Even More Sequels and Remakes

Posted on August 19, 2011 at 3:55 pm

2011 has more sequels and remakes than any year in movie history but it looks like the record will be broken soon. This year’s Smurf and Pirates of the Caribbean movies already have sequels underway. Mike Meyers has announced that he will make a fourth Austin Powers film, ten years after “Goldmember.” And now Ridley Scott has agreed to make a sequel (or possibly a prequel) to his own masterwork, “Blade Runner.” There’s a remake of “Wargames” in the works, too. On the other hand, tentative plans for sequels to “Sex and the City,” “I am Number Four,” and “Anchorman” are shelved. For now.

MPAA Willing to Consider Banning the F-Word in PG-13 Movies

Posted on August 18, 2011 at 10:52 am

I have consistently criticized the MPAA for allowing the F-word in a PG-13 movie. It used to be limited to one non-sexual use of the term but now they allow it more than once in some PG-13s. It makes no sense at all. Either the word is acceptable for young children or it is not. Movie studios are cynical in manipulating the MPAA to get the rating they think will sell the most tickets. So they will throw a bad word into an otherwise-acceptable film so it won’t get a “babyish” PG rating.

Today I am quoted in a new piece in the Huffington Post by Glenn Whipp of AP about the use of the F-word in PG-13 movies.

“Allowing it once or twice just doesn’t make sense to me,” Minow says. “The word is something you’re OK with a child hearing or you’re not. And, still, in 2011, I’d argue that it’s outside the safety zone for children.”

The MPAA’s Joan Graves responded that she is open to revising the rules to prohibit the F-word if she hears from parents who object. If the language in PG-13 movies bothers you, get in touch with her at:

Joan Graves
MPAA Ratings Board
15301 Ventura Blvd., Building E
Sherman Oaks, California 91403
(818) 995-6600

filmratings@mpaa.org

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Understanding Media and Pop Culture

The Tablet on Jewish Influences in ‘Dirty Dancing’

Posted on August 17, 2011 at 12:42 pm

Dirty Dancing (1987) is an iconic and enormously influential film, now scheduled for a remake, directed by the choreographer of the original film. (We will not discuss the awful sequel, though you should listen to “Wait, Wait…Don’t Tell Me’s” Peter Sagel tell his story about it how he accidentally sort of wrote it.) Jezebel called “Dirty Dancing” the greatest movie of all time. The Jewish publication The Tablet has a piece by Stephanie Butnick called “Is Dirty Dancing the Most Jewish Film Ever?”

She is speaking of cultural Judaism rather than theological or spiritual Judaism. Butnick says:

A week ago, I told Eleanor Bergstein, the writer and co-producer of the incredibly popular film Dirty Dancing, that when I first saw the film years ago, I hadn’t realized how heavily influenced it was by Jewish culture. She beamed, as she had the entire evening, and assured me it was a seriously Jewish movie. So Jewish, in fact, that none of the characters ever need to explicitly mention their Jewishness—they’re spending the summer at Kellerman’s resort in the Catskills, after all, and, Bergstein pointed out proudly, milk and meat are never served in the same scene. It’s a Jewish film, she explained, “if you know what you’re looking at.”

…

Calling Dirty Dancing “a very American film,” Bergstein described it as the story of a young girl who took her life in her hands and ran with it, no matter what it cost her. (As Carmon helpfully contextualized long before the screening, “The daughter of the first generation of American Jews to read widespread upper-middle class prosperity, if not elite cultural acceptance, she is swathed in a pre-Kennedy assassination liberalism.”)

Related Tags:

Understanding Media and Pop Culture

USA Today on New Techniques in Marketing to Kids

Posted on August 15, 2011 at 3:55 pm

USA Today has an important article on new technologies for marketing to kids.

With the use of new, kid-enchanting technologies, are savvy marketers gaining the upper hand on parents? Are toy marketers such as Ganz, food marketers such as McDonald’s and kid-coddling apparel retailers such as 77kids by American Eagle too eager to target kids?

At stake: $1.12 trillion. That’s the amount that kids influenced last year in overall family spending, says James McNeal, a kid marketing consultant and author of Kids as Consumers: A Handbook of Marketing to Children. “Up to age 16, kids are determining most expenditures in the household,” he says. “This is very attractive to marketers.”

Children who play on websites like Webkinz are bombarded by ads. The article follows one girl who repeatedly clicks on an ad for Judy Moody and the NOT Bummer Summer, not because she has any interest in the film but because clicking on the link is the way she earns accessories for her virtual characters.

“We occasionally introduce limited-time promotions so that our Webkinz World members can enjoy fun, unique activities and events,” says Susan McVeigh, a Ganz spokeswoman.

That corporate doublespeak is appalling. The purpose of these “limited-time promotions” is so that children can be targeted for ads, and this is all within the context of a site that is itself an enormous interactive ad for Ganz. Parents should be aware of the new avenues for trying to sell to kids and should have continuing conversations with children and tweens about the way that marketing is designed to make them think they want things that are not really important. Or, in the case of the “Judy Moody” movie, to see movies that ARE a bummer.

Letter to Steve Carell re ‘Crazy Stupid Love’s’ Teen Nude Photos

Posted on August 10, 2011 at 12:00 pm

I was very pleased to hear that my friend Rev. Debra Haffner has written to producer/star Steve Carell about the scene where a 17-year-old girl gives a 13-year-old boy nude photos in “Crazy, Stupid, Love.” This offensive scene, portraying the gift as generous and compassionate, is one reason I gave “Crazy, Stupid, Love” a D. Rev. Haffner is one of the leading experts in the country on teen sexuality. She acknowledges that these are fictional characters but points out that teenagers get ideas about how to behave from what they see on screen. If she gets a response, I will post it.

Dear Mr. Carell:

I am writing to you as a certified sexuality educator and an ordained Unitarian Universalist minister who is concerned that your new movie, “Crazy, Stupid, Love” models behaviors for teen and tween audiences that puts them at risk for legal action. I am the author of several books for parents on talking with their children and teens about sexuality, and I have worked with adolescents on responsible sexual behavior for many years.

There are several sexual messages in the movie that I disagree with, but I am most concerned about 17 year old Jessica giving 13 year old Robbie nude photos of herself that she took. It is illegal for anyone to create sexually explicit images of a minor, to possess such images, or to distribute them. Although it may seem nonsensical, several states have passed additional laws that make it illegal for teens to take and distribute such pictures of themselves to other teens. Indeed, because of their age differences, depending on the age of majority in the state, Jessica might also be charged and convicted as a sexual offender for exposing a minor to child pornography. In some states, she could face life in prison or have to register as a sex offender for life. Further, the gender of the characters reinforces a stereotype that teen boys cannot be victims of child sexual abuse, when in reality, a boy is most likely sexually victimized by a teenage girl.

These are fictional characters – but their actions may well be repeated by young people in your audiences. I know that your movie is out in general release, and I don’t know what can be done by Carousal Productions at this point to get out the message, “don’t’ try this at home”. But, I do know that PG-13 movies shouldn’t be modeling criminal behaviors as harmless or worse, acts of generosity.

I would welcome hearing a response from you. Please let me know if I can provide you with additional information.

Sincerely,

Rev. Dr. Debra Haffner