The Voice Of One Crying Out In Suburbia

This is a perverted leap of logic...

CNN.com reports that a new film coming out, "A Dirty Shame", by John Waters has been given an NC-17 rating, which is supposedly the kiss of death in theaters. Of course, the cry and hue is out: this is a right wing conspriacy!

"I think that even just two years ago, the MPAA would have given ("Dirty Shame") an R," , she said. "I think the pressure has to do with the current administration, and (there is) this encroaching feeling constantly of the notion of family values."

How terrible! News flash, family values are NOT NEW. We have let perversion and debauchery encroach on our traditional values, not the other way around. We are finally seeing some backlash, and it is long overdue.

So here is the movie industry complaining that standards are ***GASP*** being enforced. Oddly, when I look at movies I wonder how movies that get a PG-13 rating ever made it with that rating, when not that many years ago they would have been R-rated. Nudity, graphic violence, strong language no longer ensure an "R" rating but rather a "PG-13". How these movies are appropriate for 13 and 14 year olds is beyond me. The ratings system is a sliding standard, a constantly moving target making it almost useless. When you compare a PG-13 movie from 1995 to a PG-13 movie today, the difference is startling.

Here is a news flash: you can make a movie that doesn't have scene after scene of graphic nudity and still have a good film. Thanks to the MPAA for finally giving the appropriate rating to a movie. Monty Python manages to convey ribald humor with a minimum of skin. It is the fault of these producers and directors, who lack the artistic creativity to get their point across without being in your face and constantly pushing the boundaries of decency. Try directing a serious film for a change instead of pushing the soft core porn boundaries.