What does the PG-13 rating mean?

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Today it's hard to imagine a movie trailer or poster without an age limit. In Russia, they began to add an age limit relatively recently (since 2012), but in America such a system has been operating for almost half a century.

One of the most popular ratings among today's mainstream films is the PG-13 age rating, which is assigned to both children's films and popular (sometimes violent action films). Why is this happening?

Who rates movies?

The rating system was introduced by the Motion Picture Association of America in 1968 and hasn't changed much since then. Depending on the rating a film receives, its audience is limited, which can significantly affect the box office.

Since the appearance of the rating, the attitude towards it has changed several times. Despite the fact that for 50 years the MPAA has been rating Hollywood films based on the same criteria (for example, the amount of blood shown in the frame, violence, obscenewords, alcohol consumption, etc.), we can talk about the evolution of the PG-13 rating.

AMA Rating System

G-rated, like PG-13, allowed for children. It means that the movie has no viewing restrictions. In such films, there is nothing that could negatively affect the child's psyche and cause uncomfortable questions.

PG is given to films that children are encouraged to watch with their parents. There may be scenes in the film that need to be parsed and explained to young children. There is no open demonstration of sex scenes, demonstrations of alcohol, drugs and violence.

The PG-13 rating is a rating given to films with material not intended for children under 13. Viewing is allowed only with parents.

Rated R from PG-13 for more violence, profanity or sex scenes. Films rated R are allowed to be viewed by teenagers under 17 only with the presence of at least one parent or guardian. Adults should read the film before allowing their child to watch it.

NC-17 is a rating formerly called X. It prohibits viewing by people under 17 and under. However, this does not mean that the film is pornographic. Rather, we are talking about paintings with a large number of naturalistic scenes of death, serious illness, disasters, wars - all that is psychologically difficult for most people to look at.

Until the early 90s, the main ratings were PG and R.

Criteria

The criteria for this film rating may seem somewhat strange. For example, scenes of smoking are not allowed in PG-13, while the display of drinking alcohol is allowed.

The restrictions on violent scenes are also quite strange: countless people can die on the screen (as is shown, for example, in modern popular comic book films), but this is acceptable if they do not show blood and death in detail.

In PG-13 moderate violence is allowed (no violence), scenes with nudity or sexual context, there may be single use of rude but censored words.

Rank evolution

Until the mid-80s (before 1984, to be exact) PG-13 didn't exist. The PG rating meant parental presence is recommended during viewing. But subsequently, due to numerous complaints that PG films were too violent for children, an intermediate link between them was introduced - PG-13.

But now public opinion is developing in such a way that many things that used to be suitable for "childish" ratings now seem too old for modern PG-13, while action, fights with many deaths, disasters, wars, violence has become acceptable in films that children are allowed to watch.

Influence of rating on rental

Of course, the ratings themselves do not affect the quality of the picture. However, children and adolescents are the main consumers of films, more often than others.age categories attending cinemas. Will there be a full hall if the rating does not allow the majority of consumers to enter? Because of this, the current trend is to make the majority of films rated PG-13 with the goal of making them accessible to the widest possible audience.

Almost all modern superhero movies, alien wars, and 80's and 90's action movie reboots and sequels get PG-13, helping to boost the box office.

Rating attitude

What does a PG-13 rating mean for modern cinema? Some film critics are of the opinion that in trying to make almost any mainstream film with this rating, filmmakers neglect the atmosphere and the quality of the plot. It's hard to disagree with this - this rating imposes certain restrictions.

Thus, cruel, believable scenes of violence or murder, sometimes necessary to show certain negative aspects of life and encourage the viewer to think about what is happening, have disappeared from the cinema. It is impossible to naturally show the dramatic death of the protagonist or the death of millions of people - for example, in modern action films, fantastic plots began to prevail.

So, because of the general push to make films available to the public, sometimes a movie that was originally intended for an adult audience, but upgraded to PG-13 to increase viewing numbers, sometimes fails to fulfill its purpose. Adults lack naturalism and plot depth, and children simplyuninteresting film originally intended for adults.

The positive impact of ratings on cinema

At the same time, despite the fact that the desire of filmmakers to expand the audience of films through rating sometimes has a negative impact on the plot, one can also note the positive impact of this system on the world of cinema. Thus, visual effects are developed, and children do not see shocking shots, receiving an interesting and high-quality product. Usually films with such a rating are interesting for both children and adults, which brings generations together and gives a reason for family pastime in the cinema.

Due to the introduction of the age rating system for movies, series have been developed. Many talented directors and actors who do not want to shoot a product within one of the ratings and limit themselves in ideas prefer to participate in the creation of series - they have long ceased to be considered a second-rate product, and many of them are not inferior to films in plot development and image quality.

Analogue of this rating in Russia

In the Russian age rating system for films and games, it is difficult to find an exact analogue of PG-13. Depending on the movie, this can be either 12+ or 16+.

Thus, the Russian rating of 12+ allows episodic demonstration of violence and cruelty (without showing details), provided that these shots help the viewer feel compassion for the victim and rejection of cruelty; demonstration of smoking and drinking alcohol (without propagandabad habit) subject to condemnation of such behavior or demonstration of harm to he alth. Sexual scenes are prohibited.

16+ is when the depiction of catastrophes, accidents, wars and mass deaths of people is allowed to the extent that it does not cause fear and panic in the viewer. It is also allowed to use swear words (with the exception of obscene words). Also - depiction of sexual relations between a man and a woman without naturalistic demonstration, violence and exploitation of interest in sex.

Thus, the Russian system is somewhat more confusing and subjective than the American one. This is quite understandable, since in Russia the system of age ratings was introduced only in 2012 and has not yet been perfected.

In Russia, there is no intermediate link between 12+ and 16+, which the PG-13 rating once became, taking a place between PG and R. Therefore, it is difficult to judge what rating a PG-13 film will receive in the Russian box office. Judging by the experience of previous years, it can be said that most often PG-13 in Russia receive a rating of 12+, which also gives a large number of viewers access to watch the film.