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Why Fear the End of the R-Rated Superhero Movie?
brumgrunt writes "Last year, Marvel said that R-rated comic book superhero movies weren't in its future plans. Now, in the light of Watchmen's box office performance, Warner Bros is going the same way, meaning high-profile comic book superhero films will be restricted to the PG-13 rating at most. But is this a bad thing, and should we fear the end of the R-rated superhero movie?"
We should not fear that Warner Bros is ending the R-rated movies. We should fear the fact that one single company has such massive influence that we even bother talking about this.
That's really strange. I went into it expecting it to be violent and gory and came out of it surprised at how low-key it was. Strange how differently we saw it.
Aide-toi, le Ciel t'aidera - Jeanne D'Arc.
Haven't had my morning coffee yet. Irony detector may not be functioning.
Batman Begins: PG-13
The Dark Knight: PG-13
The only movie I saw in the last 12 months was Watchmen. Sure, Spider-man 6 might make a bigger profit, but if you concentrate only on getting the biggest possible slice of the Spider-man 6 demographic, you'll never get any money from people like me, and the industry as a whole will be poorer.
The music business already fell into this trap, churning out countless spice-girl clones in the hope of hitting the jackpot and ignoring the fact that even if they can find a girl-group that outsells the spice girls, there are a lot of potential customers who just don't like that genre.
If the big studios stop making $100m blockbuster R-rated movies, then a smart film company should start leveraging CGI to make $5-$10m ones to tap into that market.
A pizza of radius z and thickness a has a volume of pi z z a
I would have loved to take my nephew (who is 11) to the Watchmen.
Violence was not the issue, the blue schlong was the issue.
For some reasons parents don't mind violence, but show one schlong or some boobies, and that makes the movie off limits.
Pretty screwed up world we live in.
The only thing that people fear is women's naked bodies and maybe some excess swearing. Those movies end up with an R rating. Of course V for Vendetta did get an R so there are still some levels of violence that will garner an R. Things like Dark Knight would have ended up with an R rating in the past. No longer. The boundaries of these things are constantly being pushed. A while back I had the ducts in my house cleaned and we found some old stashed gentlemens magazines. The average Redbook or Vanity Fair magazines have more nudity in them than these old porn magazines did. 10 years from now V for vendetta might also fall into the PG-13 category.
For some reasons parents don't mind violence,
We are born selfish and violent, lashing out (stomping feet, hitting, biting, scratch, hitting, etc) when we don't get want.
but show one schlong or some boobies, and that makes the movie off limits.
OTOH, we don't even start to become sexual beings until the early teen years. (Later, in cultures that aren't so sex-saturated as the US.)
Pretty screwed up world we live in.
Well, yes, but not for the reason you think.
"I don't know, therefore Aliens" Wafflebox1
Personally, I hope they DO lock the big comic book companies into PG-13 (I'd even like to see PG) ratings.
I've thought about this long and hard, but I cannot escape the conclusion that we're being terribly unfair to our kids by turning the stories WE loved as children (as did the generation before us) into fare for adults, just because we don't want to give our toys up to the younger generations.
Yes, the potential for great stories is immense given the formula of old comics + modern day grittiness + Hollywood production techniques, that's a given. I just can't bring myself to let my kids watch the Dark Knight though, it's too violent-in-mindset (worse than fake blood in my opinion). I -LOVED- the movie, but I cannot shake the feeling that we're robbing the next generation because we don't want to grow up, but we want grownup things.
I truly believe it's a disservice to the future and I hope we can correct it.
I would think it is almost the opposite of what you say (in a way).
For most people graphic violence triggers an aversion. While graphic sex triggers a pleasant tingling.
Additioanlly most of us have/will have sex, while most won't even have a chance to gun people down. This makes it easier for violence to be isolated into the pure fantasy realm.
Wow, sent an e-mail as suggested when clicking on "use classic" banner, and got a fast response that addressed my msg
If you think, after having seen it, that Watchmen would be in any way acceptable for an 11 year old, your nephew's parents should get a restraining order.
Let's see, aside from the handful of scenes of graphic violence (sawing off of arms, anyone?), how about the attempted rape, the sex scenes and, yes, the "blue schlong" that nobody can seem to wrap their minds around.
This isn't directed at you, but many people today seem to almost WANT to expose kids to as much adult material as possible. Whether it's to prove they're "enlightened", or because they saw boobies in Nightmare on Elm St when they were 11 and thought it was cool, or what, I don't know. "Pretty screwed up world we live in", indeed.
You can take an 11 year old to an R-rated movie, sure... but as a parent or guardian (IOW- an adult), you're supposed to exercise judgement based on your knowledge of the material, and the maturity of the child. Children DO imitate movies, whether you want to admit it or not. Face it, you yourself probably wish you could fight like Jason Bourne or sleep with pretty much any girl you want, like James Bond... but social structures and fear of looking like a moron (probably) prevent you from acting it out. Those social rules are much less effective on a child, which is why you see them acting out their favorite movie characters on the playground.
In short, and I am sure this is an unpopular opinion these days, children are less capable than adults are when it comes to separating fantasy from reality. Hell, my 9 year old still occasionally asks me "did this really happen?" when we're watching a movie that is at least halfway plausible.
For some reasons parents don't mind violence,
We are born selfish and violent, lashing out (stomping feet, hitting, biting, scratch, hitting, etc) when we don't get want.
About half of us were also born with schlongs.
OTOH, we don't even start to become sexual beings until the early teen years.
It is the product of a sexually repressed society that someone could consider the sight of female breasts or a limp schlong a sexual thing.
People go around naked in many cultures, and I've never heard that it encourages sexual behaviour in children.
In fact, it's the most repressed cultures which tend to exhibit more sexual devian behaviour. Case in point: the catholic church.
Heck, I agree with you: Watchmen is not suitable for an 11 yo. There is too much gratuitous violence (some of it from the HQ, some from the director), people being blown up to pieces, sexual violence, children being beat (and beating other children),murders, realistic sex scenes, complex themes that most 11 yo won't understand.
But it has nothing to do with Dr. Manhattan's penis. It appears because he doesn't care about clothes, not because he is about to have quantum sex with anyone. It is as sexual, in the context of the movie, as his arm or leg - he walks around naked just as a child would. I doubt any children would care about the penis - it's the fucked-up adults that instantly associate it with sexual perversion. Get over it, 50% of the human population have penises.
Besides, it is not even big. Heck, what size are yours to be so obsessed with his?
Where is that guy who'd die defending what I had to say when I need him?
Europe is so ass backwards with its, socialism, communism, capitalism, dictatorships... FFS pick one!
Pick a straw man, you mean?
At least we have a Federal Reserve and a single currency. Are you using Lira or Euros? Pounds or Euros? Duetchmarks or Euros? Franks or Euros?
The continent of North America has a single federal reserve, and US Dollars are the standard currency throughout? I don't think so.
However, suggesting that Europe is LESS screwed up is pretty offensive to the descendants of, and the people, that sacrificed their lives to rescue Europe from the Germans, Russians, and Japanese.
You lose the thread.
Additioanlly most of us have/will have sex,...
Remember, this is Slashdot...
Yeah, I almost feel bad even going for such low-hanging fruit.
My grandmother used anecdotal evidence all the time, and she lived to be 120 years old.
About half of us were also born with schlongs.
And HALF of those have schlorts, if you suffer in the comparison the blue guy, I can see why you'd rather not be reminded that schlongs exist.
This issue is a bit more complicated than you think.
my sister said it was like watching porn
Your sister watches Smurf porn ?!?!
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