Condemn Love, Endorse Violence?

The other day my sister got a strange craving for chips. For some reason, she wanted to make them herself. I’m still not going to bore you with the details. In any case, since I had to do the peeling and cutting (she’s allergic to raw potato) I decided to watch a movie while working. I chose DEBS. It’s a goofy, ditzy Charlie’s Angels romantic comedy with a twist. One of my faves.

Anyway, my sister walked into the kitchen and giggled when she saw what I was watching. I think she just watched a documentary about the MPAA because she asked me what DEBS was rated. I honestly had no clue. I grabbed the case and checked the back. Turns out it was rated PG13 for sexuality and language.  I thought that was odd.

The DEBS are spies. They carry ridiculously large weapons, shoot at people, occasionally blow things up, hold people at gun point, get into fist fights and several shootouts, not to mention the scene where they’re trapped in bank vault and a large spiky ceiling descends upon them, only just stopping in the nick of time. But apparently there was no need to warn parents about the violence in this movie because no one actually gets shot and you never see blood. You just see the cool guns firing and the nifty fireballs of the explosions.

Language wise I don’t think they said anything worse than ‘son of a bitch’ and ‘shit’. I may be wrong, but I don’t think I am. As for the sexuality part, I think the main characters kiss twice and there’s a grand total of one sex scene. If one can call it a sex scene. There’s some fully clothed kissing, a snapped bra (which I imagine would be an awkward thing to have happen at such a moment) and then some more presumably naked kissing but you can’t tell because the characters are wrapped up in two completely different sheets, one pink, the other yellow. I’ve seen more explicit things in daytime soap operas.

Given this information, the rating seems kind of weird right? I can’t be the only one that finds this weird. Oh, right, I forgot a key detail. These are the main characters: (CUE DRAMATIC THUNDER AND LIGHTENING)

Lucy Diamond, played by Jordanna Brewster and Amy Bradshaw, played by Sara Foster. Hang on a minute! They’re girls!

I find it very strange to rate violence less severely than sexuality. Condemn love but endorse violence? Wouldn’t it just be easier for parents to explain to their children that love is love and that it comes in many shapes and can be expressed in many forms?

The world is a strange place.

Lauren.