JOHN L.'S REPORT ON THE MARKETING OF VIOLENCE TO CHILDREN 

WHAT CAN WE DO?

Recently, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) put out a very detailed report on how advertisers market violent entertainment to children ("Marketing Violent Entertainment to Children: a Review of Self-regulation and Industry Practices in the Motion Picture, Music Recordings & Electronic Game Industries." )  Even though movies, music, and video games have ratings that warn people that the contents have some rough edges like violence, bad language, or strong sexual themes, they are still promoted in areas that are frequented by many kids.  You can look at the back of many popular comics like Superman and Spiderman and see ads for R-Rated movies like "Scream."  Ads for video games like the M-Rated (recommended for 17+) are shown on the animated FOX show, "The Simpsons." MTV has a core audience between the ages of 12 and 17, but the hardcore warning labeled  rapper, Marshall Mathers has whole days devoted to his music.  The United States government has a big problem with this.  These mature themes should be censored from young impressionable minds because it leads to aggressive behavior and a desensitization of real life violence.   Hollywood, the music and video game industry has been producing material that is very offensive to parents trying to raise moral kids in what has become a very immoral society.  Children have become more violent in recent years and instead of taking their anger out in standard fist fights or verbal sparring, they are going over to their grandpa's wood shed and stealing his gun collection to shoot up their school and kill their teachers and fellow classmates.  Since there are already very strong gun legislation, the government had trouble coming up what leads a child to shoot up a school.  The reasons they found were bad family life, drugs, teasing, poor neighborhoods, and as a constant catalyst to the problem, mainstream pop culture entertainment. 

Parents have control of their home life, they can keep an eye out for illegal drugs because they cause obvious physical problems, and if worse comes to worth you can always move.  However, entertainment surrounds us at all times whether its a television, compact disc, or even a book.  You cannot avoid it.  You can turn off the TV, avoid going to the movies, and throw out your walkman.  But, even the most staunch opponents of current entertainment still like to be entertained and want to see things that cause them pleasure with out being made up of filth. Language, sex, and violence are the three things that drive people crazy.  These things have been in movies from the beginning.  One of the first images shown on film was a guy shooting a gun directly towards the camera as if the gunslinger was shooting the audience.  One of the longest kisses on film comes from a silent movie made some 85 years ago.  However, in the movies of the past, there was no nudity.  The most violent song was "Mack the Knife," and the Beatles sung about holding hands and not knocking boots.  Also, the industries policed themselves.  When someone was shot, you never saw blood splatter from the wound and no body parts were blown off.  Cursing was limited to hells and damns.  In fact, one of the most famous scenes of all time is Clark Gable's last line in "Gone With the Wind" and his "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn."  That last word was shocking to hear back in 1939.  Horror movies were extremely popular back when Universal was making Frakenstein and the Wolfman.  They had very graphic violence for the day and their themes alone of bringing back the dead, brain transplants, animal attacks, and witchcraft were very extreme.  However, very little blood was ever shown and since they were mostly in black and white, it was not as dramatic.  Since very violent images were not allowed to be shown, it was mostly about the moods and how thick the fog was. 

