In the US, MPAA assigns ratings like G, PG-13, R ratings to movies. In India, the censor board assigns ratings of U (Universal) and A (Adult).
In the US, when you go to a movie with a G or PG-13 rating, you will be shown trailers of other movies. Just before the start of every movie trailer, you will see a notice which says something like “This preview has been approved for all audiences”. The idea being that if kids are watching a G or PG-13 movie (with or without a parent/guardian) they are not exposed to trailers with content that is not appropriate for them.
Today, I took a day off from work to make it a 4 day weekend. I took my 2 kids to see Avatar 3D at a theater in Bangalore. A movie trailer had Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin: Alec Baldwin was nude except for a laptop that was strategically placed; language such as “stopped getting a bikini wax … gone native”; someone smoking and someone asking “Who’s got the reefer?”. There were a several more scenes and language — I don’t recall them — that were not appropriate for children.
Don’t movie operators have a moral responsibility as well as a legal obligation to ensure that such trailers are not shown?
In the US, a minor can watch a R rated movie in the company of an adult or guardian. Of course, this can be abused by a minority of parents or guardians who can expose children to material that is inappropriate for them (mature themes and/or violence): the idea, however, is that a responsible parent will read movie reviews and consider the age of the minor before taking them to a R rated movie. Even in this case, showing a R rated trailer doesn’t make sense as a) it may not be appropriate and b) the parent doesn’t get to make a choice in this matter.
We sometimes complain that there is lot of censorship in China. However, we have the opposite situation in India. Neither is healthy. In India, nobody gives a damn; nobody is responsible or accountable. We only mouth words like “Children are a gift from God” and “Children are the national treasure” but our actions hardly reflect that sentiment. This goes for TV and cable channel operators that can screen any type of movie (local or foreign) at any time of the day.
Who is going to ensure that laws that safeguard children are followed? And who penalizes those who don’t?
This happened at Fun Cinemas in Sigma Mall Bangalore. I would like to believe that it doesn’t happen all the time or it doesn’t happen in other theaters. But I am enough of realist to know that this is not the case.
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