Media Ratings | Teen Ink

Media Ratings

May 26, 2010
By hellokitty2000 BRONZE, Dunlap, Illinois
hellokitty2000 BRONZE, Dunlap, Illinois
1 article 0 photos 0 comments

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The media provides ratings for movies, TV shows, and video games. They are doing a very good job. In fact the services which provide ratings are very useful. However, I think there should be more clarification to the ratings. I know some ratings which are provided are not very accurate to begin with. The rating should indicate if there is any intense violence, realistic blood, romance, immodesty, religious content, profanity, nudity, or even partial nudity. I think that the ratings for anime especially need improving. I once saw an anime show that had partial nudity in it, but it was rated PG. I thought that was a very inappropriate rating because usually movies rated PG don't have any nudity at all. I think it should have been rated PG14 or even MA.


I have another concern also. I think publishing companies should put ratings for all of their young adult books. I read a book called The Princess Diaries and I think that it would be inappropriate for kids under twelve years old to read, but I have seen kids as young as eight years old reading it. There are other series too like: Gossip Girl, The Clique, Pretty Little Liars, and Private Series which are not good for younger children or teens to read either. They deal with subject matter which is inappropriate for younger readers. Also they have language and information parents might disapprove of. I think they shouldn't put any kind of romance in kids’ movies and books. Romance is for adults. There is no reason for kids to see romance. Kids should read books about their own experiences. The older book series are less likely to have inappropriate content. Those books are better. Some examples are: The Baby-Sitters Club, Animorphs, Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry, A Wrinkle in Time (series). All these books have very little or no romance at all.


Everything kids read and watch has an influence on them. If they see inappropriate stuff, (and I'm not going to mention anything in particular) then there might be a negative effect
So my suggestions are: The media should provide appropriate and accurate ratings for everything.


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This article has 2 comments.


on Jun. 7 2010 at 8:07 pm
What does "religious content" have to do with movie ratings???

on Jun. 6 2010 at 3:37 pm
krazykathleen BRONZE, Edwardsville, Illinois
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Your article was well written but I disagree. First of all, you can see why a movie or show is rated the way it is by using sites like IMDb.com. It tells you anything questionable in movies using catergories- Sex/Nudity, Violence, Frightening Images, Profanity, etc. Very helpful. Second, I believe parents or guardians are strictly responsible for what their children are reading. They are capable of looking up information on the book online to see if it's appropiate. It's not the media's job to decide what's appropiate and what's not. Kids are responsible for their own actions and even though I have watched innapropiate things doesn't mean I'm going to go out and do it. I mean, here everyone is criticizing the media and all and now they're supposed to put ratings on our books? I just don't really agree. But that's my opinion and I respect yours, these are just my feelings.

Oh yea, I've read the whole Babysitter Club series and there is mention of dates, boyfriends, etc. There's even several books specifically on it, i.e. "Boy Crazy Stacey." So those have romance in them. Plus the girls in the series are only in middle school!