Hd — Hollywood
Scapegoats
After several weeks of intense pressure on the entertainment industry to get tough on movie violence, the apparent response has been to get tough on the moviegoers themselves specifically kids under 17 trying to get into an R-rated film.
This seems to suit all sides just fine. The theater chains can claim that they’re really interested in helping enforce movie ratings; President Clinton can take credit for reacting to last spring’s Columbine High School shootings (the source for all the recent hand-wringing); and the movie studios can keep churning out gory fare (public pronouncements aside).
But the promise of stepped-up enforcement by theater chain owners is little more than a charade hardly bearing any resemblance to reality or good sense.
Start with the practicalities. Underage moviegoers looking to get into an R-rated film will simply do what underage moviegoers have done in the 30-plus years they’ve had a rating system: ask someone older not their parents to buy a ticket for them.
The aforementioned moviegoer also could buy a ticket for a “PG” film and then scoot over to the “R” screening without anyone being the wiser. The bigger the multiplex, the easier it is to blend in. And as multiplexes get bigger and bigger these days, their lobbies are being adorned with video games and food stands that generate the lion’s share of theater revenues. Kids, many of them underage, are a big part of those revenues.
Aside from these nuts-and-bolts considerations is a much bigger issue: the public imperative. Before the Colorado massacre, there was little, if any, discussion about keeping kids out of R-rated films, and for a very simple reason: At a time of multiple movie distribution channels (theatrical, video, cable, satellite, computer), the issue has essentially become outdated. It’s been assumed for some time that if teen-agers are looking for violent or sexual fare, they’ll find it.
But let’s be careful here: Frequent exposure to violence in movies, TV shows and video games does not mean that youngsters will be warped enough to believe that it’s OK to walk into a school and shoot up the place. Even if a connection can be made in a few random cases let’s say one in a million it hardly justifies upending existing economic and social patterns.
Instead of using Hollywood or the theater owners as convenient scapegoats, attention should be focused on the more relevant circumstances behind those random cases. That includes parental responsibility and involvement, appropriate intervention on the part of teachers and school administrators, and much tighter safeguards regarding the purchase of firearms.
These are not, of course, quick fixes. Besides a huge commitment of time and money, what’s required is a stable, nurturing environment (often missing in the homes of kids who go nuts). Which raises the most critical need: Getting parents and others who have the biggest influence on youngsters to reflect on the standards they themselves are setting. If the adults don’t represent beacons of morality and common sense, why on Earth would teenagers be any different?
That’s a tall order, and you don’t get there by checking for photo IDs at the neighborhood multiplex.
