Age ratings on films/games rant!
Ok this is just a little rant I need to get out their and to avoid taking it out on someone. Kind of a pointless post but why not?
Ok so I got a text from a friend last night after she was terrified about watching a 18 film. She isn't 18...and I just don't get why people do that to themselves and others. The thing is ratings on video games, movies, TV, and Apps are their for a reason and sometimes it's the parents who are at fault as they let them watch it. Another thing is certain types of Movies I can name are not suitable for the age rating. Alita battle angel is a 12 and so is The hunger games, yet these shouldn't be 12 films I would say at least 15. Another thing is when you get six year olds watching things like star wars and The avengers when they are marked 12. A boy I used to know had grandparents who bought him 18 games when he was eleven. a few years a group of classmates went IT and it really does frustrate me as I got alot of mocking for not wanting to see a horror film before I was ment to, but I stuck it out and didn't go because I didn't want to. I DON'T get why people would get mocked or pressured for this but then again the world can be cruel. One more thing because I doubt anyone wants to hear me go on longer is why is entertainment genderised. I got asked about 4 years ago after saying I enjoy Star wars and fomular one. " is their any other boy things you like" why is this the case why can't a girl like sci-fi and superheroes and a boy like romance and drama? It just makes no sense... Ok rant over and I do feel better. I hope someone agrees with me!
I completely agree with you on the ratings and people going to see movies they shouldn't see yet... So, I'm joining the rant! And adding a little rant of my own on ages stereotypes...
Watching a movie with deserved ages restriction happened to me once, and I didn't want it at all. I won't expand too much on that, but to explain a bit, it was the traditional end of the school year movie, we had a very lenient teacher and my class's students used that to do a screening of a gory horror movie. From what I know, they had chosen the movie together on the class group chat, which I wasn't part of at the time. Most of us were 16, 17 at most. But just so you know, the movie, which I won't name, wasn't even supposed to be legally released in my country... Sigh... And if I trust the faces of my classmates that day, I'm pretty sure some had already seen that movie once or twice, or even the sequels, because yes, disturbing horror movies have sequels... Needless to say, I slept badly for days after that... And of course, I told my parents who saw I cleary felt under the weather, they told the headmaster, and was I cast aside by my classmates who put the guilt on me, while they were the ones who knowingly chose the horror movie... Sigh...
As for some of the franshises you named, I don't know them all, but I'll talk about Marvel, as it's the one I know better. I watched nearly all the MCU movies when I was 15-16, it was just before the beginning of a new school year. And yeah, I don't understand those who show these movies to kids... Sure, kids can understand things, but nonetheless, they are movies with violence and battles, even rated T or so. How can a kid watching these movie understand the /why/ of that violence? The ratings are here for reasons, and some people sadly often forget that.
Speaking on Marvel movies, that reminds me of Logan and Deadpool. Correct me if I'm wrong, but in the US, I think they were both rated R, that said 17 or 18+. Well, know what? In France, they were only 12+. Just so you know, Logan was the first X-Men related movie I saw, in theaters... Hopefully my (older) sister was there to explain the context, the characters to me, or else, remove those and all you have is violence. Same goes for DP I watched years after the release, but I knew a bit the character before watching the movie, so, except for the language, it went better. Because I was prepared and knew what to expect.
As for the gendering of medias, gosh, I wish it could go away... Just speaking of the Marvel movies, I waited quite a long time before seeing them, even if they were "the movies to watch", "the movies everyone goes to"... Because in my then child-teen mind, they were "boys" movies, with sci-fi, battles, big plots and all... Which they kind of were with their cast, before Captain Marvel and the now Covid-delayed Black Widow...
And now that I've watched movies, cartoons, read books and comics that are way less gendered, well let me tell you, it's good to see that we can now make culture without over-gendering it. Even if sometimes, it's still difficult. Or maybe it's just that I now don't care on how they are supposed to be gendered anyway ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
But a bigger problem I see is with people who just don't even try to know franchises, and have only stereotypes in mind. I mean, ages stereotypes. I know that well, my parents are like that. And that's why, even if I know a lot of cartoons, well I don't feel okay talking to them about them, not because they are adults cartoons (read the siggy, they're listed there) but because to my parents, all cartoons are for kids... And, well, no.
The only two times I remember managing to show my parents cartoons and getting a "it's /not only/ for kids" from them is, if I recall correctly, the 2015 adapation of The Little Prince, and Disney/Pixar's Coco. And cartoons being released on kid channels on the TV doesn't help. It's the case for the HTTYD cartoons by the way, and I'm sure if I told them I had watched those cartoons or other categorized "kid cartoons" like Tangled or The Deep, they'd treat me as a kid... *Heavy sigh*
By the way, that's why I prefer using the "all-ages" expression instead of "kid", because all-ages means it's for everyone, and you can watch it even when you're a teen, an adult, and enjoy all the same without having to explain yourself to bigots. Stereotypes are the worst.
