regardless of the subject matter.
What do they mean by mild thematic elements? Oh, on second thought, I believe it may refer to video clips of the aftermath of Irish bombings shown while The Edge was discussing the atmosphere in which U2’s *War *and, specifically, Sunday Bloody Sunday, was conceived. Well, sheesh, I’d forgotten about that clip.
If you’re interested in how the MPAA operates and its rating system, I recommend you watch another documentary, This Film is Not Yet Rated, available as a streaming movie from Netflix.
Thank you for this recommendation. I just finished it and I’m thoroughly disgusted. The answer is no, the rating does not make sense unless you follow the money.
You yourself are suggesting that parents should discuss these things with their kids. So why does it surprise you that the MPAA is also recommending Parental Guidance?
What I find amazing is how the PG rating has changed so much over the decades. I recall Time Guardian in particular. Here’s a violent movie with naked breasts and buttocks in one scene, but it’s still PG? I guess as long as the dead people don’t bleed, and the naked people aren’t having sex, that should be wholesome enough for the kids! At least I don’t remember any smoking.