The entire history of entertainment has been full of violence.  From the Bible, to Homer's epics, to Sophocles' plays, to Shakespeare, to Tom and Jerry, to Bugs Bunny, to the Three Stooges, to John Wayne, to Alfred Hitchock's films, to the Godfather, to Apocalypse Now, to Indiana Jones, to Friday the 13th, to Freddy Kruger, to Scream, to Buffy, to everything.  Not only is the violence marketed to children, the majority of it is marketed to adults who have the most power to exploit the things they see in these things.  Every few years the government needs to show that they are doing something, so they pick on the entertainment industry.  In the 1950s they had blacklisting hearings, Comic Code ethics, and the destroying of rock and roll records that were considered the devil's music.  The 1960's had the network's covering up Barbara Eden's belly button on I Dream of Jeannie.  The 1970's had the safe harbor legislation proposed to force networks into having family friendly programming during the first hour of primetime television.  In 1984, "Gremlins" and "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" had such shocking violence that the MPAA was forced to create the PG-13 rating system.  In the mid 90s, Tim Roth starred in a made for TV movie called "Murder in the Heartland" about a couple running around killing people and they kept showing Roth shoot this guy in the back with a shotgun.  This image sparked Congress to force the networks to create the TV ratings you see in the corner of your screen when a show starts.  This also led to the V-Chip to be installed in all new televisions to help parents block out violent programming.  After all of these ratings and hearings to help protect children from seeing any type of violence in media we were still hit with a string of school and office shootings over a 2 year period.  In 1999, there were about 5 shooting rampages spread out over 4 months.  The massacre in Littleton was the most publicized and for some reason the politicians ignored all the evidence of the killers being picked on by classmates, poor parenting, racisim, religious hatred, drugs, illegal access to guns, and missing medication doses leading to their rampage.  Instead, they focused on their website and the video games like "Doom" they played as the main reason they killed those people in April 1999.  In the killer's confession they filmed before they murdered those people, video games were never mentioned as any kind of motive.  They enjoyed playing the game like millions of other people, but it had nothing to do with them planting bombs in a school cafeteria.  But, it is harder for politicians to solve real dilemmas in society and easier to legislate fiction.  So, President William Jefferson Clinton had the Federal Trade Commission figure out if the makers of violent entertainment purposely market their material to children who are warned to stay away from the product.  It became like a sequel to the cigarette company attacks that led to the elimination of Joe Camel since his cartoony features attracted kids to smoking.  The fancy and glossy ads of adult rated movies, songs, and video games were attracting impressionable kids.  The President wanted to know if this was done by accident or on purpose.  The FTC found out that in most cases it is done on purpose.  

So, for the rest of this analysis, I will divide it into 4 parts.  The first part will be what the government would have us do now that it is proven that violence is marketed to children.  The second part will be the point of view of the parents and the difficulty they have in raising their children in a world that wants them to grow up too fast.  Then I will give my point of view of how I feel about this whole mess.  The fourth section will be solutions to the problem.  My goal here is to help those who are troubled by the state of entertainment today and by those who are afraid of what might come if the entertainment they enjoy now is altered.  Since this is a movie website, I will focus mostly on the film industry, but I will throw in a few mentions of the music and video game material since they are referenced heavily in the FTC report.  It is not a easy thing to resolve, but I will try.  

THE U.S.  GOVERNMENT'S  POINT OF VIEW ON MARKETING VIOLENCE

Al Gore has said that if he was elected President of the United States, he would give the entertainment industry 6 months to clean up its act or it would face harsh legislation to force them into compliance.  There are currently no plans to actually censor any material.  The 1st Amendment to the United States Constitution guarantees free speech.  Movies, music, and video games can make anything they want, but if it is rated for adults only, only adults should know about or purchase the products.  R rated movies state that you have to be 17 to see the film unless accompanied by and parent or guardian.  This has been interpreted as being that if you are under 17 and are with someone 17 or older you can get in regardless of the personal relationship.  The government wants all under 17 children to be banned from seeing the film no matter what.  Sort of like turning an R rating into an NC-17.  Advertising for R rated moves would be restricted as well.  You would no longer see an advertisement for a "Scream 3" on the back of a Spiderman comic book or a commercial for "Scary Movie" on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, or the music video to "Me, Myself, and Irene" on MTV's Total Request Live.  Too many children are attracted to these forms of entertainment and should not be exposed to material that is potentially harmful to them.  If ads are made they could only be shown late at night  preferably after 10:00 pm and before 6:00 am and only on material with a 75% majority adult audience.  Children watch a lot of television, so that would effectively end most advertising for R rated movies and could possibly force Hollywood into making more wholesome pictures that they could advertise on any TV show or other entertainment outlet.  Why make a violent R-rated movie that you cannot tell anyone exists when you can make a family film that can reach everyone.  Movie theaters would be forced to enforce the ratings codes and have guards and/or ushers guarding the entrances to keep out the sneaky kids.  Cable networks like Nickelodeon and MTV would no longer be able to show commercials for adult rated material since their audiences are predominantly children.  Musical records with warning labels, and Mature rated video games would not be allowed to be sold to children under any circumstances.  This will give parents more power in controlling when and if their children are exposed to this material that has caused them to become desensitized to violence.  If this love of the gun and the fist can be softened, it is hoped that society will learn to resolve problems with dialogue and not bullets.  If the blatant marketing of violence continues, then the government would be forced to tell these entertainment moguls to stop producing obvious destructive material like the slasher movies, misogynist songs, and first person video game shoot-em-ups.  To get around the censorship issue, they could charge the offenders with corruption of a minor or endangering a child.  Deciding what is good and bad violence is difficult and must be done on a case by case basis.  But it is understood that violence based on real life events like a "Saving Private Ryan" or a "Patriot" are important to be made for historical reasons but rated to let parents know that there are some things that may be disturbing for children but due to its importance should still be made.  However, the days of the glorification of a Jason or Freddy Kruger or Scream serial killer would be over since those types of films are just over the top pointless violence with no redeeming value and should never have been made in the first place.  Serial killer movies could still be made, but they would have to be very serious and not show any graphic on screen violence. Even though "Silence of the Lambs" won the best picture, it would have to be judged very carefully to see if it would be acceptable in this new age.  When the three main forms of entertainment are under control, then steps would have to be taken to control how the internet promotes adult material.  Banner ads for adult material will have to be put on adult only sites that can only be accessed by the proper age group.  Some special adult password would have to be given.  Internet filtering software would have to be made better to block out offensive websites.  Children are all over the net and can easily access material they are unable to purchase in person.  Libraries would have to ban children from using the internet in the library unsupervised by a parent and if children are allowed, the computer would be filtered.  If the medical sites are blocked and needed for some science report then the librarian would have to access the material through a proper site or a book or magazine.  Adult access internet would be put in private booths that only the user can see and people walking by cannot see what is on the screen.  The government does not want to stop the entertainment industry from making these outlandish things because it is allowed by the Constitution.  But, it is hoped that Hollywood, the music industry, the video game companies realize that many of the things they produce are harmful to children and should stop being made.  Voluntary compliance is what is desired not forced compliance.

