It’s hard being a Hollywood studio. You want to give your directors free reign to include as many boobs, corpses and gore effects as possible to draw in the older audiences, but what about the children? Won’t somebody please think of the children!? Simpsons references aside, Hollywood has long struggled to maximize their audiences to draw in the most money while still rating movies appropriately for kids.
Thirty years ago, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) introduced a new rating designed to address the middle ground between PG and R, imaginatively naming it PG-13. Since the first PG-13 movie, Red Dawn, was released, Hollywood has taken delight in abusing this rating, pushing a system designed to protect children to its absolute breaking point. As long as the F-words and bare breasts are kept to a minimum, studios can seemingly throw in as many violent deaths as they like in a PG-13 movie, whereas films that integrate nudity or sex naturally into their plots are rarely given the same leeway.
This practice is frustrating on two counts. First, rating extremely violent movies as PG-13 just because there’s a lack of blood on screen isn’t fair to parents who feel that their children shouldn’t be exposed to this kind of imagery. Secondly, it’s also disappointing when adult-themed movies hold back on the mature content simply to make some extra money from selling children’s tickets and subsequent merchandising. This lose-lose situation has prompted both concerned parents and perverts alike to suggest that the MPAA’s rating system needs to be revamped or even removed entirely.
To see what all the fuss is about, read on to discover ten PG-13 movies that definitely should have been rated R.
