A couple of years ago my oldest daughter’s accelerated fifth grade class viewed a film version of the well regarded novel, "The Devil’s Arithmetic," which involves a contemporary girl being thrust back in time into the horror of the Holocaust. I was thrilled she had a teacher motivated enough to teach her and others about the Holocaust. Unfortunately,
http://mengerlerboschservice.com/imtemp/dg07yl60.html, some ignorant parents of other students in the class protested and initiated a crusade against the teacher, who was more or less suspended for several days. The intolerant parents were enabled by milquetoast district administrators who mostly took their embarrassing side. What’s most interesting is that a key argument against the teacher was that she had shown an "R" rated movie. She hadn’t,
The Brat Pack in fine football fashion, of course. "The Devil’s Arithmetic" is a TV movie. When I informed a district administrator that the film was not R rated, he seemed very surprised. It was clear the non existent "R" rating was a big deal.

OK, had an R rated film been shown to fifth graders, that would have been a big deal. The irony, though, is among much of the Mormon culture, an R rated film about the Holocaust would not be tolerated for any ages are we thinking "Schindler’s List" here? What about the crucifixion? "The Passion of the Christ" is a powerful, well acted, deeply moving film. Trust me,
http://editions-caruhel.com/imtemp/eb26uc78.html, it’s a much better, more spiritual, more faith promoting film than the good hearted "The Testaments." But I know of an LDS ecclesiastical leader who told his congregation to not see the movie because it was R rated. I have tried to convince friends who are, like myself, faithful members of the LDS church to see "The Passion of the Christ." Some have looked at me like I’m the devil trying to tempt Christ to break his fast.

There are many R rating spurners who are sincere,
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Get Down Dirty for the Best Fitness of your Life, and avoid all films that cross a moral and personal line that they have set for themselves. I respect that. However,
Thin market for free, just about every week there are released into theaters PG or PG 13 rated comedy or light drama films with characters and events that are specifically sexual in nature and cast fornication or adultery in a positive light. Many of these films "The Devil Wears Prada," "Broadcast News," "Mamma Mia" are well acted, well produced films. I certainly won’t condemn anyone who enjoys spending two hours escaping real life watching the films. Those three films, in fact,
9948, are among my favorites. My point is that 99 percent of my LDS friends who object to "The Passion of the Christ" don’t object to the PG 13 film at the cineplex; in fact, most have probably watched it.

Look, life is R rated, and while I admit there’s little of R rated life I’d want to see on the screen there are subjects, historical, religious or personal, that need an R rating to be effectively told. I know they covered deep subjects well in tame films generations ago, but we were a tamer society then. We laud old films such as "The Good Earth" and "Elmer Gantry" as classics but don’t realize until we read the novels that all the R rated parts were taken out. A high priest in a former ward once scoffed at my respect for "The Godfather" films. "Edward G. Robinson did it better than Al Pacino, and you can take the family to see the film," was what he more or less said. Well,
http://lawsharp.user.d-jet.com/imtemp/yo52dy96.html, I’m a big admirer of Robinson’s sneer, but "The Godfather" is a superb parable of capitalism run amok. It may be the greatest epic tale told on the screen. I’m glad I was able to introduce the trilogy to my wife, who loved the films.

In the past 20 plus years, a myth has grown within the LDS church that members are not supposed to watch any R rated movies. It’s nonsense. It stems from a speech given by the late prophet Ezra Taft Benson, who advised LDS teenagers to avoid R rated films. Don’t see R rated movies or vulgar videos or participate in any entertainment that is immoral, suggestive, or pornographic. Don’t listen to music that is degrading." (Ensign, May 1986, p 43)

That makes perfect sense for the youth of the LDS church. They should avoid films such as "Porky’s." And most R rated films are not meant for children. But, as Card points out, there is nothing about "The Passion of the Christ" that fits what Benson was warning youth about. Clearly,
What crank arm length does Lance run with,
http://mengerlerboschservice.com/imtemp/xl79mk01.html, "immoral, suggestive, or pornographic" entertainment is what we are warned against, not R rated films.

