PG rating - what's the point?

J

Jaguar fan

New member
Not sure if this topic has been posted recently so apologies if it has...

What's the point in PG-ratings, especially in the cinema? I mean, how can a parent really judge what's suitable for their child when they haven't seen the film? Sure, a bit of info can be obtained from reviews, etc., but it just seems a bit, well, reactive...

I agree that censoring images from children is a good thing but calling it "parental guidance" doesn't seem right...

However, not sure what alternative could be used without spoiling the film for the parent/guardian...
 
I have a 4 year old daughter, and I'll happily take her to U movies, but if anything's a PG then I like to read reviews, check out pbbfc, and talk to other parents before I take her. I'm sure that will change as she gets older, but for now I tend to see PG as a bit of a think first warning.

And to be honest, I don't mind the film being spoiled for me, as long as it isn't spoiled for her at all. Half the fun of taking her to see a film is seeing her glued to the screen and enjoying herself, it doesn't matter if I know what's going to happen or not.
 
I am old enough to remember when there were only three certificates: 'U' (same as now), 'A' (now more or less split between PG and 12A - children under the age of 16 had to be taken in by an adult) and 'X' (over 16 only). Obviously the top end had to be revised because films can be far more explicit and violent today than they were when I was a child, but I am not convinced that the other end needed changing at all. These days, U Certificate films are almost invariably aimed at children. That wasn't always the case. At one time it simply meant that a film contained no bad language or bloody violence (forget the sex - those films didn't exist in mainstream when I was a lad). Nowadays film makers seem to use the classifications quite cynically. A film that I saw a number of years ago - Bend It Like Beckham - was actually a feel-good movie about race relations with a bit of women's football thrown in. Had that film been made in the 1950s or early 60s, the two or three swear worRAB stuck in to glean it a 12A certificate would have been omitted and it would have been a U, and none the worse for it.
 
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