I’ve gotten to see the new documentary, “Bully” (opening March 30th). The film is getting a lot of attention for two reasons:
1) It focuses on the important topic of bullying in schools and communities around the country.
2) It’s been given an ‘R’ rating by the MPAA for “some language”, and the ‘R’ rating will limit the chance of those under 17, the main group of people who should see the movie, to see the movie.
The filmmakers, those who funded and participated in the movie and The Weimstein Company, the studio behind the film, are all fighting to get the MPAA to change it’s rating of “Bully” to PG-13. And some individuals are doing their part as well:
17-year-old Katy Butler, a Michigan high school student and victim of bullying, collected over 200,000 signatures on as petition and brought the forms to MPAA headquarters in LA. Officials welcomed her and her mother and spoke with them about the movie, but still haven’t changed the rating. The MPAA is also holding a special screening of “Bully” and will discuss the issue with the public afterwards, but there are no promises that anything will change.
The reason for the ‘R’ is a few adult words, mostly at the beginning of the film. And the MPAA has told writer/director Lee Hirsch that if those word are taken out, the rating would be switch to ‘PG-13’. Hirsch is refusing to change his film and he’s making the right decision. No filmmaker should ever be forced to edit/make changes to get a rating for a film, especially a documentary.
But that’s a separate issue. The main problem her is that the MPAA is over-reacting to these words and, because of that, preventing “Bully” from being able to make a difference in the on-going fight to end bullying and prevent the tragedies that we see in the film.
The reasoning of the MPAA officials is foolish. Every kid around who’s older than 8 and had attended school has heard these few “swear words”. And hearing them being used by bullies against their victims in the film only strengthens the point of the movie even more. It shows the verbal violence that bullies often use along with physical violence. And how the combination can be devastating to innocent kids.
Censoring is not the answer, as it would lessen the impact of the film. And preventing kids from seeing this important movie also is not the answer.
I’ve disagreed with some MPAA decisions in the past. It seems if there’s a little nudity or sex, the film will almost certainly get an R, but if there’s tons of violence, a film can still be rated PG-13. It’s frustrating that the MPAA doesn’t understand the context or reasoning behind why the language used in “Bully” has to stay in the final product.
It would be great if parents everywhere took their kids to see “Bully”, even if it remains ‘R’, but we know that’s not going to happen. I’d like to see the film screened in schools around the country, but the ‘R’ rating will make that very difficult.
I applaud everyone who’s fighting the MPAA and will be happy to lend whatever support I can to the cause. But no matter what happens, plan to see “Bully” when it comes to theaters on March 30th. And bring your children. It could be the most important movie you see all year.