The Unprecedented Effect of Movies We Watch

The prevalence of excessive violence in recent Rated-R and PG-13 movies in America has been conspicuous and the effect of being exposed to constant violent media is known to have serious negative effects on viewers. Sexual contents in American films are very restricted to viewers, for including only a couple of swear words in a movie could have it rated Rated R. However, the exposure to constant sexual contents in movies are known to have an effect on the viewers that could actually be worse than the effects of violent media. A research was conducted in University of Missouri where over 1,200 kids between the ages of 12 and 14 were asked the number of movies they have watched that contained sexual scenes. The scientists later followed up with the participants and they found out that teenagers and young adults who have answered that they have watched a large number of movies that contained sexual contents when they were young were more likely to become sexually active at a younger age and were more likely to engage in risky behavior such as not using condoms during sexual intercourse. 

We all have watched many PG-13 movies and Rated-R movies that contain sexual contents. It is very scary to think that while we watch these movies, our brains become naturally affected by the sexual images and it ultimately affects our views and actions towards sexuality. The effects really differ from person to person but next time you watch a movie with sexual references, it won't be a bad idea to keep in mind that the sexual images we see could be subconsciously affecting our brains.

Not so PG-13

As I have been doing some research on CARA (Classification & Ratings Administration), for my Junior-theme why question, which is "why in American films, sexuality is considered more unsuitable to the audiences than violence?", I realized that I really have no clue how to answer my why question. I have read a couple articles online and a part of a book so far but no answer was found for why sexuality is considered more harmful to viewers than violence in American movies. For this blog post I will write about one of the biggest questions I had when I was researching about this topic, whitish focuses on one specific film rating: PG-13.

 The question is, why is violence so prevalent in PG-13 films, especially in modern films? Violent scenes in PG-13 movies nowadays are quite tremendous. People getting pierced by bullets, stabbed by knives countless times, engulfed in bomb blasts, crushed by debris,  etc.... The ways of people getting killed in PG-13 movies are becoming more elaborated and gruesome as days go by. The same can be said with horror scenes in PG-13 horror movies, but the overload of violence in recent PG-13 movies is way more concerning. A research by Ohio University shows that the number of PG-13 movies that contains gun violence has tripled since the rating first came out in 1985. Researchers feared that the huge increase in gun actions in PG-13 movies could strengthen the weapons effect and could cause teens to become interested in using them. I believe not only movies but games like Call of Duty or Battlefield, which are war games that has the players shooting their opponents to death, could add fuel to the fire of teens becoming less cautious to using guns.  Sexuality in PG-13 movies is at most actors using curse words or words that indicate sexual content. The lack of balance between the amount of violence and sexuality allowed in PG-13 movies is obvious but the reason behind MPAA handling sexual contents more strictly is just a mystery.

Although I'm still in the midst of a long research to go, I feel like I can get some good answers to my why question if I research more about the prevailing violence in PG-13 movies.

Autism Rate on the Rise

The number of children in America who are diagnosed with autism has been increasing significantly each year. This year, the number of children diagnosed with autism was 1 in every 68, which was marked as an increase of 30% from 2 years ago when it was 1 in every 88. The CDC has also reported that the number of people in color who are diagnosed with autism is on the rise.

The definition of autism is known to have changed in the past couple years. The CDC states that the autism we see now is not similar to what was diagnosed as autism 20 years ago when the number first shot up. In the past, autism had been considered as an intellectual disability but now research shows that kids with average or above average IQs could be diagnosed with autism. (Read the article
here)
What is considered important now is to recognize that autism is not a rare disorder anymore and that each individual gets the best help they can get. Autism is a lifelong disorder and the family must give the best environment for people with autism to live in. The problem is, compared to the number of autism rising, there aren't enough trained professionals for the disorder especially in poor areas where there is still disparity for the knowledge of disease itself. I believe  New Trier gives a first class support to kids who have autism or any other mental disabilities but the majority of high schools in America is not even close to where they should be. With the number surely increasing each year, it will be a matter of time before this becomes a grave issue in the country unless a solution is proposed soon.

X-Rated Films

As I was researching about the film rating system (CARA) for my Junior Theme topic during class today, I came across a very interesting article. The article talked about a rating system that once existed in the past but is gone now. Once famous in society for it's unique name as a rating system back then, the X-rating has completely vanished lately.

