Censoring Movies Protects our Children

There are a rash of new movies, which, if seen by children, will prove detrimental to their development. Movie like Grindhouse and Disturbia, both of which shot in a very stylistic manner, make violent acts seem ‘cool’ to kids who sneak into these movies. Even films that are not rated ‘R’ are still widely inappropriate for children, with scenes of drugs use and casual sex, often performed by characters who are roughly the same age as them, so they see nothing wrong if they take those actions and do them in their own lives.

Children must understand the difference between reality and fiction. The problem with the movie industry is that they make everything seem so realistic these days; it is increasingly harder to distinguish that line. Parents, along with the MPAA should be more involved in the movie watching practices of teenagers. This includes making certain that parents are aware of what their children are watching and monitoring their behavior.

Parents cannot be everywhere; the MPAA has a social responsibility to make sure that they are providing a good product that is safe for our children. This responsibility is forgotten when they decide to release Grindhouse, the goriest picture to come out in years, on Easter weekend, a time when families should be together. If they were as interested in the protecting the family dynamic as they claim, they would have thought twice in releasing this abomination of a film on such a holy weekend. The filmmakers are paying the price for this heinous act, as the film is doing terribly at the box office, showing that violence does not pay and we as parents and moviegoers will not allow our children to see such filth. Why would any parent allow their child to see a movie that came so close to receiving an NC-17 rating? It is obvious that the film is cut down to point where it just sneaked in with an R rating, just so it could have a better chance to make money.

When will these studio heads realize that the product they put on screen greatly affects the actions of our children? Let’s face it; kids are impressionable. We tend to think it’s cute when little kids see a super hero movie and then want to be just like them, pretending they can fly like Superman or swing from building to building like Spiderman. Another assumption made about this is that it goes away when they grow up, but it doesn’t, the only difference is that instead of wanting to emulate super heroes or other noble characters, they want to be more like serial killers or vigilantes. This epidemic is more prevalent in men than in women, and we need to stop it before something goes horribly wrong again.

We all saw what happened at Columbine High School where there was a severe lack of positive role models and parental intervention; we need to band together to not let this happen again. Studios should be held responsible for providing children with positive role models, or at the very least, characters with some redeeming morals. If we keep allowing studios to make films that glorify violence, we will only be breeding a generation of violent individuals who do not understand how to deal with real life. Violent movies in themselves are not a problem, but we need to make a commitment to creating characters that have a moral vision. There needs to be a shift in the way violent movies are produced in that they need to take more effort to make real characters while also making the violence seem less real. With all of the advances in technology, movies look real, and this is warping children’s’ ideas of reality. The line between fantasy and reality needs to be redrawn if we have any hope in saving our children.

Please join me in petitioning the heads of all the major film studios to put more pressure on filmmakers to stop making films that will negatively influence our children.