7.01.2009

R

I went and saw "The Taking of Phelm 1 2 3" today. It was a great movie. Well, compared to the other crap out there it was a great movie. I would recommend it. It was rated R and I went to the 6:45 showing.

Everything was going along just swimmingly until about 1 minute before the movie started. That is when the family showed up. With their children... young children. The little girl looked about 8 or 9 and the little boy was about 4 or 5.

I was dumbstruck. I have been to a bunch of PG-13 movies where people bring their 10 year old's. But I have never seen anyone walk a preschooler into an R movie. I felt so sad as I watched the movie.... knowing that this little precious boy was watching all the violence on the screen. It almost seemed like a form of child abuse.

I think since we have already have a whole pile of laws that tell me what I can and can't do as a parent (in the name of protecting my kid) I think we should pass one more. If you are under the age of 16 you are not allowed into an R rated movie PERIOD!!! A child should not be subjected to such images just because their parents don't give a shit. And if the movie ends up being so super-ly awesome and amazing that for some odd reason or another the child MUST see the movie... the parent still has the option of renting it and bringing it home with them.

Enough is enough. Since the government already has its hand in my cradle - why not just one more finger?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

When Kevin and I were dating and we went to see the Blair Witch Project, an (approximately) 8 year old boy sat next to Kevin. He ended up throwing up on Kevin's shoes. We were honestly so relieved that he was leaving the theater, though, that the vomit seemed like such a small price to pay. And while that episode sticks out (for obvious reasons) I have been to many, many R-rated movies where parents bring their young children.

It's horrifying. I agree about not letting kids under 16 into R-rated movies. When we saw Transformers the other day, we noticed that Century Theaters has a sign posted saying that "No children under the age of 6 will be admitted to an R-rated movie after 6:00pm." Tell me, please, what good does that do?