Well, ranting is kinda cathartic, right? ^^'
I like your message, because I enjoy these shows, when people would sometimes think I wouldn't like them:
1. Gargoyles
2. Dragons
3. My Little Pony
4. Lord of the Rings
5. The Time Machine (1960)
6. Star Wars
7. Marvel
8. Pirates of the Caribbean
9. Back To The Future
10. The Mask of Zorro
At first, I was scared of watching Lord of the Rings and Pirates of the Caribbean. But I've eventually decided to give them a try, and my two brothers were surprised I was brave enough to watch them at all. But I just accepted that they now like me for enjoying some of that stuff and we enjoy talking about them together.
Another time, just this year, I didn't think much of Disney's Gargoyles at first until I saw Nostalgia Critic's review on the show, and I began to like it, so I ended up watching the first five episodes on Disney Plus and loved it. Now I own season one on dvd and hope to share it with my Grandpa when I go back to the cabin this weekend. I even found out my cousin's friend grew up watching Gargoyles. I now like one of the characters a lot, Brooklyn. I'm even writing a Gargoyles and Harry Potter fanfic as we speak!
I have a rant that is kind of related!
It's so frustrating when I get strange looks from people just because I haven't watched a movie. It's not because of the age rating*, or that it's too scary** but because it's boring. Star Wars has a classic trope, classic theme, classic everything. Just by watching the intro secene and learning who the bad guys are, I could pridict the entire movie***. 8ts just so annoying when people shame me for not watching a movie. Its just a movie, not some sort of law that you have to watch it.
* = Age ratings have never been a big deal to me. If I don't like it, 8 stop. My age has nothing to do with my liking/disliking of a movie/game.
**= I once read a book in which half of it was dedicated to torturing the characters. I can handle scary.
***= Well, at least the major plot points and the romantical relationships. This is also why I am a Hiccstrid expert, even though I don't like romance. I am also a gifted human, as I skipped a grade and am ahead of my classmates in pretty much everything.
at least in the USA, some age ratings are suggestions, some are not.
R movies, or 18 in other countries, are of course, not for younger audiences. that's why, at least in the USA, you need an adult with you to see the movie in theaters if you're under the age. similar with games. it's up to the guardian in the situation to be responsible, which may not always be the case.
but lower ratings like pg-13 are a suggestion, literally called "strongly cautioned". it may be different in other countries, but this just means the parent needs to determine if their kid can handle it. some younger kids CAN handle CERTAIN pg-13 or similar ratings. I don't think superhero movies that are rated as such are too bad for EVERY child to see. usually, there's limited gore and such in MARVEL films (not including the R rated films, such as Deadpool or Logan); it's more action, so if your kid can handle it, then I don't know why it would be an issue for a child younger than 13 to see it?? there are some pg-13 movies that push the limit on if children should see it, of course, but it's up to the parent to screen it out as to whether it's suitable for their own child.
I'm sorry to hear those people at your school mocked you for not wanting to see a movie you were not comfortable seeing. even if they didn't have an issue watching it, it's really wrong of them to shame others for not wanting to.
as for the gendered thing, I 100% agree. people that gender things like Star Wars are just immature. like what you want.
Oh my goodness yes! I'm at the age where you would assume I would love to go see It or something, but guess what? I hate horror movies! I think it's the suspense that just gets to me, I can handle gore but things that are inappropriate or just suspenseful makes me angry and scared, because of that people always assume it would be fine if I just watch them, but I get terrified! I've been watching Nancy Drew during quarantine and despite me relentlessly watching it I've been going to bed terrified of the monsters under the bed.
I'm a pretty immature person who still wouldn't mind watching things that have ten music numbers and whatnot and is reaching the age of adulthood. I do think it's super depressing when I can't watch certain things that are dubbed "childish" without giving me the same title. And it's even more discouraging when things are released on junior channels so that if I was to record it I wouldn't be able to watch it with my fam anyways without it being shown it's on said channel.
my sister was telling me that her friend's 3 YEAR OLD cousins went and saw Venom.. which in my country is rated R And I'm not even allowed to see it! But then again I was super young when my dad let me play Assassians Creed for the first time and let me go around doing the assassin quests that involved k.illing but now I can't even play the newest games because of the growing maturity that comes with the games.
