A couple of weeks ago, intrepid reader/commenter Rocketshipper offered some thoughts on my “We All Break Bad” blog. His words were deeply challenging and, I think, likely reflect the thoughts and feelings of lots of Plugged In readers—and are worth a little more discussion.
He wrote as follows:
I’ve always been bothered/annoyed though with PluggedIn’s apparent stance that “the only media worth recommending is media thats appropriate for the whole family”. As if there is no place or need for media and stories geared for an older or adult audience, or maybe more like “if the content is inappropriate for children, its inappropriate for everyone”. Thats a stance I do not agree with at all.
It’s a stance that, actually, we don’t completely agree with either—even though there’s some truth in it. Let me explain:
Historically, Plugged In has been a parental outreach. It was conceived and birthed to help moms and dads navigate the sometimes bewildering world of entertainment (particularly music in its fledgling first years). And as a result, our DNA still reflects that. Even as our readership has grown, our demographic has expanded and our subject matter diversified, we still spend a lot of our time talking with parents of kids and teens.
We do understand that “kids” and “teens” and “adults” are different—a difference acknowledged in our movie ratings system, wherein we might give The Butler a heavy “red” caution for kids but a medium “yellow” caution for teens and adults. In our Movie Nights (essentially fun little devotionals wrapped around popular flicks), we divvy movies into those appropriate for the whole family (like Toy Story 2) and those more appropriate for teens (such as Groundhog Day).
All that said, we know that no ratings system might reflect the sensitivities of individual children. Not every 12-year-old is built the same way, after all. Some may be ready to deal with heavier themes. Some may need to be protected from certain elements. It’s why we try to be so exhaustive in our written content sections: We believe that parents are far more qualified to decide whether a movie’s appropriate for their child than we are.
We try, in fact, to stay away from see/don’t see recommendations at all. We’re more in the information/suggestion business. Sure, we have our thoughts. We do try to nudge and persuade. But we don’t often tell you to watch—or stop watching—something.
As more adults come to our site, that stance grows increasingly important. Adults are, after all, adults. They can go into any R-rated movie they want, play any M-rated game they wish. Why, they can even watch Family Guy. And who are we to tell them they can’t?
But to paraphrase the Apostle Paul (in 1 Corinthians 10:23-24), just because we adults can do whatever we want, that doesn’t mean we should. We can subsist completely on Jolly Ranchers—until, of course, we keel over and die from too much sugar and too little nutrition. We can choose not to bathe—until we get fired from our jobs. I see entertainment as something akin to that: Sure, I could watch Family Guy all the time. But should I?
There are reasons we try to protect kids from problematic content. We all understand that, on some level, what we watch, play and listen to influence us. Entertainment can frighten us or titillate us. It can shape how we see the world. And while children may be particularly prone to media’s influence, that influence doesn’t magically stop when we turn 18 or 21. It still works on us.
All of us can think of movies that have impacted the way we think or feel about a certain issue. That’s what the best movies are supposed to do. But it seems silly to imagine that this stuff only works one way—that its influence is always conscious and positive. The stories we absorb, be they in movies or games or anything else, can impact us negatively as well. They can impact us subconsciously.
Which brings us back to Rocketshipper’s initial quibble with Plugged In—that we have a bias toward entertainment fit for the whole family. There’s truth in that critique. Because stories impact us so deeply, and sometimes on levels we’re not fully aware of, ideal entertainment should indeed be suitable for the whole family. Great, powerful stories can be communicated on such a level. Pixar has shown a knack for it—often conveying beautiful and subtle truths in packages still enjoyable for the average 7-year-old.
Those “ideal” bits of entertainment don’t come around very often. Sure, every year has its share of inoffensive movies. And every year has its share of great cinematic stories. But rarely do we find them wrapped in the same package. And as we trundle closer to awards season this year, the dichotomy becomes ever more prickly—both for us at Plugged In and for you, the discerning moviegoer. In the weeks ahead, you’ll read a number of reviews here that have challenged us deeply as reviewers: How to weigh a worthwhile story against whatever problematic content might be conjoined to it.
But you’ll almost always hear at least a small word of caution from us in each of our reviews. Why? Because we believe that what we watch—both the good and the bad—does matter. There are very few voices in the culture today that insist that this is so, and we realize that this can sometimes make us look a bit curmudgeonly. Yet, we insist that it is so.
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