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Will
R-rated movies make a comeback?
The recent trend in movies has been that films rated G, PG
or PG-13 outsell the edgier R-rated offerings, but a new movie
released in May might change that, industry analysts suggest.
The Matrix Reloaded, the R-rated sequel to the 1999 surprise
blockbuster, The Matrix, captured a breathtaking $135.8 million
in its first five days. The third movie in the trilogy, The
Matrix Revolution, is due out in theaters this fall.
A spokesman for Warner Bros., which owns the rights to the
Matrix trilogy, was ecstatic over the big box office opening.
“When you consider that this was an R-rated film that
made in four days what the original made in five weeks, we
couldn’t be happier,” said Dan Fellman, head of
distribution for the company.
Last year, not a single R-rated movie broke into the top 20
at the domestic box office. While that is unusual, the trend
has been headed in that direction.
In 1992, 14 of the top 20 were rated R, according to Entertainment
Weekly, which added that over the last 10 years the number
of R-rated films released by studios had dropped by nearly
50%.
“Year after year the box office results tell an important
story about movies and the ratings. Most family friendly films
sell big. Most R-rated features do not,” said John Fithian,
president of the National Association of Theatre Owners.
That was the conventional wisdom through March, when Fithian
was addressing the theater industry’s big trade show,
ShoWest. A little more than two months later, The Matrix Reloaded
unloaded both barrels into that trend. Now, with at least
another five R-rated films expected to rake in the big money
– including sequels to The Terminator, Bad Boys and The
Exorcist – the atmosphere in theaters may be shifting
to a nastier, more lewd and more violent tone.
“People are being as aggressive about R-rated movies
as they’ve been in years,” Revolution Studios’
Rob Moore told Entertainment Weekly. Referring to the upcoming
batch of R-rated films, he added, “I would definitely
not say that the R-rated movie is dead.”
Part of the reason for the dearth of edgier flicks has been
public pressure on movie studios to avoid marketing R-rated
movies to minors, who as a demographic group are the biggest
ticket purchasers. (See chart above.)
“With an R-rated movie, you’ve got 20-30% of your
potential audience unable to get in without a parent,”
said Chris McGurk, chief operating officer for MGM Studios.
“When you’re spending $100 million or more [to make
and distribute a movie], you can’t afford the risk [of
an R-rating].”
Movies like The Matrix Reloaded or T3: Rise of the Machines,
however, are expected to be popular with the underage crowd.
In fact, T3 producer Hal Lieberman seems to expect young people
to be part of the movie’s audience when that film hits
theaters this summer.
“The first two Terminator movies were rated R, so fans
are expecting this one to be too. It gives the movie a certain
integrity,” he said. “Kids don’t want to feel
that what they’re getting has been watered down in any
way.”
If this summer proves to be the year of the R-rated comeback,
watered-down films probably won’t be a problem.
www.natoo1nline.org, 5/29/03;
USA Today, 3/5/03, 5/19/03; Entertainment Weekly, 5/9/03
City
goes after porn
Coleman Collins is applauding the actions of his city attorney
in Corinth, Mississippi, for telling a local movie store to
stop renting pornographic videos – or face the consequences.
While visiting a local Movie Gallery, Collins opened a door
to see if it was a restroom and found himself in a room filled
with hardcore porn. He reported his finding to the mayor,
police chief and city attorney.
Under Mississippi law, a person who rents or sells obscene
videotapes could face a small fine or a brief jail sentence
if convicted. Corinth City Attorney William W. Odom, Jr.,
gave Movie Gallery two weeks to remove all obscene materials
from store shelves or face criminal prosecution.
Randy Sharp, director of special projects for AFA, said citizens
have a responsibility to make sure local authorities know
of possible violations of obscenity statutes – and he
added that Collins’ actions prompted this particular
investigation.
AFA has produced What One Person Can Do About Obscenity
in Video Stores, available on the Internet at www.afa.net/pornography.
Affiliate
addresses Make-A-Wish problem
It appears that the Make-A-Wish Foundation has no problem
taking money derived from pornography, according to Diane
Gramley, president of the AFA of Northwestern Pennsylvania.
And she wants the public to be aware of that fact.
The Pittsburgh ComiCon (Comic Convention) was held in late
April, and it included pornographic comic books, adult magazines,
and even personal appearances by porn stars. In conjunction
with that event, two fund raisers were held to benefit the
Make-A-Wish Foundation in Western Pennsylvania, part of a
national organization which grants requests for terminally
ill children.
“There were porn magazines openly displayed in front
of children, and porn stars posing for pictures with young
boys,” said Gramley, who attended the event. “In
addition, children were allowed to wander through makeshift
‘gambling halls’ where booze was freely consumed.”