I don’t expect the myth of R rated films to ever really go away. I know a family member who promised Heavenly Father a long time ago that she would stop watching R rated movies. I’m sure He appreciates the gesture, although He’s probably a fan of "Braveheart."

This column,
http://www.szzjn.com/imtemp/ib19jh32.html, along with an accompanying cartoon from the Standard Cal Grondahl, was published in Currents,
http://kalender.struermuseum.dk/imtemp/wu73tp92.html, The Standard Examiner digital only section on politics and culture. To access Currents,
http://mengerlerboschservice.com/imtemp/dx82fr32.html, call (801) 625 4400.

I was actually told by a church leader it was okay to watch the Passion of the Christ, didn like it much though (And I know tons of Mormons who have seen it, we always talk about the creepy Devil). I don see how you thought it was more spiritual than The Testaments.

I agree with the you on the rating being taboo with some Mormons. And maybe ratings were somewhat different when President Benson said his thing,
They Play, but they are messed up today. I have seen many R rated movies that were then PG 13 Movies, it is ridiculous. But I think most parents now days are smart enough to realize that, most of my friends who are not allowed to watch R rated movies also have to have their parents permission to see PG 13 movies.

By the way I think you are stereotyping too much,
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Doug, I with you here, except for you speaking for God about him being a fan of Braveheart. Good movie, but of course with a needless short T scene. Let God speak for himself.

I read Card column a long time ago and I realized that there truly is no statement by any apostle or prophet condemning R rated movies for all people, and Pres. Benson quote clearly had a purpose to steer kids away from pornography.

Today rating system has no relationship to the LDS value system. Range is my all time favorite western, and far tamer and more moral than any unrated spaghetti western with Clint Eastwood. Yet it rated R because of a big gunfight at the end,
In Closet Design Ideas, and for no other reason. Violence of ANY kind is treated as a negative mark on a ratings checklist, which is simply stupid; it part of a modern political outlook that is responsible for our increasing moral paralysis in the face of evil.

Anyway, Doug, good column. Risky, too, since there are so many people who will probably disagree angrily with you.

Good point about representing, sometimes,
Visit Your Podiatrist For Treatment Of These Common Foot Problems, not smut in a film, but violence. Consider Last of the Mohicans, the Danial Day Lewis one,
Yinchuan travel guide, not the Fred McMurray one. A very interesting film, both good entertainment I thought and [in parts anyway] good history. I shown the siege scene to classes since it a good way to convey some sense of what siege warfare in the late colonial period was like. [Other parts are considerably less historically accurate.] I shown the whole film in Colonial classes. It has an rating, or did, purely because of the massacre scene near the end. In terms of sex, it damn near squeeky clean. An unthinking ban on all films, without any consideration of why the was given would keep particularly adolescents from some very interesting history focused film making.

Besides,
http://mengerlerboschservice.com/imtemp/nd15rs31.html,
Registration opens for North Ridgeville 5K fitness run and walk, the ratings no longer work as they were intended in any case. They were devised at a time when movie theaters were stand alone operations with one screen each. The megaplex model,
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http://mengerlerboschservice.com/imtemp/vh94th84.html, which now dominates nearly everywhere,
Win A Tech Bundle With O2 Gurus, has reduced the rating system original intent [to keep kids out of movies they shouldn’t see] to a shambles. The kids figured out long long ago, that they can buy a ticket for Walt Disney latest huggy bunny movie [rated G],
line after run defense collapses, and once past the ticket taker,
http://www.szzjn.com/imtemp/hj43eg99.html, enter instead the rated Texas Chainsaw Massacre IX three screens down to the left and no one the wiser.

