Never say I don't give you what you want . . .
In last Sunday's column, I tried to give an explanation for the Deseret News' four-star movie review scale and exactly what each rating means.
The column seemed to go over pretty well. In fact, it was so well-received that, come Monday, I got a flood of e-mails from readers now wanting explanations for the movie content ratings.
For those who may not have already noticed, at the start of each review, just after the MPAA rating, there's a content listing, which is broken broken down by categories and then listed in descending order, according to the amount of potentially offensive material contained in a given film. And at the tail end of the review is a more descriptive breakdown of that material.
It's one of the more important things included in my reviews, in addition to the star rating, the actual review itself and the film's running time.
Here's what the content headings mean:
Profanity.
Curse words and use of profane language, plain and simple. Language you wouldn't use in polite company and which is ranked either as "profanity" or "mild profanity." Unlike some reviewers, I'm not of the mind that religiously based profanities qualifies as "mild profanity," so that's reflected in the content ratings.
Also, I'll always try to tell you when a PG-13 movie contains what is commonly thought of as the "R-rated" profanity. That word is is allowed one or more times by the Motion Picture Association of America's ratings in a PG-13 movie but never in a "sexual context".
Violence.
Violent acts, which include gunplay, wartime violence (explosions and the like), martial-arts combat, hand-to-hand combat, brawls and slapstick violence (which is exaggerated to an almost cartoonish extent and is done for laughs), as well as the threat of violence. Deseret News reviews also have separate content listings for torture and rape, violent acts in and of themselves.
Gore.
When there's a significant loss of blood, it qualifies as gore, which the content rating describes by how graphic it gets, plus how much of it there is. Your standard horror movie usually gets at least a "graphic, bloody gore" listing, and graphic scenes of animal slaughter also fall under this category.
Vulgarity.
This usually relates to humor, both sexual or scatological (in other words, toilet humor) in nature. However, it can also mean frank sexual discussions or use of a particular hand gesture or body movement (some forms of dancing, when lewd, can certainly be called vulgar).
Sex.
Not just on-camera sex scenes, which are rated for how graphic they are. This can also include overheard sex, as well as sexual contact and fumblings that are certainly precursors for sex.
Nudity.
Rated for the amount of nudity, falling under "nudity," "partial nudity" and "veiled nudity." The descriptions also note the differences between male and female nudity, as well as full-frontal nudity. And at various times we have had listings for "bikini babes," "Klingon cleavage" and "colonial cleavage."
Racial epithets/ethnic slurs.
There seems to be some confusion as to the distinctions between these two. Racial epithets are insulting descriptions given to people because of their race (white, black, Asian, etc.). Ethnic slurs are based on ethnicities (French, German, Italian, etc.).
Also, it's important to note that while some reviewers won't list racial epithets or ethnic slurs when they're uttered by someone of the same race — such as the black comedians in "The Original Kings of Comedy" using the most common racial insult toward blacks — our reviews will.
Drug use/drugs.
Our reviews list scenes simulating use of such drugs as marijuana, cocaine, heroin — as well as how graphic those scenes are. Also, they will mention scenes where drugs are present, even if they're not used, such as drug manufacturing or scenes depicting use of prescription drugs to render someone unconscious.
So there you have it. Now, please don't ask me to explain how the Motion Picture Association of America's ratings system (i.e. G, PG, PG-13, R and NC-17) works.
I'm not even sure most of the time.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: "I grew up with three older brothers who I never knew would catch me when they threw me up in the air or not, so for the first week or two I was always holding onto the guys' scalps. They were like, 'Ouch! You've gotta let go!' " — "Bring it On" co-star Eliza Dushku, talking with the Los Angeles Daily News about the film's cheerleading stunts.
E-MAIL: jeff@desnews.com