Gramley said the direct tie-in between the convention and
Make-A-Wish was obvious, even though the Make-A-Wish chapter
denies it. The Web site for the convention, she said, boasts
that $27,000 was raised for the organization. The month before,
Make-A-Wish had refused a request to reconsider its participation
in the ComiCon.
In a related story, the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA)
turned down a similar opportunity, when it declined money
from a fund raiser at the Motor City Comic Convention over
concerns that porn would be available at that event.
AgapePress 5/6/03, 5/7/03, 5/20/03
Sexual
content of TV networks decreasing?
The Parents Television Council (PTC) reported the results
of a study examining the amount of sexual content on the six
major networks and found that it had decreased significantly,
although some networks scored better than others.
The PTC added a cautionary note: “The quantitative improvements
that have been made have been offset by some coarsening of
content” and an increase in explicitness.
The PTC analyzed prime-time programming between 1998 and 2002
and found that, during that time span, the amount of sexual
content had dropped 9% during the first hour (the so-called
“family hour”) and 12% in the second hour.
Each network except the WB had decreased sexual content during
the family hour, and all but the WB and UPN also eased up
on sex for the second hour of prime-time.
Sexual content was defined in the study as “visual depictions
of sex … nudity … [sexual] innuendo, suggestive
comments or jokes, [and] references or allusions to specific
sexual acts.”
However, less than a week earlier, Advertising Age had announced
that NBC was preparing a new sex-obsessed sitcom called Coupling.
Network entertainment president Jeff Zucker said the show
would be “very adult. It will raise some eyebrows.”
An NBC statement about the show boasted, “The average
person thinks about sex every six seconds. Trim that down
to every second and the result is Coupling.”
www.parentstv.org, 5/21/03;
AP, 5/21/03; Advertising Age, 5/12/03
Violent
music lyrics impact listeners
Song lyrics with violent messages lead to more aggressive
thoughts and feelings, despite what most teens and college-age
students say, a new study shows.
The American Psychological Association recently published
a study wherein researchers played music for 500 college students.
The music was from groups like Cypress Hill, whose recordings
often carry parental advisories.
Researchers paired each song with a similar one – one
with violent lyrics, the other with more-or-less benign wording.
They then tested for aggressive thoughts and feelings, and
found violent tunes had a measurable impact that might lead
to more aggressive behavior when dealing with other people.
Lead researcher Craig Anderson, of Iowa State University,
agrees. He said repetitive consumption of so-called “hate
music” should worry parents.
“I really would like parents to understand that content
matters,” Anderson said. “It matters to the extent
that [parents need to] take action on that by monitoring what
their children are doing, talking to them about it, whether
it’s video games, music lyrics or whatever.”
Family News in Focus, 5/7/03;
AgapePress, 5/14/03
Radical
feminist takes YWCA helm
The announcement that the Young Women’s Christian Association
(YWCA) has hired feminist Patricia Ireland as its new chief
executive officer has been met with concern from some in the
Christian community.
Ireland served for 10 years as president of the National Organization
for Women (NOW), a radical feminist group that engages in
“fighting the right,” according to its Web site,
and promoting lesbian rights, abortion and a host of other
leftist causes.
In a YWCA press release, Ireland indicated that she would
continue her feminist activism. “The YWCA has been a
voice for women and a force for change for nearly 150 years.
Accepting this position is an irresistible honor,” she
said. “The relocation of our national headquarters to
Washington, D.C., allows us to have a stronger and more effective
voice for change. New initiatives on the grassroots level
and in the nation’s capital will target policies that
adversely impact women and girls, and people of color – especially
those on the economic margins of our society.”
In the past Ireland admitted to being a bisexual with –
simultaneously – both a husband and a lesbian lover.
Not surprisingly, Ireland is listed as a member of the board
of directors for GenderPac, which describes itself as a “public
advocacy coalition” seeking to enlist even young people
to change cultural attitudes toward gender identity, cross-dressing,
and sex changes.
Ireland also told The New York Times, “I’m not the
head of a Christian organization. I’m the head of a social
justice women’s organization.”
AFA founder Don Wildmon said, “That’s fine, as long
as parents know that about the YWCA. If the new CEO of the
organization says it is no longer a Christian group, then
why don’t they drop the word ‘Christian’ from
the name, so there will be no confusion?”
Christians are concerned that the YWCA, especially with Ireland
at the top, will promote lesbianism to YWCA girls. In fact,
AFA reported in 2001 that the YWCA supported the use of the
pro-homosexual propaganda film That’s a Family! among
young people belonging to the organization. The film, which
is intended for use with children, claims that same-sex families
are the equivalent of the traditional family.
