This Film is Not Yet Rated- Craig Smith
It seems, these days, that the American attitude of what is "suitable material for all ages" and "what is not" is vastly different from the rest of the world, and of our past history. Not too long ago, it would have been unheard of to criticize the President in a film or on television. Nowadays, there are entire TV shows and box office films dedicated to criticizing and making fun of our Government officials, especially the President. It just goes to show how things have changed. Thirty or so years ago when "The Exorcist" came out, there were huge public outcries. People were passing out and throwing up during screenings of the film, the Church was calling out against it, and it was given an R rating. To be honest with you, if that film went through the rating system of today, it would probably only receive a PG-13. Films like "Hostel" and other snuff films like it only receive an R rating. I saw one scene from "Hostel II" and I can't even believe a studio would allow it to be made. I know that the sick, messed up society we live in will fork out the money to see this crap, and the studios will make a ton of money, but are you kidding me? Those movies should only be seen by people over 17, if any one at all.
America's filmmaking also is transported overseas to cultures wildly different from ours. Many of our films might go through extensive editing for sex, violence and language which may be offensive to some cultures. If you look on IMDB at different movies, they show the ratings of the film in different countries. In some movies, you will likely see something to the effect of "18+" or "banned", etc.
I'm not saying we need the government to ban movies like "Hostel". I'm not in favor of censorship by any means. What I do think is that filmmakers and studios should use a little more discretion in what they put out. If an impressionable kid sees a bunch of American backpackers getting hacked to bits in a dungeon in Eastern Europe and thinks it is a "SWEET!" as I thought the "3 Ninjas" were, our country, and the rest of the world, is not heading in a great direction!