The Parents Television Council warned parents nationwide not to take their children to see “Joker,” which opens across the country tonight.
Here’s the full statement from PTC President Tim Winter.
“Along with the Alamo Drafthouse, and several movie critics, we want to warn parents about the extremely violent content in the Joker film that is being released nationwide this weekend. Despite its R-rating, parents may believe that this film is appropriate for kids given that it is an extension of the popular Batman franchise. Film critics have described the film’s horrific violence committed by the Joker and even criticized the timing of a film that asks viewers to sympathize with one man’s all-too-realistic decent into darkness.
“We applaud Alamo for its unprecedented warning to parents about not taking their children to see this film because of its ‘very, very rough language, brutal violence, and overall bad vibes.’
“With the Joker, Hollywood continues its war on kids by turning a comic book-themed franchise into violence-porn. Scientific research has concluded that media violence is among the top three contributing factors to societal violence. Our own research has found that violence in comic book-themed TV shows is increasing.
“Hollywood cannot have it both ways – they cannot herald the entertainment they produce and distribute for its ability to change the world for good, while refuting the harmful impact it can have when the content is violent, sexually explicit, or profane.”
Alamo Drafthouse Cinema published a warning Wednesday to parents, saying that “Joker” is not a Batman film and that it shouldn’t be viewed by children.
Flashback: Melissa Henson, the program director for the Parents Television Council, told me last week that movies like “Joker” may make reasonable people feel uncomfortable.
“But it’s not the reasonable people that are seeing it that we need to be worried about. Right? it’s the people that are seeing it and saying, ‘Yeah, I’ve been mistreated too.’ ‘Yes, society has been jumping on me my whole life. And, you know, maybe I should follow this example.’ That’s the thing I think that we need to be concerned about.”