The New York Times, 5/22/03;
www.ywca.org, 5/29/03
DOJ
not acting on obscenity complaints
Action has yet to be taken on some 23,000 obscenity complaints
to United States attorneys, and family policy groups are questioning
why.
At least 23,000 complaints have been filed with United States
attorneys across the country according to Morality in Media’s
Web site, Obscenity
Crimes.org (See AFA Journal, 5/03). However, the
Justice Department has yet to make any substantial movement
toward prosecution.
“We’re asking for information,” said Jan LaRue,
legal policy director at Concerned Women for America, who
is leading the effort to get the Bush administration and Justice
Department to act on the complaints. “Victims of pornography
… deserve to have an answer.”
Pat Trueman, former Justice Department official and former
AFA chief of governmental affairs, told Family News in Focus
that while the war on terror and homeland security are important,
the Justice Department is apparently turning a blind eye to
the issue.
“These U.S. attorneys don’t have 23,000 people complaining
about anything else,” he said. “Not about Enron
or Martha Stewart, and yet those cases, those business cases
are given a priority.”
The concern is that if no action is taken by the Justice Department,
pornographers will get the message that they are free to do
whatever they please because they are at little or no risk
of being prosecuted.
Those wishing to voice their concern to the Justice Department
on the issue can do so by calling 202-353-1555 or E-mailing
notes of concern to AskDOJ@usdoj.gov.
Family News in Focus, 5/15/03
Group
compiling list of safe travel stops
Dr. Bob DeYoung and John Kuna envision a day when families
traveling across America can easily find family-friendly convenience
stores and stops along interstate highways.
DeYoung and Kuna, of The Family Psychology Center in Matamoras,
Pennsylvania, have begun compiling a list of “Safe Stops”
around the country. The list is in its infancy now, but DeYoung
and Kuna hope to develop a network of stores and stations
that parents can feel safe visiting.
“It’s kind of a mission God’s given us,”
DeYoung said. “I don’t know how many times I’ve
gone to these rest stops or gas stations, with the kids with
me, and [the stores] have pornography just sitting on the
shelves and magazine racks. It’s embarrassing, and it’s
wrong.”
DeYoung said he believes there are already stores and stations,
run by godly people, that would certainly qualify as Safe
Stops. And he would like to add them to the list. Station
owners and managers interested in becoming Safe Stops can
call The Family Psychology Center at 570-491-4117. They can
also e-mail Dr. DeYoung at drbob @thefamilypsychologycenter.com.
To see the list of Safe Stops, go online to www.familypsychologycenter.com
and click on the Safe Stops link.
New book series features history of Christian
faith
A new series of books from the Christian History Project chronicles
the history of the faith in a format that is both scholarly
and reader-friendly. The Veil is Torn is the first
in a 15-volume series called The Christians: The First
Two Thousand Years. Three volumes are out, and they set
a high standard for presentation of Christian history in our
culture.
“These books read like an adventure, a grand tale of
epic proportions, recounting Christendom’s most significant
events and people,” said AFA Journal editor Randall
Murphree. Writers for the series reflect top-tier scholarship
and the content is both credible and readable for the lay
person.
Canadian editor Ted Byfield is overseeing the project. Along
with businessman Bob Doull, Byfield created the Christian
History Project to produce this series. He thinks this history
of the faith is imperative because of what the culture has
done in recent decades to diminish Christianity’s impact.
“For half a century,” Byfield writes in The Veil
is Torn, “our literature, our popular music and drama,
the visual arts, Hollywood and much of the film industry have
been disseminating a genre of nihilism that debased almost
every form of human virtue and exalts sensual gratification
beyond anything the senses could possibly fulfill.”
Though Canadians lead the project, a team of writers was recruited
mostly from the U.S. They include authors and journalists
with impeccable credentials. Mark Galli, managing editor of
Christianity Today magazine, and Frederica Mathewes-Green,
author of numerous Christian books and commentator on National
Public Radio, are among them.
Byfield told the Edmonton Journal (Alberta, Canada) that increasing
anti-Christian bias in North America portends impending persecution.
“If I make a statement against Jews or Muslims,”
he said, “I’m accused immediately of bigotry. If
I make them against Christians, which appear all the time,
that’s not bigotry, it’s a brownie point in [my]
favor.”
The volumes are being marketed via Internet and telephone
(www.christian
historyproject.com or 1-800-853-5402). The first volume is
available on a trial acceptance basis – review it for
14 days without obligation to purchase. The Veil is Torn
sells for $39.95. “The text alone is worth that,”
said Murphree. “The art alone is worth that. The photos
and maps alone are worth that. More important, they offer
a history of the Christian faith that will strengthen our
resolve to preserve it and pass it on. I’d say that makes
them a bargain.”
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