THE PARENTS' POINT OF VIEW ON MARKETING VIOLENCE

Raising kids nowadays as it has been since parenting began is a near impossible task.  Kids are always wanting to do something, and the parents get tired.  So, they need to have something to keep the children busy.  Take them to a movie, play a song, give them a video game. Kids like these activities and it can keep a parent free for a couple hours to take their Calgon Bath break.  Over the last several years, it has become more difficult to leave a child with these forms of entertainment.  It is so hard to tell what is appropriate and what is not.  In 1968, a ratings board was created to give ratings to movies.  There is "G" for general audiences meaning anyone of all ages can view this movie.  The "PG" rating is means that there are some questionable scenes like mild cursing and violence and parental guidance is recommended. The next rating is one of the most popular and it is the "PG-13" This movie has it all. It has violence, cursing, and some mild sex and nudity.  Even though it says you should be 13 to see it, there is no forced restriction of the under 13 set to see the film.  The fourth rating is the most controversial and it is the "R" film.  Parents have to make the choice of whether their children should see the film.  This type of movie can contain almost anything.  Violent acts of any type can be shown and graphic simulated sex can be dramatized.  Any word you can think of can be said in these movies with the "fuck" favorite being used more than any other one.  The next to the last rating is the infamous "NC-17."  It doesn't matter if Bob Hope is your guardian, no one is old enough to accompany a child to this film as all people under 17 are restricted from seeing the film.  Very few movies get this rating.  Most times if a movie is attached an NC-17, it gets re-edited to an R or goes unrated.  The DVD and video releases usually show an NC-17 version of a film, but on video they tend to call it the Director's Cut or Special Edition to make it sound safe.  Now the rating that is one of my friend Tim's personal favorites is the X rating.  Ooooo ahhhh.  Believe it or not, movies made with X ratings make more than all of the other movies combined.  These movies were originally supposed to be adult themed movies like "Midnight Cowboy" and "A Clockwork Orange."  Graphic films, but not necessarily full blown (pardon my French) pornography.  The X meant that anything can be shown with no limits.  Well, with the debut of "Deep Throat' the days of the nice adult themed movie went down the tubes and was replaced by uninhibited sexual escapades.  For the X movies, you had to be at least 18 to view them and in many cases it was 21.  Kids had no access to these films and were thrown out of the back rooms of stores that carry the videos.  Of all the ratings, the X are the ones that their children would have the most difficulty accessing and for the most part never see unless they catch their Dad's stash under the bed or something.  All of these ratings are generally fine to give parents an idea of what to let their children see or not to see.  However, since R rated movies are not 100% prohibitive to children, some children get to see them and then those tainted kids tell the sheltered ones what their missing to the point where the protective parents have to relent and show them the "adult" material or have their children considered outcasts to the other kids.  Not everyone raises their children the same way so it is impossible to keep violence in the media from them.  If it is not shown, it is described.  Heck, a parent would have to not only keep the television from their child, but the newspapers, school, supermarket, walk in the park, or lunch at McDonalds and then put earplugs in their ears and a blindfold over their eyes to protect their delicate senses from a gun, knife, fist, or a foot to the ass.  The parents want and need help.  They want Hollywood and entertainment to  clean up their act, not just for the children, but for the adults as well.  Violence that is glorified like in "Scary Movie," and "Scream," and other teen slasher movies is attractive to children especially teenagers.  It gives them a rush of excitement and desensitizes them to real life violence and to fake violence that should be more disturbing.  Also there are the historical violence shown in movies like "The Patriot" and "Saving Private Ryan" that critics and even politicians say is okay, but they tend to be more graphic than the popular serial killer stalker movies.  Parents would like to teach their children history with these movies, but when people are getting beheaded and getting stabbed and disemboweled, it is difficult to let them see these moments in history.  Special effects today can show any form of violence you can think of that was never shown in older films.  When people got shot in movies 60 years ago, they grabbed their chest and fell down but no blood was shown.  Nowadays you can see the intestines leak out of the belly as the victim tries to stuff them back inside them self.  Just because it can be done, does not mean it should be done.  There should be more wholesome entertainment that is promoted as being the cool thing and not such madness as the cursing and death of "South Park."  Also, adult material should not be defined as being things made up of violence, graphic sex, and cursing.  That makes adult things look stupid and childish which it has become.  Violence can be shown in movies geared toward children, but it should have standards of not showing blood and not being obscene.  In fact, most parents would probably ask for Hollywood to declare a moratorium on overly violent movies and even tone down the historical dramas.  Hollywood going a year without a movie rated above a PG-13 would go a long way in showing that Hollywood is willing to change.  And what would be better is if movies that don't celebrate violence and death and are more family oriented became the $100 million and $200 million blockbusters to show that money can be made when morality is shown.  Parents can control what their children watch to a degree, but without some help it becomes a losing battle that cannot be won.

