Friday, October 16, 2009

Where Have All the G Rated Movies Gone

So to start off I would like to mention that I work at an after school program/summer camp back in my hometown and whenever we play a movie for the kids there it has to be rated G. This got me thinking a while back that while I was growing up there were a lot of G rated movies hitting the theaters and these days there are not that many coming out from what I have seen. I also have noticed that most PG rated movies that have been coming out in the past few years would most likely have been rated G back when I was a kid. I also look at shows that are TV these days and wonder to myself where shows like Looney Toons and Cat Dog have gone. I mean there really isn't anymore jokes going on in the cartoon shows that are even similar to those that happened on shows when I was growing up. I remember showing a quick episode of Cat Dog at the after school program once and it just so happened that Dog let out a belch that was more like a dragon breathing fire and cat turned into a pile of ashes. While I was watching that I noticed that parent that had come into pick up their child had covered their kid's eyes right as Cat turned into a pile of ashes. All I could think at that point was why the parent would do that when more than likely they watched similar jokes happening on TV when they were growing up. A prime example would probably be the Duck Season/Rabbit Season joke that happened occasionally between Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny which ended up with Daffy getting his beak either blown off or having it spin around his head really fast since it was shot. All this really makes me wonder if the regulations for rating and what can be shown on TV are getting stricter or if people are just becoming to uptight to want to show things like this. In the end I just got to wonder where have all the G rated movies gone.

3 comments:

  1. That's a funny question I never really thought of until you mentioned it. I don't even think they make G-rated movies anymore. All the little kid movies tend to be PG. I'm not sure if the rating system has got more strict or its the fact that little kids movies have grown increasingly more for adults as well. Think of the Shrek movies, they had quite a bit of adult humor even though they were geared towards children.

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  2. A think its a little bit of both. However, I think part of it is we're in an extreme time right now. Everybody wants to push the envelop and portray realism. And that's a good thing, but its not a good thing for the youngins.

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  3. I know that the GLOBE used to run a column discussing taking kids to films.... It seems to me that while it might be harder to find G films in theaters, there is a real explosion of titles for rent/sale. The market for theatrical film is real skewed towards a demographic that looks folks like you and your COMM 229 comrades.... I think the market makes up for it by aiming for the home video market for the kiddies...

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