R-Rated Movies...???

[Guest]

OK I know we've been asked and told to stay away from R rated movies, but my question is...Should all R rated movies be rated R?...I mean my friends say some movies are only rated what they are because they say some bad words in it...(When I hear those exact same words around my friends more than what they would say in the movies...)

[ldsmid11]

The difference between your friends' language and language in a movie is, you don't choose what your friends say, but you choose what movies you watch. If you know a movie has bad words and you make a choice to see it anyways, you made the choice to hear those words. When you are with your friends and you hear those words, THEY are choosing to use those words and that is beyond your control. (You could always ask them to watch their language around you, but even then they still have their choice.) Right now I am in a place where I can hear the f-word used every other word in a sentence. Bad words are almost a way of life in the military. While I cannot control what those around me say, I have asked them to be respectful around me. I still hear those words, but I have chosen not to use them myself. Whenever movies are shown here, for leisure or training purposes, they don't worry about the rating because most people are okay with R rated movies. Unfortunately, I have seen movies as part of this because I didn't have much of a choice. I have made the choice to not watch those movies unless I have to though, and I think that makes a world of difference. When we choose to view movies with nudity, bad language, violence, etc. we are more open to it. When we are more open to something, we are weaker against Satan. When we do not have a choice of what other people say or do, we do not weaken ourselves because we have not opened ourselves to those things. The real question you should be asking is "The prophets have told us to not watch R rated movies, but have they told us to stay away from our friends?" The answer is no. The prophets know that we have friends or acquaintances that use bad language, but they also know that we can be a positive influence on those same friends to NOT use such language. Movies, on the other hand, cannot be changed. When we view a movie, or listen to songs, with bad language, we are allowing those movies and songs to influence US, not the other way around.
Whether a movie SHOULD be rated R or not is irrelevant. If it's rated R it's rated R and there's nothing we can do to change that.

[Captain_Teancum]

Does the Church continue to say not to watch Rated R movies anymore? I am having problems finding a copy of For the Strength of Youth online. I was told the admonition has changed from a strict non-Rated R policy to a more encompassing directive to abstain from inappropriate content whether it be G or R (which was an understood directive even when Rated R movies were particularly mentioned). Certainly, such a course makes more sense, as not all members of the Church are American, and even more so due to the ineptitude of the rating system. At any rate, I support adherence to any counsel the Brethren give on the matter.

Frequently, older Rated R movies are re-rated at much lower ratings, and many current movies should be R if the ratings board was consistent and objective. Unfortunately, the board is neither. Furthermore, even an objective board would fall short of the criteria by which most LDS would judge such things.

There are several tools (reviews, movie sites like IMDB, etc.) available to us to better determine the basic content of films, and therefore, we are better equipped now to discern which movies should be avoided. One of the concerns I have is a pharisee-like mentally that would disregard all Rated R movies, but just as blindly tolerate offensive films simply because they are not Rated R. Like all things, the Spirit is our best guide along with careful and rational examination of the content of films.

As a point of clarification, I do watch Rated R movies I deem worthy of my time and consideration. I also stay away from movies of all ratings that I find contrary to my personal criteria of discrimination.

EDIT: found a copy, linked to it, and as far I can see, no mention of R Rated movies any more.

[Moondancer]

Saints and Soldiers, a film produced by an LDS film maker, was originally rated R (Film maker wanted a PG-13 raiting). Ryan Little said, that when they went to war with the MPAA to find out why they gave it such a rating, It basically came down to personalized violence and a scene towards the end of the movie, where most of the characters were gunned down. They stated that because Ryan cared so much about the characters and to then have them all killed off in a horrific way, that was a reason for the R rating.

The movie didn't show any limbs getting blown off
Very, very, very little profanity (It's mainly a racial slur used against Germans)
Little to no blood
Does have some war violence
No nudity

Ryan Little had to make some very, VERY minimal changes to get the PG-13 rating.

Had this movie kept it's R rating, I would have still gone to see it. Why? Because it was ridiculous as to why the MPAA gave the R rating. However, that would have been my choice. For me, I felt that that in it's current state, it was one of the best produced films in the LDS film market, thus far. it delivered a strong message to me that only confirms my faith. It would have done the exact same thing if it maintained it's R rating, because what they actually shortened, wasn't very much at all. And I believe that the MPAA tends to be more harsh towards independent films then mainstream films.

Then there's the movie, "Passion of the Christ". A movie I will never see. While it has some religious elements to it, I strongly felt it was a movie I didn't need to see. And when I say "strongly felt", I mean that when it came out, to about three weeks after it came out, I contemplated in seeing it. However, for some reason, I kept having a feeling that I shouldn't. I'll never know exactly why, because I don't plan on questioning that feeling. I'll say this much though... I've never had such a strong feeling against any film I have ever seen in my life, then like this one, which I have never seen in the first place.

So when it comes down to it, it's left up to your decision in what you want to enter into your life. We each have a personal power that can either be a positive or negative force in the way we do things, and people will see it as such. Entertainment is HUGE in how it affects our personal power. Music, Film, Books, Magazines.... it's everywhere.... and thusly your choice will always have to be a constant one.

One thing the Church teaches, is that being consistent and persistent in making the right choices will always benefit you. One thing I always try to do before going to see the film, is to see what's in the film, like what profanity it has, if any. What kind of violence it has, if any. Nudity... yeeaah, wont see any film with that in it... even if it IS PG-13. It's just more beneficial for me.

[flyguy]

For the strength of youth never has said anything about rated R movies, to the best of my knowledge. I believe it came from a president Kimball talk (or maybe President Benson). The important thing is not what the movie is rated, or whether or not the movie offends you, but whether or not it offends the spirit. If a movie offends the spirit, it leaves, probably not what you need or want to happen.

[DJSuperBrandt]

I look at things the way you previous commenters do. 16 Candles is a PG movie, but there is one seen of a topless girl. Into the Blue was a PG-13 movie, and while there was no nudity/sexuality, almost every scene of the movie was based off sensuality (in the sense that how each actor's body was filmed on screen, how they interacted with each other, even how they were swimming).

I think look at a movie like United 93, which was rated R, which was one of the most powerful movies I've ever seen. There were a few choice words, but there's no way you could have sanitized a story like that, considering how the movie was made (almost the entire script was based off the transcripts that day).

I won't go off on a tangent about people leaving movie theaters taking a moral stand, but we live in an age where I can go to IMDB.com and see just about everything that could be objectionable about a movie. I view the council concerning movies (and TV shows) as one of council. Obviously, the Church can't come out with a list of appropriate/inappropriate movies, but I think like Joseph Smith did...

I teach them correct principles and they govern themselves.

- Messages of the First Presidency, comp. James R. Clark, 6 vols., Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1965–75, 3:54.

I think that's good council for all of us to follow.

[Captain_Teancum]

Right on.