JOHN L'S POINT OF VIEW ON MARKETING VIOLENCE

Let me start by saying that the only way to stop the marketing of violent entertainment to children is to ban the marketing of entertainment period. There should be no commercials for movies, music, or video games that have a strong amount of violence. There should be no ads in the newspapers or magazines that promote material that is violent. Any billboard that contains advertising for adult rated material will be torn down. Any ad that advertises the average Shakespearean Tragedy playing at the local playhouse would have to taken away since Romeo and Juliet has suicide, Hamlet has sword fights, MacBeth is all about murder, and Othello is about a jealous husband killing his wife. Violence and adult material has been part of entertainment since time began. The first scenes in movies were train robberies and a guy shooting a gun straight into the audience.

Eliminating violent material will not keep it out of the hands of children. For one thing, people don't raise their kids the same as others. You might not let your kids watch TV or go to movies above a G rating, but other children have parents that let them see almost anything they want to. The best form of marketing is not the commercial during Nick at Night or pro wrestling, it is the word of mouth of your peers. A child would have to live in a plastic bubble their entire life without any human contact whatsoever. The other thing is that there is no way to judge what is too violent. Here are descriptions of some typical violent acts that millions of children see everyday. A shotgun is put to the head of a lisping character and their face is blown off. A bomb goes off and blows up a character into tiny little pieces. A Frenchman stalks a female relentlessly and forces himself on her against her will. These things are very violent and just by their basic descriptions out of context they would be banned in a society trying to eliminate overly violent material. However, they all describe Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd, Wile E. Coyote, and Pepe LePew, all Warner Brothers cartoons geared towards children. Well, at least that is what they became since when those cartoons used to air before feature films, they were for adults to enjoy more than children.

Ahh, but we all know the difference between Bugs Bunny and Freddy Kruger. There are obvious entertainment media that should not be shown to kids without adult supervision. NYPD Blue is a very popular show with adults, but it is not for kids. Saying that it is coming on at 10:00 pm Tuesdays during the Teletubbies is not practical. That is not the audience the producers of the show want since mostly children watch it. However, there are several television shows like the Buffy the Vampire, Friends, Dawson's Creek, and Pro Wrestling that attracts a wide range of ages. Kids, young adults, and older middle aged folks may watch those shows, so showing an ad for the latest teen slasher movie or Susan Sarandon tear jerker is understandable. What the government wants and many parents is for no advertising for violent material shown on shows or in magazines and the like that have any appeal to children. That simply is not possible because then this hurts the adults who are the primary demographic for the material.

