The Motion Picture Association of America has always been inconsistent in assigning appropriate ratings for movies. The standards and practices they use to decide on film ratings are totally arbitrary and have changed with the times. In the long run it doesn’t really matter what rating a movie gets because whoever wants to see it will find a way to watch it.
In the Los Angeles Times, columnist Patrick Goldstein wrote an opinion piece, “‘Ted’s’ Bong Toke: Is The M.P.A.A. Softening Its Drug Policy?” where he waxes poetic on how drug use in movie trailers is corrupting the youth of America and society as a whole.
He uses the trailer for the upcoming film “Ted,” about a vulgar teddy bear with the voice of Peter Griffin, by “Family Guy” creator Seth MacFarlane as evidence. In a nod to all the potheads and stoners who will likely be first in line to see the film, the trailer includes one scene where Ted is seen smoking from a bong. This image, however, has gotten Goldstein’s panties in a bunch, and I can’t help but wonder how many other Puritans were offended by this. It really is pathetic what the anti-drug crowd uses as rallying cries these days.
First off, is the mere image of a teddy bear blowing a cloud of smoke while holding a bong really going to be the one thing that corrupts every American man, woman, and child? If so, then we are living in a pretty sad state of affairs. Goldstein is making a mountain out of a molehill, to put it lightly.
In fact, his view of everything is skewed beyond belief, as proven by his statement regarding how “The Dark Knight” received a PG-13 rating after being filled with what Goldstein calls “extreme violence.” Really? You mean a guy in a bat suit beating up a guy dressed as a demented joker qualifies as “extreme violence” these days?
To make matters worse, in light of the “Ted” trailer receiving a green-band “appropriate audiences” trailer despite showing the bong, Goldstein ponders whether the MPAA is getting “softer” in how they assign movie ratings.
How then, did the organization give the 2009 Steve Martin vehicle “It’s Complicated” a green-band trailer when two main characters are seen smoking pot in the bushes outside a party? It’s simple. They’re smoking pot, not murdering and raping an underage girl. What kind of insignificant minutiae is this where there is some kind of distinction between whether the main character is seen simply blowing out smoke or whether a bong is included?
The depiction of smoking weed is shown in each movie, yet in Goldstein’s mind, they are not one and the same. It is madness when the act of smoking weed becomes a crime
against humanity.
Everyone knows that the MPAA conducts its business behind closed doors and is often unfair in their film ratings. There is a legitimate argument to be made there. However, Goldstein’s prudishness has made him miss the main point here: the term “general audiences” and “appropriate audiences” are completely arbitrary.
Getting up in arms about a teddy bear smoking weed is akin to the reaction in the late 1940s when the program “Mary Kay And Johnny” showed a married couple sleeping in the same bed. If a teddy bear smoking weed really upsets you that much, as it clearly does Goldstein, please remove yourself from society at once.
Gerry Wachovsky is a graduate student and columnist for the Daily Forty-Niner.
