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Transformers Targeted In FCC's Battle With PG-13 FilmsBy Perri Nemiroff: 2009-08-27 16:41:58
270 days fly by fast. Back in October the U.S. Senate passed a bill requiring the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to compile a list of advanced blocking technologies that could help parents filter out inappropriate programming and was given 270 days to do so. Come Saturday, August 29th, the FCC’s time is up.
The Child Safe Viewing Act of 2007 required the FCC to issue a Notice of Inquiry, which was carried out in March of this year. The point of this NOI was to reach out to the public to learn their thoughts on the issue of blocking particular material across the digital landscape, including DVD players, wireless devices and the Internet. The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC), a coalition of 30 media reform organizations, responded to the NOI by pointing a finger at the movie industry, particularly at the Transformers films. The CCFC requested that the Motion Pictures Association of America only air commercials for PG-13 rated films during shows with a viewership primarily over the age of thirteen or after 9:00pm. The CCFC specially refers to a trend it called the ‘ratings creep.’ Today’s PG-13 rated films would have earned R-ratings 15 years ago. Transformers wound up being a prime target due to its massive toy campaign. In a letter to the FCC, the CCFC explained, “The film is rated PG-13 for ‘intense sequences of sci-fi action violence, brief sexual humor, and language’ by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), yet it is being marketed extensively to children as young as two through licensed toys, food promotions, and advertising on children’s television programming.” While it’s difficult to say anything positive about Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, it isn’t difficult to agree with the argument proposed by Matthew Lasar of Ars Technica. What’s so terrible about the Transformers movies? Yes, there are some expletives and sexual jokes, but nothing compared to other summer flicks the kiddies have probably been exposed to. Even the violence is rather tame. There are a lot of robots being torn to shreds, but there’s little to no disturbing images of humans being injured. Transformers finds itself in the middle of this battle because of its wide appeal. Adults are drawn to the films for the action and star power while younger audiences simply want to see their favorite Autobot take out a Decepticon. Making matters even more convoluted for the franchise is that mixing kids with movies always leads to a demand for toys. What it comes down to is that there are so many means of programming nowadays; the FCC just needs to devise a system to keep them uniform. The CCFC’s suggestion to restrict times advertisements for PG-13 films are permitted to show makes sense.
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