Movie Ratings Are Not Effective

Movie ratings were first introduced in America, in the early 50’s, with the intention to be used by parents to assist them in determining whether the motion picture is appropriate for their children to see and whether their children should be accompanied while seeing the motion picture. It is also used by the parents to allow their children to be positively influenced by the media, by not letting them view movies that are deemed unsuitable for their age group. Although important it may seem, the history of movie ratings in Singapore has not been an illustrious one. On 29^th March 2004, an improvised set of ratings were introduced by the Media Development Authority (MDA). This set of ratings saw the renaming of the R(A) category to R21, and the addition of the M18 category, to allow more people to be able to view some positive artistic films, while maintaining the government’s censorship stand. However, are these measures really effective in preventing youths from getting bad influences? I personally do not feel so.

 

Firstly, there are currently no stern laws to deal with people who violate the regulations of the movie ratings. If one were to browse through the MDA’s website, he/she will realize that there are no laws pertaining to the violation of the movie rating regulations being published on the website. This is also the case for the website of the Ministry of Law. So, are there really laws to punish people who violate the regulation? Well, maybe there is, but what is for sure is that the people are definitely not well informed of it. Let’s compare it with underage smoking, since both concerns youth. Many of us will sure have some slight ideas about how one might be punished if an underage youth is caught smoking. But why is it so that people do not know about how they would be deal with, if they were to violate the movie rating regulation? This clearly shows that the government made no effort to educate the public; or rather they felt that movie ratings were not important. Therefore, people will also disregard the movie ratings and feel that they were redundant, and inconsequential since nothing could be done to them, even if they violated it. As such, I would say that the movie ratings were not effective as they are no laws pertaining to it, or that people were not well informed of the laws, if there are any.

 

Moreover, the rules and regulations might not be seriously carried out by cinema operators. Well, I’m privileged, so as to speak, to have worked for one of the big players in the local cinema chain scene, during the holidays last year. As a result, I have the inside scoop of the story. From my experience, instructions were indeed passed down to employees to check every single patron’s identity cards before letting them in to the cinema. The first detailed check would be carried out at the box office, whereby we were told not to sell tickets to patrons whom have not met the age requirement. A second check would be carried out at the usher point, just before the patrons enter the theatre, to ensure that all patrons that enter the cinema have their age verified by the staff. This is to prevent underage youths from asking their older friends to help them buy tickets, so that they could escape from the checks at the box office. Sounds foolproof? Not at all. This is so as it is almost impossible for the staff to check every individual patron’s identity card, especially during peak hours. During peak hours, the staff alone has problem coping the ongoing crowd, needless to say, having the time to check the every patron’s identity. Sometimes, only one of the patrons would be present to purchase the tickets for the group. Therefore, it is also impossible for us to check everyone’s identity. There are also times, whereby the ushers skip the identity check, in order to save trouble, and to prevent small wrangles from happening. This is so as there are times when the ushers deny the admittance of a patron, the patron is not be willing to cooperate and make things difficult for the ushers. If the usher is unlucky, he/she might also bump into nasty patrons who might make a big fuss out of it. Some uncouth patrons might even swear at them. Dealing with such nasty patrons will consume time, and cause other patrons who were in the queue to be affected, and the show might also be delayed. All these will have a catastrophic effect to the cinema, in terms of reputation and profit loss. As such, I would say that the movie rating is not very effective as it might not be seriously carried out by cinema operators, not because they don’t want too, but because they couldn’t afford to.

Last but not least, the main purpose of the rule is not achieved. Let us recap on the reason why movie ratings were introduced. As mentioned above, movie ratings were introduced to defer youths from getting bad influence from the media, and to allow parents to keep track of whether what is deemed suitable for their children. So what, if there are movie ratings? Movies are not the only way a child can get influenced. The Internet world is lucrative. With the advancement of technology, youths nowadays can easily get information on the Internet, with the click of the mouse. If we are talking about violence, youths can also get influenced through some gruesome games or wrestling. If we are talking about nudity, pornography is also readily on the Internet. Furthermore, with downloading so rampant nowadays, who else needs to go to the cinema? If a teen is being rejected from a cinema, he can well go back home to download the whole movie, and watch it at the comfort of his home, free of charge. As such, I would say that the movie ratings were not effective, as the main aim of it will never be fully achieved.