The rules for R rated films is that all ages can view the film with a caveat. Persons under 17 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian to see it. What happens is the 17, 18, or 19 year old brother, or cousin, or friend takes the 8, 12, or 15 year old to the Die Hards, the Terminators, and the Screams. Are they guardians or loopholes? The government and parents think that R means no children under 17 should see it when that is not what it says. NC-17 and X were created to ban children, not the R. But many mainstream media sources will not show advertising for those types of films. Also, there are certain R-Rated plots like the slasher movie (Halloween, Scream) that appeal mostly to the 14 to 35 age group because they mostly have young actors in the lead roles and the 30 somethings grew up on that type of entertainment in the 1980s.

What has happened, and what has disturbed the government and others is how this media violence has desensitized children, and adults for that matter to violence in real life as well as fictional. No one is bothered anymore when someone is beheaded or cut in half in a movie like "Gladiator." The audience cheers and whistles just like the Romans did way back when. To me, this is a good thing. In the last 30 years, Hollywood and other forms of entertainment have told the public exactly shot for shot, note for note, pixel for pixel how they do what they do. When someone is beheaded, its a fake body dummy or computer generated image (CGI) that can separate various body parts from a person without anyone getting hurt. VH1's most popular show is "Behind the Music" which shows how the excesses of bands can lead to tragedy and success. Some of the most popular magazines read by teenagers are Gamepro and Nintendo Power which explains how video games are created so that when you see a Doom beast coming at the screen, you will know how much work was done to create it. The art of the making of report is what has desensitized us to "FICTIONALIZED" violence and misogyny. Everyone knows that no one died when they were shot in the chest because the actor was wearing red squib packs underneath his most likely white shirt. The most disturbing thing is what goes on in real life like mass shootings, rapes, war, and car accidents that are shown on the news everyday. This is the common defense for movies and television that the real life news is what will horrify a child who thinks that if that can really happen to those people, it can happen to them. No regular person is desensitized to real life violence. Everyone should know that killing someone is wrong. The ones who don't are the ones who commit the crime in the first place. But, the more graphic violence in movies have made us able to watch a real life tragedy and not freak out and scream and hide under the bed. The constant barrage of fictionalized mayhem helps in dealing with true life horrors. People can remain rational and try to figure out ways to deal with violence instead of running away and ignoring it.

Violence has been around forever way before movies, television, radio, and video games. General society will give you all the violence you need, and no movie or TV show will be able to duplicate it accurately. Eliminating the marketing of violent material would only hurt society. The government and parents always say they are not given enough information to protect the children from things they do not want them to see. My question is, if the advertising is not there, then how will anyone know what to avoid. Without the commercials for "I Know What You Did Last Summer," being shown on television, then a parent would think it is some movie about a kids first day in school and writing about his trip to Disneyland. With a proper 30 second television spot, you know it is about a group of teenagers covering up a fatal car accident and someone with a big hook finding out about it. As a parent, you can say, no, you can't see that, or yes you can. As the government, you can stay out of the way and lower my income taxes. The marketing that the government wants to eliminate is the one thing that is best for getting the most information about a product. Getting rid of M-Rated videogame ads from magazines mostly read by children is dumb as well. The ads tell you what the game is so the parent that invariably has to pay for the thing will know if they should. To a parent, the name "Quake" could mean it's a seismologist SIM and not a futuristic death match battle arena spectacular. Also, the videogame magazines are mostly read by teenagers and to not talk about these things would defeat the purpose of the issue. As the saying goes, "knowledge is power." Or as NBC's public service announcements proclaim, "the more you know...da dee da."

I understand that there are some obvious material that children should not be exposed to and that is what ratings and advertising is for to tell you what those are. When in doubt, don't let them see it. Since there is no way to really avoid witnessing anything without becoming a hermit, then there must be exposure to things that may not be appropriate to you or your children. Most entertainment things can be avoided by just not watching or listening to them. Magazine ads can be flipped past and as for commercials, either watch PBS or video tape your favorite shows and fast forward through the commercials. Believe it or not, the general marketing of violence does have some standards. They can show a gun or an ax in someone's hand, but you will not see a bullet or a blade hit a human being in the general advertisement. For example, someone is shot at in a commercial, there is usually a flash that covers up the impact and there might be a slow motion shot of someone falling backwards with the ominous music behind it. The suggestiveness can be disturbing, but the actual violent act is covered up because of the concern for children or adults who do not want to see such things when watching their cooking show or Saved by the Bell rerun. Most unedited ads are shown on pay cable or after 10:00 pm and before 6:00 am which is designated adult viewing time. Any child watching television after that is the parent's fault not the media's.