I wonder how these people are rating the movies anyways, cause rated Pg-13 movies might be scary even for a adult or rated R should actually be rated lower. Like is it only adults that are rating it? What about those with kids? Are teens watching parts of it? Like who the heck is rating these to think some of these are okay for that age audience?
okay soon done with ranting... These are my own opinions and stuff :P
I didn't like following those age suggestions at all. I watched what I wanted. I didn't realise The Shining was an 18 until long after I watched it. Didn't seem that scary or inappropriate to me when I was younger. I don't really like any 18 rated films in general
On the topic of age restrictions...Why should LEGO be limited to 99 years old? Why can't I be 100 and play with it?
what a great point! What if 100 year olds want to play with legos too? when im 100 I'm breaking that rule AND SHALL PLAY WITH LEGOS WHEN I'M 100. I'm such a rebel.
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Ahh this all I can agree with. My parents didn't let my brother watch IT till he was 18, so my parents still follow that rule. Although if it's a movie they personally think is okay to watch they'll let us watch it, like when I was younger I was allowed to watch IT with my parents or brother. I just choose not too since, yaknow I'm a scaredy cat. Like I do terribly with ANY horror movies, like when I was younger I was scared of things that weren't that scary at all. When I was younger I was scared of shark boy and lava girl because of MR. ELECTRIC! Why?! He's not scary AT ALL yet I was scared XD. And now that I'm older I'm still terrified of horror movies, and I don't plan on watching any. On halloween like two years ago I watched Venom, which at first had an R rating but for some reason it was lowered to pg -13. That's probably the closest things I've watched to an R movie XD. I'm THAT much of a scaredy cat.
And the whole genderized thing I agree with too! I grew up in a house with one older brother and two older sisters *my third older sister didn't live with us for the majority of my life due to her being 18 years older then me.* And we kinda taught each other stuff, because of my bro me and my sister's like stuff more aimed at guys, and because of me and my sister's my brother likes some things that might be aimed at girls.
I got more
When people get really picky and specific over those age ratings really gets on my nerves too. They act like you've broken a law deserving of a prison sentence or something. Like "WHOOAA you're not 18 and you're watching a nightmare on elm Street???? You shouldn't be watching this" What do they think is gonna happen? I'm going to become a murderer? I'm going to become a bad person? I'm gonna have a bad dreaam uwu?? It's more of just a guideline and not a set-in-stone rule I 'spose.
The last thing I think about when I want to watch a movie or play a game is the age rating. It's honestly kind of irrelevant in my opinion. Most people are going to know what they're getting when they watch a trailer and stuff about the movie anyway, so they can decide for themselves whether or not it's suitable for them.
Also, most people nowadays completely ignore age ratings. You have to be at least 13 to register for the majority of websites, games, etc on the internet (at least websites and games originating from the U.S.), yet most children completely ignore the COPPA law and lie about their age to register anyway. Just look at Youtube. It's an utter mess. (P.S. I did that too when I was younger. I wouldn't say I regretted it, since I usually stayed out of other people's business and therefore out of trouble, but I can't speak for other people's experiences.)
If you want to follow age ratings, good for you. There's nothing wrong with being tentative about something and not wanting to watch/play it. It's for entertainment and you shouldn't stress yourself with something that's meant to be entertaining. People who judge others for following age ratings or not following age ratings should have better things to worry about.
To be completely honest, I haven't heard anyone fussing about age ratings or acting like certain franchises are for certain genders in so long. It must be the people I hang out with, as well as my family and my parents who never really cared for restricting my interests to interests that were "suitable for my gender". I'm surprised this is still a thing in 2020. I don't know who these people are, but I think they need to open their eyes and wake up and realize it's not the 20th century anymore, but the 21st.
Just wanna remind u, in the beginning of Doctor Strange, someones head gets chopped off into a bucket.
Yeah but it's not that graphic, a long running character in attack of the clones gets a beheading and you see his head bounce along the floor, that's PG
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These people have to have been taught this since they where children, I think the problem is with toys. Dolls, barbie, trolls ECT, are all in the girls section. And star wars, marvel, dragons, Harry potter are all in the boys section and kids get this idea because of this. I had been a massive tomboy but was influenced by people until I changed drastically. Dunno I've always been a scaredy cat. I couldn't watch tangled as Flynn got stabbed and ice age as I found the sabers scary but these are now some of the great things I enjoy. Some ratings I disagree with E.G httyd being PG. This can be universal. Guardians of the galaxy, doctor strange can be PG if language ain't a issue. I mean if you can take it watch it by all means I don't mind. But in my friends case when they can't take it and claim you should have stopped them from watching it... That can be frustrating.