Alan: We Become What We Perceive.
At left, a scene from “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” (1986). At right, an image from “Thor: The Dark World” (2013). Both are rated PG-13.
Study Finds Violence, Guns On The Rise In PG-13 Films
What do the movies “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” and last weekend’s superhero action flick “Thor: The Dark World” have in common? They’re both rated PG-13.
A recent study published in the journal Pediatrics finds that movies with PG-13 ratings have become increasingly violent. It says that violence in films has more than doubled since 1950, and gun violence in PG-13 films has more than tripled since 1985.
It also found that since 2009, PG-13 films have contained as much or more violence as R-rated films.
Dan Romer, director of the Adolescent Communication Institute of the Annenberg Public Policy Center, was co-author of the study and joins Here & Now’s Jeremy Hobson to discuss the findings.
Interview Highlights: Dan Romer
On how gun violence has tripled in PG-13 films since 1985
“It started out as a new rating category in that year, and it was supposed to distinguish between PG films that were a little more edgy versus those that were not. And so, you would expect it to just be a little bit on the high-end of the PG rating. And that’s where it started, but then over time, it gradually increased to the point where it really skyrocketed over the last 10 years or so. And what we were really shocked to find was that, when it comes to gun violence, the amount of gun violence in the PG-13 category is now higher than what you would see in a top-grossing R-rated movie.”
On the “weapons effect”
“So the ‘weapons effect’ is a phenomenon that has been studied over and over again, and Brad Bushman is the expert on that, but basically, when people see a weapon, fright immediately comes to mind, the possibility of violence, aggression, and this has been shown over and over again. When you interview young people who are in juvenile detention facilities, and you ask them about guns and what guns mean to them, they mean they are a symbol of the ability to exert brutal force on other people. As a result, they end up feeling the need to have guns and so we’re thinking that the graphic portrayal of gun violence in this category could actually be a contributor to the effect over the years.”
On why the R rating still applies to sex, but not violence
“When we look at films over time, we notice the R rating has consistently been applied to films with sex, so the MPAA and their ratings board seem to feel that’s appropriate and hasn’t changed very much in its standards for that. What have changed are the standards for violence dramatically. And that’s where we have this inconsistency. It probably has something to do with the need to create a larger audience for some of these ‘blockbuster action films.’”
Guest
- Dan Romer, director of the Adolescent Communication Institute at the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg Public Policy Center.
Transcript
JEREMY HOBSON, HOST:
It's HERE AND NOW. The film rating PG-13 has been around since the mid-1980s, after an uproar about this film.
(SOUNDBITE OF MOVIE, "INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM")
(SOUNDBITE OF GUNFIRE)
HOBSON: In case you can't tell, that is the 1984 action adventure film "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom," which contained quite a few violent moments, including the iconic scene where a man's heart is ripped out of his chest. But that is nothing compared to what's in PG-13 films today, according to a new study from the journal Pediatrics, which finds the amount of gun violence in PG-13 films has more than tripled since the '80s. Here's a scene from the PG-13 movie "G.I. Joe: Retaliation," which came out in March.
(SOUNDBITE OF MOVIE, "G.I. JOE: RETALIATION")
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: (As character) But I only press it for a price: total allegiance.
(SOUNDBITE OF GUNFIRE)
HOBSON: Sounds like "Indiana Jones." Joining us to talk about some of the findings from the study is Dan Romer, director of the Adolescent Communication Institute at the Annenberg Public Policy Center. He's with us from Philadelphia. Dan, thanks for joining us.
DAN ROMER: Thank you.
HOBSON: Well, first let's talk about these numbers. Your study finds that gun violence has more than tripled in PG-13 films since 1985.
ROMER: Yeah, that's right. I mean, it started out as a new rating category in that year, and it was supposed to distinguish between PG films that were a little more edgy versus those that were not, and so you would expect it to just be a little bit on the high end of the PG rating, and that's where it started.
But then over time, it gradually increased to the point where it really skyrocketed over the last 10 years or so, and what we were really shocked to find was that when it comes to gun violence, the amount of gun violence in the PG-13 category is now higher than what you would see in a top-grossing R-rated movie.
HOBSON: And why did you look at gun violence in particular, as opposed to all violence?
ROMER: We've looked at all violence in the past, and so have others, but with the Sandy Hook event last year, Congress asked the National Science Foundation to propose some research and summarize what we know about gun violence, including in the media. And Brad Bushman, who was one of the authors of the paper, and I realized that we really don't know how much gun violence there is in popular media other than maybe video games.
So we thought we should look at that in popular, top-grossing movies, and that's why we focused in on it, because these films are seen, the PG-13 films are seen by anybody who walks into a theater, which gives the movie industry a lot bigger audience, but it also potentially reaches a lot of kids who may be at risk of thinking that guns are a glamorous way to resolve disputes and conflicts.