When the original film rating system was launched in 1968, there were only four ratings: G, M, R, and X. Off course, X-rated movies were meant for adults only because it contained extreme sexual or violent content. It was originally aimed at viewers over the age eighteen but it later got lowered to seventeen. We now recognize X-rated films as NC-17 rated films. When I asked Mr.Bolos about it, he said that X-rated movies were a common thing when he was a teenager. He also said that not many people bothered to watch X-rated movies in the theaters because they wouldn't want to be judged by people around them.

So what was the reason behind the X-rated film's disappearance? The poor industry booms in the 70's played some role in it but the main reason for it's demise was the failure of trademark. When creating the X-rating system, the MPAA didn't copyright it. Because of this, the pornography industry exploited the X. Adults films started to use multiple X's to promise it's increase in the adult material. Soon the X became tied with the meaning "hardcore", and mainstream film industries distanced themselves from the X. Shortly after the X-rating got changed to NC-17.

The irony that the name of a system created solely for the purpose of warning the viewers of adult content is now used to represent modern pornography is incredible.  

The Film Rating System

Why do we have the film movie rating system(CARA)? As a big movie guy myself, I believe this is a fundamental question in the cinema world that gets overlooked a lot. However, this might be because when you think about it, the asnwer is just too obvious and yes, it is. Today's film rating system was established to give the parents a general information they need to decide if the film is appopriate for the family. Many people believe that the PG-13 rating was created for a specific age group like the Rated-R rating. It was actually created to simply warn the parents that PG-13 movies have elements more extreme than PG or G movies and that they should look into the contents of the movie more to make sure their children can watch it.
 
What I thought was the most interesting thing was the fact that the CARA is continuously evolving so that it fits the current sensitivities of the family. It is said that elements in movies such as violence, drug use, language, sexuality are periodically re-evaluated through surveys. I question how sensitivities towards these elements could change over time. Are people becoming numb to these elements by being exposed to them so much? How extreme will these elements become in the future? The ultimate purpose of CARA is for films to be connected to the appopraite audiences but I feel like this fundamental rule is slowly being compromised.

Read the full article here.

Is There a Difference?

“Because we saw so many people die, we became so used to it,” a prison camp survivor from North Korea had told the commission. North Korea, the country that had caused numerous worldwide disorders in the past, has now revealed it’s true form of a brutal state “that does not have any parallel in the contemporary world.”  The commission traced the origins of the abuses and found out they are directly related to the North Korean government. They are referring to the International Criminal Court for a possible prosecution. A letter was sent to Kim Jong Un as a warning that he might be facing prosecution for crime against humanity. The commission is censuring world leaders for not taking action in spite of knowing such a terrible incident. If you would like to read more, click here.

Nevertheless I believe America is not at a position to have the right to say such things. The actin by the commission made me think the times in the past America had supposedly “helped” other countries but ended up sowing the seeds of discord. For example, in the Vietnam war, America had many soldiers and civilians die in vain and ended up causing more chaos and damage to the country in the end. Same with what happened in Iraq and in Afghanistan. America have been doing things that aren't that much different than what North Korea is doing right now. If America is taking action about what is happening in North Korea right now, I really hope we think about it carefully so we don't repeat the mistakes we have made in the past.

What do you think America should do?

Opening Ceremony Malfunction

While watching the opening ceremony for Sochi Winter Olympic 2014 with my family, we were astonished by the flawlessness of the process until we saw a major malfunction, which was during the climax of the ceremony. As we can see in the two pictures, the picture on the top shows the malfunction. The top right snowflake is seen not opening like the other ones; the six snowflakes were supposed to get bigger and form the Olympic symbol of the five rings. Countries, including America, aired the opening ceremony with the malfunction except for the country that the opening ceremony actually took place in, Russia. When airing the opening ceremony in Russia, the Russian state television swapped the footage with a one from a rehearsal, which is the second photo right before the malfunction happened,

As Mr.Bolos had mentioned in class before, the Russian state television is under the heavy influence of the Russian government. It is known that president Vladimir Putin had repeatedly emphasized the importance of making Russian flawless to the world during the Olympics. It goes without saying that the swapping of the footages was under the directions of the government trying to make Russia look flawless to the world, at least in the country. The philosophy of Russia trying to show itself flawless during the Olympic, where billions of people's attention is at, is completely understandable. But the government's decision of covering up the footage told the world something that is far away from flawless.

How do you think the people in Russia felt when they learned about this malfunction being covered up? Do you think this changed how Russia is seen in the world?