# (SPITTAKE) \*That\* was rated G??? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 2, 2015, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spittake-that-was-rated-g/726778 "2015-08-02T04:22:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2015, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spittake-that-was-rated-g/726778/41 "2015-08-04T01:21:18Z")
You clearly hear hammering during the relevant scene in JCSS. And besides he does get flogged, crowned with thorns and has to drag a cross. But as mentioned Passion Plays had been always a special case (heck since back in the Code days making it biblical was a special case, you could show or imply a lot of sin as long as there was some eventual smiting and salvation). But JCSS’s “G” rating as mentioned above was an artifact of the sensibilities of its time. Also, it reflects the MPAA’s still evolving vision of what the rating meant. JCSS’s “G” would come from a board deciding it is _suitable for_ general audiences, not as an expectation of being _acceptable to_ all audiences: they must have figured people may still be upset on theological grounds, but \*that \*was not in their mandate. Similarly Midnight Cowboy’s “X” would have meant “this is just entirely inappropriate for our children and young teens”, not “this is wank fodder”. It was only later on that MPAA defined G as “nothing that would _offend parents_ for viewing by children” and X was taken over by porn. (\*\*their \*children in \*that \*time and place, mind you) That later definition of “G” is what essentially has rendered it a kiddie rating these days. Used to be that for instance in an action adventure movie (see ST:TMP) it would be understood there was peril and minor players might bite it or at the very least the Kid would punch the Big Bad in the face real hard, but that was not considered something _offensive_ to portray. According to the Wikipedia article on the matter three original tiers were trademarked in 1968: G / General audiences, M / Mature audiences – parental guidance advised, R / Restricted – admission limited to persons older than 16, unless accompanied by parent or adult guardian; and the non-trademarked “X” that could be applied by the MPAA _or that the producers could self-rate_. Apparently the X tier was requested by theater owners wanting a class where strictly adults-only admission could apply. Within 2 years “M” was redesignated GP and then PG (in order to avoid confusion with R as to content) and the R age limit raised to 17. This was the regime from 1972 to 1984. In 1984 they split PG into PG and PG13 and in 1990 they created NC17 to mean “adults only but not porn”. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2015, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spittake-that-was-rated-g/726778/42 "2015-08-04T01:30:20Z")
> [@MovieMogul](#): > > Essentially, PG started being associated with inoffensive family stuff, so any film worth its marketing salt would try to lobby for a PG-13. This trickled down to films that didn’t want a similarly unattractive reputation as “kid stuff” for G, so would lobby their films to be a PG, even though the reasons are pretty dubious: “mild action”, “brief peril”, “adult themes”, etc. A film like [Topsy-Turvy](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0151568/) - the Gilbert and Sullivan biopic - had a scene with utterly gratuitous nudity and a “fuck” thrown in just to dodge a PG-13. Which is a crying shame, because otherwise it would be a wonderful film to show in schools to introduce kids to their music. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2015, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spittake-that-was-rated-g/726778/43 "2015-08-04T02:01:33Z")
> [@Hail\_Ants](#): > > The crucifixion is the ultimate special case. Crucifixion’s a doddle. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2015, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spittake-that-was-rated-g/726778/44 "2015-08-04T02:36:53Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > Yeah, billions have desensitized themselves to what it actually represents. I find that sad. And disturbing. Well, treading lightly, although I don’t think anyone who wears a cross (I don’t btw…) thinks about the violent nature of it constantly I think it’s obvious that a large part of the Christian cross’ symbolic power is related to this. > [@gaffa](#): > > A film like [Topsy-Turvy](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0151568/) - the Gilbert and Sullivan biopic - had a scene with utterly gratuitous nudity and a “fuck” thrown in just to dodge a PG-13. Which is a crying shame, because otherwise it would be a wonderful film to show in schools to introduce kids to their music. I can’t believe that movie is rated R!?! That film is so wonderfully sweet! Why on Earth did they want to avoid a PG so badly?! ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2015, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spittake-that-was-rated-g/726778/45 "2015-08-04T02:59:05Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > You’re probably thinking of “Godspell.” Also “G” rated. I think you’re right! ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2015, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spittake-that-was-rated-g/726778/46 "2015-08-04T03:07:52Z")
