Since MPAA implemented the film system rating on November 1, 1968, as a response to massive citizen complaints about the appearance and increase of explicit sexual content, graphic violence and profanity, violence and sexuality continue to push the boundaries in many films today. The most recent film that I watched was Watchmen. This is a movie based off a comic book, but its story is actually overshadowed by strong sexual scenes and some brutal graphic violence. As a young adult, I feel that I am mature enough to handle some adult humor, but some movies such as this one have made me reconsider my more adult choices.
I know I should have done more research prior to going to see The Watchmen, but based off the commercials and my love for action-packed movies, I thought that this would be something like Batman or other beloved comic book super heroes. Silly me. But even after I got out of the movie, I realized that with many R rated movies they seem to push the sexuality and violence envelope rather than a good planned-out storyline or theme. With today’s sex-and-violence-crazed society, many feel that in order to get large masses of audiences, someone has to take their top off or even gruesomely get their head bashed in with an axe. A prime example of this was the new remake of Friday the 13th. Sitting there next to my boyfriend and some thirteen- and fourteen-year-old kids, who obviously snuck in, I constantly covered my eyes, not just from the violent images, but from the constant nudity and sex. I practically missed the whole movie due to it being 75 percent full frontal. Compared to the older versions of the movie, this one completely re-defined how much sex is actually too much. With movies today, it is hard to think that at one time movies with sexually-suggestive images and violence were frowned upon.
I think I’ll stick to PG and PG-13 movies such as Coraline, Kung Fu Panda and Madagascar. At least I know with those movies I can keep my eyes open.