Since I am primarily a filmmaker, I have a few thoughts about the MPAA and the ratings system. I find the entire rating system out dated and of no benefit to anybody. They don't really tell you what is in a movie that it recieved a certain rating. If you look at the actual rules on why things get the rating that they get, you will see that it is a matter of what words are said or how long a shot is kept on something that might be objectionable.
The ratings system does nothing to deal with the subject matter of the film. It merely looks at what words were used to deal with the subject matter. It doesn't look at ideas. You can present an adult subject matter and not get an R rating if you don't break any of the language laws.
This is where I fall into a certain grey area. I was influenced by people like Mae West and the Marx Brothers. I have even been influenced by Hitchcock. There is a certain joy in suggesting something and letting the audience make it more in their minds. This is more powerful.
Life: An Autobiography as Told by Jack Gunthridge does deal with adult subject matters. Jack has to deal with his father's death. Christine has to deal with her parent's divorce, the things she saw leading up to their divorce, and how they are dating other people after the divorce. That's not even beginning to talk about Jack and Christine and how they have to deal with their feelings for each other as they go through puberty.
As an artist, I feel that is important to deal with these characters and subjects in as realistic a manner as possible. If I have felt something, I am betting that somebody else has felt it. They just may not have known how to express it. To have somebody else express it for them is liberating. It validates their feelings and makes them seem like they are a normal human being.
I am sticking by my PG-13 rating. I did not break any of the official rules. I have talked to some of my friends who have read the book. They acknowledge that I am pushing the PG-13 rating, but it is well within the PG-13 classification. I suggest more than I show.
I have always been a proponent of discussion in America. We are too quick to condemn. Let's discuss the issues and themes in this book. Be a pro-active parent. Don't just let a rating system determine what is appropriate for your child to read. What one child is able to comprehend may be different from what another is able to deal with. People do develop differently. Parents have different standards.
If anybody has an issue with the way Jack and Christine turn out in the book, you should consider the fact that they have very laissez faire parents. Christine's parents are more interested in buying her affections than in being parents. She is leverage against the other parent. And Jack basically is the head of the household. There is an element of this story that says that parents aren't being parents.
I hope people are enjoying the book. I was talking to somebody the other day. She was reading the book and was laughing. Her boyfriend wondered what she was laughing at. She would then read him some passages. The boyfriend started to read the book over her shoulder. She told him to go back to watching his football game; she was reading. She told me that was the first time her boyfriend had ever been interested in a book.
Life is about finding the humor in horrible situations. I have always defined drama as life as we would like for it to be. Comedy is life as it really is. Learn to laugh at a love story about two very messed up people from very messed up families. You just might see the humor in the situations of your life.