HOBSON: And for people who are listening to you and saying, well, wait a minute, how are you making a connection between PG-13 gun violence and Sandy Hook, you point to something called the weapons effect. Tell us about that.
ROMER: So the weapons effect is a phenomenon that's been studied over and over again, and Brad Bushman is the expert on that, but basically when people see a weapon, fright immediately comes to mind, the possibility of violence, aggression, and this has been shown over and over again.
And when you interview young people who are in juvenile detention facilities, and you ask them about guns and what do guns mean to them, they mean they're a symbol of the ability to exert brutal force on other people. As a result, they end up feeling the need to have guns, and so we're thinking that the graphic portrayal of gun violence in this category could actually be a contributor to that effect over the years.
HOBSON: You write that youth learned to solve problems by observing how others solve similar problems.
ROMER: Yeah, adults, and of course we led off the article with the example of James Holmes, who actually reenacted The Joker and went into a movie theater when they were showing "The Dark Knight," you know, to do what he did. And that's totally anecdotal, but, you know, we think that can be happening to a lot of kids who are - don't have parental guidance. You need any guidance to walk into a theater with a PG-13 rating. And these kids are potentially vulnerable.
HOBSON: So what are you suggesting be done here? Because - do you think that they should just make all PG-13 movies R-rated, or should there be less gun violence in general in the movies? What?
ROMER: Yeah, we would like to see less, but at a minimum we would like to see the industry move back to what they used to do, which is treat violence at that level as R, because that's what they used to do. The films that - for example the "Die Hard" series used to be rated R. Now the latest version of that is PG-13.
"The Terminator" series used to be R, and the latest version of that is PG-13. We think they ought to go back to calling these films R, which is what they really should be. There should be an adult or someone at least 17 accompanying someone younger to a theater to see that kind of content.
HOBSON: Well, and I should at this point probably tell what the MPAA, the Motion Picture Association of America, has to say about this. They say there may be depictions of violence in a PG-13 movie but generally not both realistic and extreme or persistent violence, so the idea being that the violence is not realistic, it's not something that somebody who watches the movie would want to re-create.
ROMER: Well, that's their opinion. We think that there needs to be more research on this. But, you know, we certainly don't think that the standards for that should be any different than the standards they use for sex. I mean, sex goes into the R category, and there's research that shows that juveniles who watch a lot of that will potentially get the idea of having unprotected or early sex, and the same thing would be true for graphic displays of violence.
There's a lot of research that shows that that can be harmful. So we don't see why they would hold, you know, a standard for sex that would require an R rating and now hold a similar standard for this kind of violence. It just, you know, it seems inconsistent.
HOBSON: Well, just to give people a sense of what kind of movies have also had this PG-13 rating, I want to take a listen to an early PG-13 movie, this is from 1986. Here's a clip from Ferris Bueller's Day Off."
(SOUNDBITE OF MOVIE, "FERRIS BUELLER'S DAY OFF")
EDIE MCCLURG: (As Grace) Makes you look like a (beep) is what he does, Ed.
JEFFREY JONES: (As Ed Rooney) Thank you, Grace. I think you're wrong.
MCCLURG: (As Grace) Oh, well he's very popular, Ed. The sportos and motorheads, geeks, (beep), bloods, wastoids, dweebies, they all adore it. They think he's a righteous dude.
(LAUGHTER)
HOBSON: Now Dan, I've seen that movie about 1,000 times. I can't be exactly sure, but I think that's about as bad as it gets.
ROMER: Yeah, really. I mean, I guess that's why they put it into PG-13 rather than PG. You know, it's a little edgy. There are some scenes, you know, where they drive cars at a fast pace and potentially have accidents. So I think they probably thought that that might be less appropriate for someone under 13. But yeah, that's probably a very appropriate assignment for that film.
HOBSON: How do you think we have gotten to the point where sex has such a higher bar in the movies for the ratings than violence?
ROMER: It always has. When we look at films over time, you'll notice that the R rating has consistently been applied to films with sex. So the MPAA and their ratings board seems to feel that that's appropriate, and it hasn't changed very much in its standards for that. What have changed are the standards for violence dramatically.
And that's where we have this, you know, inconsistency. It probably has something to do with the need to create a larger audience for some of these quote-unquote blockbuster action films.
HOBSON: Dan Romer is director of the Adolescent Communication Institute at the Annenberg Public Policy Center. Dan, thanks so much.
ROMER: Thank you, Jeremy.
HOBSON: And let us know what you think. Should the PG-13 rating be tougher to get? Are violent movies partly to blame for violence in real life? You can share your thoughts at hereandnow.org. This is HERE AND NOW. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
No comments:
Post a Comment