I think declaring those who choose not to view movies with an R rating as being right or wrong really misses a more important issue, which is the question of how to decide what is appropriate. From what I have seen, LDS leaders have focused largely on the importance of being selective and applying the principle of seeking after good things when making entertainment choices. I think they realize the dangers of deferring to MPAA ratings to set a moral standard for movies. While it is fair to say that some movies are clearly not appropriate for young children, I take issue with the idea that being an adult somehow makes a person immune to the corrosive (and sometimes addictive) effects so called or content. While I agree that portions of life would certainly receive an R rating,
Make Your Own Recycled Planting Pots, do you really want to after these things at the movies? The answer is an unsatisfying, depends. course not all R rated movies are bad or inappropriate. is an example of a great film, and there are others. But if some don have a good way to discern among R rated movies,
1723, or perhaps feel they are it safe by not watching any at all what wrong with that? Is it that you just don like being judged these folks? You have only succeeded in setting up a one sided,
Australia and Beyond, man argument. The examples you have chosen are really easy to knock down and amount to little more than a rant or a pet peeve about LDS or Mormon culture. (You could do the same with the question of whether or not caffeine is taboo for Mormons.)

So why not talk about how people (LDS or otherwise) can be more discerning in the viewing decisions they make for each movie? Like you, I find it odd that so many who follow the LDS faith lean so heavily on MPAA ratings to make their media viewing choices when that organization has proven time and again that it does not share their value system. I have a suggestion, so pay attention here. There are a number of great preview sites out there. As it turns out,
http://kalender.struermuseum.dk/imtemp/vg94rp42.html, these sites are just as useful for adults making media viewing decisions as they are for kids. Parents who use the MPAA rating system to set a minimum standard likely do it out of convenience, but this really doesn teach kids how to make appropriate decisions about media. Googling a parent preview site and discussing the content of a particular movie would be much more useful.

But people like to simplify and categorize things, so I suppose that the commandment will likely persist in Mormon culture at least in the US and Canada,
http://editions-caruhel.com/imtemp/jq83nr20.html, where R ratings exist. (So far we have managed to ignore the fact that this rating system doesn exist in most of the world.) I have to wonder if LDS people in other parts of the world are making better decisions without the MPAA. They might actually have to think about what they are going to watch.

Doug,
http://mengerlerboschservice.com/imtemp/pz05px86.html, love the way you take the pseudo liturgical language and throw it back at the people who attempt to wield it like spiritual swords.

As was stated somewhere in the long thread of replies to this Segullah post, it not and when did we start mistaking one for the other?

But ultimately,
http://www.szzjn.com/imtemp/mm56wx29.html, I have to agree with Tom,
http://www.szzjn.com/imtemp/zi77yb37.html, who says:

So why not talk about how people (LDS or otherwise) can be more discerning in the viewing decisions they make for each movie?

I can only conclude that, apparently,
http://editions-caruhel.com/imtemp/kz50ne53.html, a good portion of our active population doesn want to have to make hard decisions for themselves, so they cling to the pronouncements, suggestions, and counsel of the leadership and cling to them like commandments. Because why? Because it easy.

[It’s not like we have a doctrine that says, "You’re going to hell!" after every infraction,
http://editions-caruhel.com/imtemp/kx62ap26.html, but that’s the way we (as a body) treat it. In fact, it’s not like we really HAVE a hell.]

And then pronouncements, suggestions,
http://mengerlerboschservice.com/imtemp/ht62lp87.html, and counsel become conflated into commandments in popular culture and lore, slowly threading its way into our lives as yet another measure of our success or failure at earning our salvation.

As the old cliche states: Art imitates life (or is it: Life imitates art?), so we certainly cannot assume that art has any obligations to be free of questionable content. Pushing the envelope of community standards of moral conduct is what makes great art. What did people think of Shakesheare in his time? It is my view that anyone who refuses to see a great film simply because it has a subjective rating attached to it of an R rating is a completely ignorant and narrow minded person. Midnight Cowboy,
Wayne Rooney from ad, Clockwork Orange, Pulp Fiction, etc). If the real question is that we need to be mindful of what children view, then I think it is a good idea that parents steer their children away from R rated films. I would not want to see a child sit through one of the Saw films. That is not appropriate for any child, any time,
http://lawsharp.user.d-jet.com/imtemp/cw93gj05.html, period.

Awesome column Doug. You really made me think. I have been schizophrenic on this issue my entire adult life, swinging wildly between the church seeming absolute on R rated films,
A TV Tour of Manhattan, and being perhaps less discriminatory in my film selection habits. (Such is my relationship with the church: desperately trying over the course of 20 years to find a happy MIDDLE ground.)

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