The priest in my childhood parish had no problem with Superstar, and we were not one of those folk mass parishes (I think they served the Mass in Latin until they started serving it in Spanish as well as English.) > [@Hail\_Ants](#): > > Well, treading lightly, although I don’t think anyone who wears a cross (I don’t btw…) thinks about the violent nature of it constantly The symbolism of the suffering implied in the Crucifix is a bit complex, but suffice it to say the point is not the violence, but strength and redemption. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2015, 10:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spittake-that-was-rated-g/726778/47 "2015-08-04T10:44:08Z")
> [@Hail\_Ants](#): > > Well, treading lightly, although I don’t think anyone who wears a cross (I don’t btw…) thinks about the violent nature of it constantly I think it’s obvious that a large part of the Christian cross’ symbolic power is related to this. Some people don’t wear/display a _cross_, they wear/display a guy nailed to a couple of pieces of wood. My aunt had a particularly bloody one that, the first time my young self saw it, lead to me screaming and running out of the room. She was offended that I was horrified she had this bleeding guy nailed to her bedroom wall. There was also that recent encounter I had with a Catholic priest who kept going on and on about how wonderful it was he ate the flesh and drank the blood of Christ every day. He had no clue that from outside it was pretty damn creepy. (Not to mention the irony that it wasn’t that long ago that some of his group was accusing the group my family came from of being cannibals). That’s my point - the ones brought up in the church and with the symbolism don’t seem to get that from the outside this is pretty horrific stuff. There’s also the issue that far too many Christians take their religion as the default and just assume you’re one of them, and sometime don’t seem to grok that I’m _not_, and _never have been_ a Christian (You weren’t baptized? Not ever? Are you sure? Maybe you don’t remember… Your parents are nice people, I 'm sure they had it done. Um… nope, pretty sure it never happened.) ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2015, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spittake-that-was-rated-g/726778/48 "2015-08-04T11:11:55Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > … (Not to mention the irony that it wasn’t that long ago that some of his group was accusing the group my family came from of being cannibals)…) Which Catholic groups recently accused any group of cannibalism? I don’t remember that one at all. (Now I’ve got [“Sons of God”](http://st-takla.org/Lyrics-Spiritual-Songs/English-Coptic-Hymns-Texts/4-Christian-n-Gospel-Lyrics-H-I-J/Holy-Communion-Sons-Of-God.html) stuck in my head; even as a child I found the cheerful tune and the lyrics dissonant.) ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2015, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spittake-that-was-rated-g/726778/49 "2015-08-04T13:23:30Z")
The utlimate ratings WTF when I was growing up was _Watership Down_. Allegedly, when the film was first submitted to the British Board of Film Classification, the BBFC passed the film with a ‘U’ certificate (suitable for all ages) (and, in at least one movie poster, the movie was deliberately marketed not only to children, but to _young_ children). I can’t remember how it was rated in Canada, but I remember it was definitely marketed for kids. Although it is, basically, an animated movie about talking rabbits (and in my opinion a very good one), it contains much traumatizing material for young children - depictions (very graphic and surreal) of rabbit genocide by poisoin gas, much very realistic violence and gory death (in one case, screaming rabbits are torn apart by a dog on-screen), strongly implied organized rabbit-on-rabbit rape, etc. In one scene, one of the hero rabbits fights with a villian rabbit, and is covered in wounds - while bloody froth drips from his mouth. This, after the villian rabbit has torn the throat out of another one of the heros … Makes some profanity and nudity appear positively uplifting. 😃 The movie even has profanity - but in rabbit language! ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2015, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spittake-that-was-rated-g/726778/50 "2015-08-04T14:19:00Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Sorry, right, meant to correct that. I sort of had to run through the plots in my head to figure out which one it was. Airplane had a plot?? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2015, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spittake-that-was-rated-g/726778/51 "2015-08-04T14:20:29Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > Airplane had a plot?? Random sequence of scenes? ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2015, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spittake-that-was-rated-g/726778/52 "2015-08-04T14:34:14Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > The utlimate ratings WTF when I was growing up was _Watership Down_. > Makes some profanity and nudity appear positively uplifting. 😃 The movie even has profanity - but in rabbit language! \ Oh, hraka! 😉 You are correct; not a children’s film by any means. I’m already apprehensive about the live-action version in the works. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2015, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spittake-that-was-rated-g/726778/53 "2015-08-04T14:49:42Z")
