A study from Ohio State University found that movies with an R, or restricted, rating back in the 1980s were actually less violent than movies getting a PG-13 rating today.
A study from Ohio State University found that movies with an R, or restricted, rating back in the 1980s were actually less violent than movies getting a PG-13 rating today.
Reportedly PG-13 films today have three times more gun violence than when the PG-13 rating was first introduced back in 1985.
Researchers looked at 945 popular movies that were released between 1950 and 2012, and undergraduate students helping collect data for the study counted the number of violent acts in each movie.
All of the films chosen to be part of the study were one of the top 30 grossing movies from the year they were released.
According to co-author of the study Dan Romer: “There are exceptions, but in the top-grossing films, over 90 percent of them have some violence. Violence is very good for Hollywood, and PG-13 is good for Hollywood, because it doesn’t restrict anyone from going into the theater.”
Film ratings are determined by the Motion Picture Association of America, known as the MPAA who declined to comment on the results of the study.
What do you think about the change in rating standards from the 1980s to today?
