Everything Also Complain

From ‘New PG13 rating introduced’, 15 July 2011, article in asiaone.com

The Media Development Authority (MDA) today introduced a new classification rating, PG13, for shows on TV, movies, or on DVD.

Ms Grace Fu, Senior Minister of State for Information, Communications and the Arts, announced this at an event at the National Library on Friday morning.

PG13 is an advisory rating that falls between the PG or Parental Guidance rating, and NC16, which is a restricted rating for those aged 16 and above.

She explained: “For instance, for a movie like The Dark Knight, which I am told contained themes of fear and menace, is now classified as PG when it may not be suitable for the very young ones. NC 16 on the other hand, may be too restrictive. With this new PG13 rating, parents of young children can be better guided in their media choices.”

Based on Grace Fu’s reasoning, all 7 Harry Potter movies should have been rated PG-13, for having ‘dark’ themes like black magic, implied murder and ‘fear’ of Lord Valdemort. And yet no such ratings exist for the books,  which any child below 13 can buy off the shelves and immerse in the gritty details themselves, only because no parent has the time to screen JK Rowling’s material before dispensing ‘guidance’ to their kids about how evil the dark arts are. Why are we shielding children from ‘fear and menace’ when this is already happening in schools in a more debilitating form? (Fear of failure, menacing bullies, parents and psychotic teachers). Why are parents reading ‘Three Little Pigs’ to their kids then? (Fear of house blowing down, menace of Big Bad Wolf).

The ‘G’ rating is practically unheard of, and usually spells box office disaster for films, almost entirely cartoons, bearing this sterile rating. Does the G-rated ‘Sammy’s Adventures’ ring a bell? (Plot: A sea turtle travels the world while it is being changed by global warming. Sounds like an epic adventure already. Doesn’t he at least get chased by a shark?) Even seemingly innocuous animation films like ‘Legend of the Guardians:The Owls of Ga Hoole’, ‘Madagascar’ and even the Spongebob Squarepants movie were slapped with a PG rating. So does it really matter if Transformers:Dark Side of the Moon were rated PG-13 (if the first shot of the female lead’s curvy posterior is anything to go by) or PG? ‘Parental guidance’ is an obsolete concept because parents don’t ‘guide’ anymore; they either prevent their kids from viewing films altogether or just wait for them to ask Daddy questions such as what’s a woman doing lying semi naked in a man’s bed.

It’s ironic that the Classification Guidelines published by MDA should itself be given a R21 rating. Just look at the filth it contains below. The expletive ‘pundai’ (Tamil equivalent of cunt) is totally new to me, not to mention to any kid smart enough to look up this document himself to answer the question ‘Why PG13?’

 It’s also strange how they muffled the F word in this table, but allowed it in all its uncensored glory earlier in the document.

Coarse language and gestures with sexual connotations are not allowed in G films as they are easily imitated by young children. In PG13 films, expletives such as ‘fuck’ may be permitted if infrequent. Stronger language is acceptable in NC16 films. When classifying M18 and R21 films, consideration would be given to the degree of offensiveness (i.e. vulgarity and religious association) and frequency of such language.

Here’s the guidelines again on the differences in the extent of nudity allowable in a PG and a PG13 film.

PG: Discreet portrayal of back nudity is allowed if it is brief and in a nonsexual context. Full frontal and side nudity is not allowed.

PG13 Discreet and fleeting side profile nudity may be allowed in a non-sexual context. Full frontal nudity is not allowed. However, infrequent portrayal of female frontal nudity of the upper body may be allowed only under exceptional circumstances and in a non-sexual context. For example, films which feature historical or dramatised events such as the World War II Holocaust, tribal ways of life, or health programmes.

I’ve no idea what ‘side nudity’ means, does it mean an adult woman with a side view of her breasts exposed? What about a woman with her ‘side-view’ buttocks and thighs exposed but not her breasts? What about those positions in between a back and side nudity, where you can see a bit of both back and front? Is a topless man allowed in a PG film?What about full frontal naked 7 year olds? Or breastfeeding? What about an attractive woman doing a mammogram, compared to say, a granny?

This sub-classification is simply creating further ambiguity within itself and words like ‘discreet’, ‘infrequent’ and ‘fleeting’ are all annoyingly subjective.  It trivialises adolescence as a period not only hopelessly vulnerable to filmic elements, but one that can be segregated neatly in terms of how ready you are to handle words like ‘fuck’ or ‘side nudity’. Today’s 12 twelve year olds are no longer what they used to be 20 years ago, at the rate they’re already being exposed to ‘Strong and realistic depictions of violence and gore’ (R21 Violence) from video games and the Internet. PG 13 also serves as an excuse for the censors to snip offending parts of NC-16 films just to make the cut (pun intended) for the lower, more accessible rating. So although it appears that the MDA is making more options available, this is an unnecessary step backward in our bid to be a more open, mature society.  They forgot the ‘single print’ rating though, which you’re likely to see more often than a G rated movie these days.

Filed under: 2011, Bureaucrats, Cartoons, Censors, Film, Foul language, Kids, Nudity, Politicians, Sex, Violence Tagged: | Cartoons, censors, censorship, Film, Kids, MDA, Nudity, Politicians, Sex, Violence