I personally don't care. I can watch almost anything and the things I don't want to see, I don't watch. If a commercial comes on I don't like, I ignore it or watch it knowing it will be over soon. If there is a song I don't like, I don't buy it or a switch the station on the radio or just turn the thing off. I like shoot 'em up video games, but if one sucks, it stays in the store. I have seen ads for games that I find personally disturbing, so I did not buy the game out of a personal protest. If someone else wants it, then it's none of my business, have fun. I am a grown adult, so I can take it. When I was a kid, I saw some R rated movies, but I was under constant supervision. I never really understood the whole parent guardian rule anyway. What is a parent supposed to do if something inappropriate shows up on the screen, cover the kid's eyes and ears the whole time, or explain every crazy moment of the film to the curious child. Don't take the kid to the movie. If the kids at school see it and brag about the violence, sex and language, then wait for the video release when you can stop or pause to explain the bad parts. There really is no problem.

WHAT SHOULD BE DONE TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM OF MARKETING VIOLENCE TO CHILDREN?

Here is my 10 step plan to solve this problem of the marketing of violence. This can apply to children and adults. Age does not matter. Many of these things are currently in place, and just have to be used.

1. The government should set up general marketing standards for violent material. This means, context must also be a factor. A historical drama showing violence like "Saving Private Ryan" and "The Patriot" that is rated R has reasons to show its brutality for historical reasons, but can be shown on some shows that attract a more teenage audience. The ads can relate the plot, but they do not need to show the cannon blowing off a guy's head or a soldier looking for his arm. However, the teen slasher movie market is very popular with the under 17 crowd. The R rating says they can get in with proper supervision. Those ads can also relate the plot, but there is no need to show the bloodletting. The movie will do that. So, the point is, when advertising in the general media, make the ad appropriate for the general audience. That is pretty much being done right now anyway.

2. Unedited previews of movies should only be shown in front of the same rated film. The preview for Scream 3 can be shown with Pitch Black and not Rugrats in Paris. However, a general preview for a Scream type film could be shown in front of a PG-13 film as long as the more graphic scenes are cut out. Hollywood has already started doing this.

3. There should be more making of specials about how movies are made. Parents do not want their children traumatized by what they see in the media. A way to lessen the fear and nightmares is to show them how when people get hurt in movies, they are really okay and it was just a stunt or special effect.

4. Make sure you and your children know reality from fiction. Fictionalized violence, especially in over the top action and murder plot films is so silly that it can not be taken seriously. But, children, and adults for that matter, must know that if these fictionalized events would happen in real life, then people would be seriously hurt or die. When the Columbine shootings occurred, no one laughed at that. That was a horrible event that was not caused by too much internet or bad Leonardo DiCaprio films. That had to do with two guys who had felt alienated by society and wanted to make everyone pay. The same kids they say are desensitized by that type of thing were shown crying and screaming on television and newspapers. No one laughed.

5. Hollywood, the music and videogame industry need to create better products that uses less violence, sex, and cursing. It is harder to create stories about people talking to each other mainly because it is boring to watch. The mayhem should be used to keep your attention between the boring parts, but not so much that it takes over the film. Use more of that imagination gimmick where it is more interesting to not see the impact or the aftermath and let you make up in your mind what may have happened.

6. The government and parents need to stop being hypocrites. Everyone of them played rough as a child and enjoyed violent material, especially the men. Cowboys and Indians, Cops and Robbers, Space Man vs the Mutants were all staples of the male childhood. Bang you're dead used to be heard all over the playground back in the good old days. The lead government officials are mostly ex military men who were trained to kill. Do not act like violence in society has only been a concern the last 20 years. It has been around forever and will be around long after our current media formats are gone.

7. Don't watch what you don't want to see. Don't listen to what you don't want to hear. Don't play what you don't want to play. Parents should set up ground rules with their children. However, do not keep children in a cone of silence. They must eventually be exposed to these things or when they are out on their own, they will not be able to deal with life. Exposure to violent material at a young age is a necessity so that if and when something does happen, you are prepared for it.