[QUOTE=Hail Ants;18572167 ] re: Topsy Turvy I can’t believe that movie is rated R!?! That film is so wonderfully sweet! Why on Earth did they want to avoid a PG so badly?! [/QUOTE] They had a scene of Sullivan consorting with a pair of French prostitutes, sans blouses, and Timothy Spall’s character yelling “fuck!” As for why, I have no idea. Maybe the director just that nobody under the age of 18 would want to see it, or he wanted to assure theaters that this was a film for grownups, or he never even considered it. It is unlike most of his other films, which tend to be grindingly grim. Sure, he wanted to establish that Sullivan was a sensualist, and that one of the actors was angry, but both could have been done without nudity or profanity. But a G rating was the kiss of death to a couple of wonderful films by Carroll Ballard - Never Cry Wolf and Duma. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2015, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spittake-that-was-rated-g/726778/54 "2015-08-04T16:47:24Z")
Planet of the Apes was rated G even though there was rear male nudity and iirc Andromeda Strain has full frontal (in reflection). ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2015, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spittake-that-was-rated-g/726778/55 "2015-08-04T16:49:32Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > Some people don’t wear/display a _cross_, they wear/display a guy nailed to a couple of pieces of wood. My aunt had a particularly bloody one that, the first time my young self saw it, Was it too big? ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2015, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spittake-that-was-rated-g/726778/56 "2015-08-04T16:56:08Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > They had a scene of Sullivan consorting with a pair of French prostitutes, sans blouses, and Timothy Spall’s character yelling “fuck!” > > As for why, I have no idea. Maybe the director just that nobody under the age of 18 would want to see it, or he wanted to assure theaters that this was a film for grownups, or he never even considered it. It is unlike most of his other films, which tend to be grindingly grim. > > Sure, he wanted to establish that Sullivan was a sensualist, and that one of the actors was angry, but both could have been done without nudity or profanity. > > But a G rating was the kiss of death to a couple of wonderful films by Carroll Ballard - Never Cry Wolf and Duma. Some directors do feel that anything less than an R is a kiddie movie, and there are at least a few examples of them adding objectionable material specifically to get a less family-friendly rating. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2015, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spittake-that-was-rated-g/726778/57 "2015-08-04T17:39:06Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > The utlimate ratings WTF when I was growing up was _Watership Down_. > > Allegedly, when the film was first submitted to the British Board of Film Classification, the BBFC passed the film with a ‘U’ certificate (suitable for all ages) (and, in at least one movie poster, the movie was deliberately marketed not only to children, but to _young_ children). > > I can’t remember how it was rated in Canada, but I remember it was definitely marketed for kids. > > Although it is, basically, an animated movie about talking rabbits (and in my opinion a very good one), it contains much traumatizing material for young children - depictions (very graphic and surreal) of rabbit genocide by poisoin gas, much very realistic violence and gory death (in one case, screaming rabbits are torn apart by a dog on-screen), strongly implied organized rabbit-on-rabbit rape, etc. In one scene, one of the hero rabbits fights with a villian rabbit, and is covered in wounds - while bloody froth drips from his mouth. This, after the villian rabbit has torn the throat out of another one of the heros … > > Makes some profanity and nudity appear positively uplifting. 😃 The movie even has profanity - but in rabbit language! Probably because it was a cartoon featuring animals. I couldn’t get into the book; the movie was much, much better and I actually understood it. ---
**Author:** ![lost4life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@lost4life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lost4life)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2015, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spittake-that-was-rated-g/726778/58 "2015-08-04T18:22:57Z")
> [@madsircool](#): > > Was it too big? Did the power of Christ compel you to write that? ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2015, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spittake-that-was-rated-g/726778/59 "2015-08-04T18:47:31Z")
> [@lost4life](#): > > Did the power of Christ compel you to write that? I think it was the power of Satan. I confused her with the guy who posted the brutal honesty thread in IMHO. :o ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2015, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spittake-that-was-rated-g/726778/60 "2015-08-05T03:13:14Z")
Yes, Wathership Down was a victim of “cartoon = children” syndrome even though historically even general-audience American cartoons always included violent or disturbing content (_Bambi_) and sometimes not so thinly veiled mature content (Tex Avery’s _Red Hot Riding Hood_). With the redefinition of G as something expected to offend no parent, this has had a beneficial effect in allowing for a PG or PG13 rating for animated features and the awareness that there may be some parts that do merit the parental guidance. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spittake-that-was-rated-g/726778.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spittake-that-was-rated-g/726778.md?page=4)