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THE GREAT ENTERTAINMENT BUY-COTT!!
By Dick Rolfe, CEO The Dove Foundation
April/May 2001

Consumer confidence in the entertainment industry is at an all time low. Box office revenues are up by 3% over 1999, but the attendance is down by  6%. The difference is made up by increased ticket prices.  Movie-goers in New York City must pay $10 – not exactly a family-friendly price tag. Movie theaters are closing at an accelerated rate.

Not only are the prices unfriendly to families, but so is the content. To complicate things the movie ratings have become so incoherent and undependable lately, no one really knows what to expect in a movie simply by its rating. Producers and consumers alike are confused and calling for widespread changes.

The ratings slippery slope has caused most movies to slide down an entire category within the past few years. MPAA president and architect of the movie ratings system, Jack Valenti explained, “Our ratings standards reflect the changing morays of society.” In other words, today’s R-rated movies are yesterday’s pornography.

The PG-13 rating has experienced a more dramatic shift this past year. Many PG-13 films that were released starting the fourth quarter of last year are the equivalent of previous R-rated fare. This is because studios, responding to the FTC pressure to stop marketing R-rated movies to minors, began making minor cuts in content to get their movie approved for the broader audience, but left the adult-oriented messages of depravity intact.

The L.A. Times recently quoted Terry Press, head of film marketing at DreamWorks. He said,  “PG-13 is getting harder rather than softer, because the MPAA is focusing on the quantity of foul language, nudity and violence and not the overall content.”  The end result is a PG-13 movie with an R-rated theme. Masturbation, intercourse and perverted sex acts are now appearing frequently in PG-13 films, so long as the genitals are not visible. But it doesn’t stop there. Full frontal nudity is also showing up more often in PG-13 movies.

How many pre-pubescent youngsters experiencing the awkward age of sexual self-awareness are mature enough to watch graphic portrayals of adult sexual behavior, not to mention violence, foul language and a general disrespect for authority?   Remember. there are no restrictive measures in place by the theaters to keep small children out of PG-13 movies. Your 6 year-old could easily gain entrance to any one of these movies without your knowledge or permission.

Many film makers are insensitive to the family audience where language is concerned. They regularly produce so-called family films with material that offends people of moral stature and especially insults  people of faith, who make up 86% of the American population. Neither Jews, Muslims nor Christians enjoy hearing the names of venerated deities profaned or reduced to mere expletives. 

But not all PG-13 movies are to be shunned. The breadth of content that is permissible under the PG-13 label is so widespread that it only adds to the confusion.  

The Dove Foundation has awarded it’s Dove Seal for audiences over age twelve to several PG-13 movies that were released by the same studios that produced some of the more atrocious adult-oriented fare.  Below are a few examples:

 All of the following titles are rated PG-13 by the MPAA. 

** denotes Dove-Approval for audiences over age 12.

Miramax: (Owned by Disney)

Cider House Rules – Unborn fetuses are thrown into a furnace; substance abuse; some violence; profanity & obscenity; drug use by a doctor; smoking by role models; sexual situations including nudity; anti-Christian sentiments; incest is implied.

** Mansfield Park – Jane Austin, the author of "Sense And Sensibility" and "Emma," comes another classic about love, courtships and intrigues on a magnificent English estate. Kissing; An affair with negative consequences; No profanity.

Disney – Touchstone/Hollywood Pictures

Crew – Comedy - Eleven profane uses of the names of God, Jesus or Christ, 1 F-word 1, 23 obscenities, 4 expletives 4; sexual comments and innuendo; a flatulence joke – The main character is a prostitute who has sex with at least two of the leads; female partial nudity; scantily clad dancers in a strip bar where lap dances are exotically performed; implied oral sex; drinking on several occasions;  explosions and beatings; dead hanging bodies; a woman is kidnapped; a shootout

** While You Were Sleeping – Comedy – When a lonely subway toll-taker is mistaken for a comatose man's fiancée after saving his life, his estranged family welcomes her with open arms. But when a brother becomes suspicious and investigates her claims, she realizes she's "attached" to the wrong brother. Two mild crudities. Kissing; An accident producing a temporary coma.

Twentieth Century Fox:

Say It Isn’t So – Comedy – Obscenities abound including 3 f-words. Car explosions, truck runs over amputee's artificial legs, woman has heart attack; female frontal nudity; endless references to sexual acts and body parts. Man shares hot tub with woman who performs oral sex  underwater; man inserts his fist into a cow's behind.

** Ever After: A Cinderella Story – Comedy – This spirited "Cinderella" is certainly no victim - against all odds, she stands up against a forceful and scheming stepmother, while honoring her late and beloved father. One mild crudity. Mild fighting, no blood.

What can we do?

1. Look to another standard. The Dove Seal is awarded to films that to not glorify or contain explicit portrayals of illicit sex, nudity, graphic violence, occultism, illegal drug use, or gross profanities – we look for stories that elevate, and not denigrate the human spirit.

2. Join the Dove Foundation’s

GREAT ENTERTAINMENT BUY-COTT!!
Putting your money where your values are.

Boycotts have been tried with mixed results, but they always send harsh messages that polarize the manufacturer and consumer, thereby clouding the real issue – what is it the consumer really wants?

A buy-cott on the other hand, provides the perfect chance for consumers to exercise their purchase-power in the marketplace and enlighten manufacturers about exactly what kind of product they enjoy.  In entertainment terms, that means spending money on a particular movie or video or game that meets your standards of decency, without regard for the Studio. It also means  rejecting other products by the same manufacturer that are “out of bounds” according to those same standards.

3. Draw a line in the sand, and say this far, and no farther. Then, exercise the “power of the purse” and cast your vote for wholesome movies and videos.

We will highlight films, videos TV movies and video games that are worthy of BUY-COTTING.  We will also warn you about those that are not! Look for your favorite Dove Approved movies at: www.dove.org/shop

If you would like to be part of Dove’s GREAT ENTERTAINMENT BUY-COTT, please consider sending a financial gift today.  Your help is needed immediately so we can send an indelible message to Hollywood that we are ready to put our money where our values are!  

Click here to make a donation

Copyright © 2001, The Dove Foundation. All rights reserved.