8. Follow the ratings on the material. Everything has ratings guidelines. People say that the movie ratings are not detailed enough. That is stupid. G means it can be seen by anyone and the film has no offensive material. PG means that there are the "shit" and "bitch" words thrown in with some violence and minimal sexual activity. For the most part, G's and PG's can be seen by the majority. PG-13 is the pretty medium that Hollywood tends to use more often. In these movies, you can get the f-bomb out up to 2 times, bloodier violence can occur, and a naked butt or a female breast can be glanced at for about a second and a half or about 5 seconds less than the average NYPD Blue episode. Parents need to watch out for these movies, because they are trying to slip more and more into them that would have received an R in the pre "Red Dawn" days. The R rating means most things go except X-rated level sex meaning no visible penetration and no more than 10 seconds of male frontal nudity allowed. Almost any form of violence can be shown with edits only occurring when the director or studio heads think it might really be too much for even the adult audience. The problem with R is that some movies get the rating because of just saying the f-bomb too many times like "Blues Brothers" which really has very little in it that would be inappropriate for the over 13 set. Parents want to know more about why a movie gets that rating so they can find out if they should activate their parent/guardian key card. The only way to do that is to see the movie first and if you think your child can handle it, then take them, if not then don't. R means restricted. And if you are a parent who is really concerned about this issue, don't take the kids to it. NC-17 is rarely used and is only given to raunchy comedy stand up acts or artsy sex films with Harvey Keitel. Most kids are not attracted to these movies and most directors edit the movie to a R anyway. Also, no children are allowed under 17 anyway, so the parent's job is done for them. The X rating has been banned from mainstream cinema. It is now soley used for the adult video sex industry. However, these films can show any type of adult sex they want, but violent rape and murder is rarely seen in the average adult X rated movie. Rapes are more violent on Soap Operas and R rated films than X ones. At least, that is what I have heard. If a change in the ratings must happen then do what television and videogames have done and that is put in the descriptors with the ratings such as V for violence (X-Men), EV for Extreme Violence (Hollow Man), MV for mild violence (Dinosaur), S for sexual situations (What Lies Beneath), N for nudity (Road Trip), L for Language (The Original Kings of Comedy), HM for historical mayhem (The Patriot), AV for animated violence (Rugrats in Paris), AS for Adult Situations (Erin Brokovich), and so on and so on.

9. Movie theaters and stores should enforce the ratings on material. If a movie is rated R, then don't let kids in without the parent/guardian figure. Checking of identification and ushers at the doors will be necessary. Ratings on music that say it has explicit lyrics only attracts more kids. Right now, those stickers are meaningless since a 5 year old can buy any Limp Bizkit or DMX CD that they want. If change has to happen then make it that those labels mean 18 and over are the only ones that can buy it. This will hurt album sales and would most likely be frowned upon by the artists. But, it might also help clean up their acts since their music attracts more kids than adults. M-Rated video games should only be sold to the 17 and over group that the title is aimed for. If a kid wants it, then they will have to get their parents to buy it for them or a really really good friend who is willing to plop down fifty bucks.

10. Take it easy, it is not that bad. Believe it or not, most people know right from wrong and they learned a good amount of if from watching violent material. The government and parents are concerned that the violence is not shown with consequence. Not true. The old violent films of the 1930s and 40s never showed blood. A person was shot and then proceeded to overact with very little of the actual trauma being shown. Nowadays you see the bullet hole or the slashed throat close up with the victim's eyes wide open. Full consequence is shown and it is not pretty and not something that really looks all that cool. I find it more detrimental when the violence is not shown since that causes people, especially kids, to think it is no big deal. Now, children watching more violent material know that being punched, kicked, stabbed, or shot hurts and hurts a whole lot.

I don't have all the answers. Marketing is used as an informational tool to help people make the purchases that are right for them. Without it, then there would be more confusion than there already is. The government can encourage restraint  from the entertainment industry on how they advertise their products, but it should not lead to censoring things. It is too difficult to regulate what is appropriate violence. There are many forms of violence, sex, and language that are bad for some and okay for others. What is right for you should be your own personal decision. Parents who are concerned about what their children see should use the many tools available to them like advertising to learn about what is making their kids clean their room and offer to wash dishes. The evil marketers are actually their best friends. Teaching your kids about what is right and wrong will help them when they do overhear that friend talking or are over their house playing a first person shooter video game or watching American Pie on DVD. If everyone takes care of themselves, then everyone is taken care of. That's it. Bye for now.