comScore
  1. Mediaite
  2. Gossip Cop
  3. Geekosystem
  4. Styleite
  5. SportsGrid
  6. The Mary Sue
  7. The Jane Dough
  8. The Braiser

And That's Terrible

MPAA Rates Documentary About Anti-Childhood-Bullying Movement Too Severely For Children To Actually See It

by Susana Polo | 2:51 pm, February 23rd, 2012


The MPAA is in our thoughts not infrequently here, what with their role in the war on piracy, their part in the history of censorship in Hollywood, their extremely conservative views on what constitutes explicit material, and rigid, bordering on draconian, rules about what rating the language used in a film will garner.

But you’d think that even they’d have looked past the facts to the context in the case of Bully, a documentary about the modern anti-bullying movement that could be life saving viewing for kids everywhere. Because the film features unedited interviews with kids and footage of bullying, there’s understandably a lot of language being used that isn’t “network television safe,” and the film garnered an R rating, which would prevent anyone under seventeen from seeing this movie without the presence of an adult. In other words, the MPAA is trying to protect kids from the words that they’re already using every day, by making it difficult for kids to see a movie designed to give a lot of them hope.

It’s commonly known in the industry that any more than one use of the word “fuck” as a euphemism for a sexual act (and not as an exclamation) will earn your film a default R rating regardless of the rest of its content. It’s so much common knowledge that the use of that single chance at the word can be a choice given considerable weight. I remember reading somewhere that when Hugh Jackman was approached to do a cameo in X-Men: First Class, his response was that he’d do it if he got say their one “fuck.” So, it’s likely that the makers of Bully saw this coming, and as Pajiba says: “Is the move a self-aggrandizing, publicity-hounding stunt? Perhaps. The Weinsteins have done the same in the past for other films.” But as they also say: “That hardly makes the issue any less infuriating.”

Director Lee Hirsch released this statement begging for an exception to the MPAA’s rules:

I made BULLY for kids to see – the bullies as well as the bullied. We have to change hearts and minds in order to stop this epidemic, which has scarred countless lives and driven many children to suicide. To capture the stark reality of bullying, we had to capture the way kids act and speak in their everyday lives – and the fact is that kids use profanity. It is heartbreaking that the MPAA, in adhering to a strict limit on certain words, would end up keeping this film from those who need to see it most. No one could make this case more powerfully than Alex Libby [one of the subjects of the film, who will appear alongside Hirsch and producers at their official MPAA appeal], and I am so proud and honored that he is stepping forward to make a personal appeal.

It’s easy to say “Well, those kids can just have their parents take them to the movie,” but sidesteps an important issue. Boys and girls aren’t just bullied for being overweight, introverted, bookish, awkward, poor, in the wrong clothes or skin color or a myriad of other stupid reasons. Kids are also bullied for being, or seeming in the eyes of their persecutors to be, gay, lesbian, trans, or otherwise for bucking established gender roles. And the sad facts are that in the case of many of those latter situations (and, indeed, at least some of the former ones) those kids may not actually have adults in their communities to turn to for any kind of support, even a sympathetic ear, much less a movie ticket and a few hours of their time. And it’s those kids who need movies like Bully most of all.

(via Pajiba.)

TAGS: | | |


  • Anonymous

    Yeah, but it’s not like the producers didn’t have choices: they could just cut out the words that are egregious. Kids will still get it, and the greater message will be served.

    MPAA has lots of problems, but I don’t think sticking to their previously established rules on language is really that bad. Unless this is raw footage, the filmmakers already made editorial decisions: what’s one more?

  • Gabrielle Bauman

    I applaud the producers. By making sure the language is consistent with what children actually use, it sends a message to the kids that would watch it: Yeah, there are some adults that understand.

     I just watched this  trailer, and was astounded to find tears streaming down my face. It’s been SEVEN YEARS since I escaped the hell of being bullied, but what surprised me is how much of an impact it still has.

    Kids need to be told that someone understands them, that there is nothing wrong with them,  that everything will be okay in the end. We need movies like this one, and the MPAAs rules have guaranteed that fewer people that need it will never see it.

  • Frodo Baggins

    Just bleep the swears.

  • NarcoSleepy

    It’s actually brilliant.  By making it Rated-R, kids will actually want to see it.  As a kid, making a movie Rated-R never kept me from seeing it.

  • http://www.facebook.com/1shewolf JoAnna Luffman

    The MPAA is like the assholes that said “Boys will be boys.” Which leads me to another rant about teaching kids right from wrong and teaching them to be people and not animals, but that’s for another time.

  • Anonymous

     I’m afraid teaching kids not to be animals and right from wrong is nearly, if not entirely impossible…   Also,  if we had the technology in my time, as a youngster,  that we have now, I would not have made it out of childhood alive…

  • A Talbot

    Ironically enough, right now my Theatre group is focusing on bullying as well. We’re writing our own bullying plays and featuring them at the local elementary schools.

    As far as the trailer goes, it looks pretty worth while. the MPAA is just being a bit of a bully it’s self, by keeping the movie so out of range from children, when it’s about children and what kind of crap they suffer through every day.

  • Anonymous
  • TKS

    I don’t think this is for the kids.  It’s for adults.  Kids know this is going on, parents don’t.

  • http://www.facebook.com/Gorillazfan Emily Hill

    oh my god I just relived my school days I was bullied from third grade up it got so bad I had to switch schools when i was entering high school my mother drove me everyday and I finally made friends this film should be shown to kids because I know how it feels I mean I was lucky I passed because I would actually make myself vomit just so I could avoid going to school it was so bad

  • Anonymous
  • Anonymous

    I hate the MPAA so much, their rules are such B.S.  I took a film class in high school and in the middle of it, my principal declared that we weren’t allowed to watch films rated R, regardless of the fact that we were almost all above the age of 17 and the ones who weren’t had to get signed parental consent.  What sucked most about it is that he made that rule before we got to the part of the class where we watched “This Film is Not Yet Rated.”  I also remember that the same year, my 12 year-old brother watched “Hotel Rwanda” in his history class.  When I complained, they made the argument that he was watching it for “educational purposes.”  Such nonsense.

     However, given my very very negative stance on the MPAA, and the fact that it’s wrong and unfortunate to give the movie an R rating without a second thought, it’s actually really good for the director.  I can’t imagine a better way to emphasize his point than to highlight it and say “this tells you how bad the bullying problem obviously is when all we’re showing you is the truth, and we’re being told it’s inappropriate for children.”

  • Carmen Sandiego

    Well, I had a mom who controlled all my transportation and locked the TV cords in a box…so not as easy for all kids to see Rated R movies.

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/OS4ES5KNTE6NMKKL6HXKO2YJVM Mandi

     Yes, kids know that bullying occurs, but they don’t always understand the impact it can have. They don’t think about how that other child feels when they have to go through that, when their own words and actions hurt someone. This movie could show them that, make them reflect on their own actions. It could also teach kids that are bullied that there is hope, and people who care and who will listen.

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/OZCNVU3WDU3PEZVBJZWP2JMSWU rrodriquez

    Rating this movie R will keep the very kids who need to see it from seeing it and maybe changing their view on what their bullying is doing and can do to others. Schools need to be able to show this movie, change the rating to make that an easier task.

  • http://www.facebook.com/apiantedosi Adriana Piantedosi

    MPAA’s harsh rating of Bully is understandable in the black and white sense of rating the content. But how does it make sense that kids are not allowed to see something that they already live through? This is not so much an eye opener for kids as it will be for a lot of parents. And censoring it for a better rating would not have the same impact.

X