# PG rating for what? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 13, 2010, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pg-rating-for-what/539254 "2010-05-13T01:55:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brown_eyed_girl/32/3574_2.png) [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brown_Eyed_Girl)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pg-rating-for-what/539254/1 "2010-05-13T01:55:41Z")
I just finished watching [_It Might Get Loud_](http://www.netflix.com/WiMovie/It_Might_Get_Loud/70109084?trkid=1359311), 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? ---
**Author:** ![srzss05](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/898d66/32.png) [@srzss05](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/srzss05)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pg-rating-for-what/539254/2 "2010-05-13T01:59:43Z")
Do they even make G movies anymore? ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pg-rating-for-what/539254/3 "2010-05-13T02:01:56Z")
Disney makes G movies. There was a non animated Disney movie rated G a few years back. Strangely enough David Lynch directed it. > **[The Straight Story](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Straight_Story)** > > The Straight Story is a 1999 biographical road drama film directed by David Lynch. It was edited and produced by Mary Sweeney, Lynch's longtime partner and collaborator, who also co-wrote the script with John E. Roach. It is based on the true story of Alvin Straight's 1994 journey across Iowa and Wisconsin on a lawn mower. Alvin is an elderly World War II veteran who lives with his kind intellectually disabled daughter. When he hears that his estranged brother has suffered a stroke, Alvin makes... ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pg-rating-for-what/539254/4 "2010-05-13T02:16:48Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pg-rating-for-what/539254/5 "2010-05-13T02:24:28Z")
G also gives off the impression that it’s just for kids. I imagine the producers wouldn’t want a G rating. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pg-rating-for-what/539254/6 "2010-05-13T05:56:56Z")
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 **P** arents need to **G** uide 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.) ---
**Author:** ![Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brown_eyed_girl/32/3574_2.png) [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brown_Eyed_Girl)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pg-rating-for-what/539254/7 "2010-05-13T12:23:29Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pg-rating-for-what/539254/8 "2010-05-13T14:20:57Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brown_eyed_girl/32/3574_2.png) [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brown_Eyed_Girl)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2010, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pg-rating-for-what/539254/9 "2010-05-14T06:48:47Z")
> [@bouv](#): > > 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. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2010, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pg-rating-for-what/539254/10 "2010-05-14T09:48:58Z")
Heck, some anti-smoking activists have been crusading for smoking to earn a film an R rating. ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2010, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pg-rating-for-what/539254/11 "2010-05-14T10:51:25Z")
> [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](#): > > I highly recommend it, but do be sure to discuss the … with your kids if you decide to let them watch … 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? Or were you being sarcastic? ---
**Author:** ![Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brown_eyed_girl/32/3574_2.png) [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brown_Eyed_Girl)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2010, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pg-rating-for-what/539254/12 "2010-05-14T15:52:56Z")
> [@Keeve](#): > > 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? > > Or were you being sarcastic? Someone seriously needs to invent a textual modification of text, like bold and italics, specifically to represent sarcasm. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2010, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pg-rating-for-what/539254/13 "2010-05-14T16:26:41Z")
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. 🙂