I try really hard to avoid name-calling on this blog, but the morons at MPAA just broke my streak:
So what do they want to see? Meryl Streep's hair catching fire? Steve Martin choking on a taco? Maybe the reason nothing bad happened to the pot-smoking characters in the movie is because bad things almost never happen to people who smoke pot (except getting arrested or otherwise stigmatized by self-righteous nutjobs like the MPAA).
Seriously, you can show these people 90 minutes of machine-gun fire and they'll give you a PG-13 any day of the week as long as the people killing each other don't get naked or use excessively foul language. Fortunately, MPAA's panic at the site of a little recreational marijuana use is so wildly out of proportion that it's generating an incredulous response from the press. Indeed, the story wouldn’t even be in the news if it weren't widely regarded as transparently stupid and crazy.
I think 2009 will likely go down as the year when it finally became impossible to vilify casual marijuana use without getting laughed at by almost everyone.
When it comes to the MPAA, Universal is finding that things aren't simple.
The group's Classification and Ratings Appeals Board on Wednesday denied the studio's appeal of an R rating for its new Nancy Meyers romantic comedy "It's Complicated," throwing a potential marketing hurdle in the film's path.
The MPAA's ruling cited "some drug content and sexuality" for the film about a love triangle among upper-middle-class suburbanites. Those familiar with the board hearing said the inclusion of a scene featuring "pot-smoking with no bad consequences" was key to the decision. [LA Times]
So what do they want to see? Meryl Streep's hair catching fire? Steve Martin choking on a taco? Maybe the reason nothing bad happened to the pot-smoking characters in the movie is because bad things almost never happen to people who smoke pot (except getting arrested or otherwise stigmatized by self-righteous nutjobs like the MPAA).
Seriously, you can show these people 90 minutes of machine-gun fire and they'll give you a PG-13 any day of the week as long as the people killing each other don't get naked or use excessively foul language. Fortunately, MPAA's panic at the site of a little recreational marijuana use is so wildly out of proportion that it's generating an incredulous response from the press. Indeed, the story wouldn’t even be in the news if it weren't widely regarded as transparently stupid and crazy.
I think 2009 will likely go down as the year when it finally became impossible to vilify casual marijuana use without getting laughed at by almost everyone.
Looking for the easiest way to join the anti-drug war movement? You've found it!
MPAA Madness
Does the MPAA really think the sight of two aging boomers passing a joint is going make teenagers want to smoke marijuana? The situation is probably more like the girl who told me she didn’t want to smoke pot because her mother smokes it, and she didn’t want to do anything her mother did.
It’s not like boomers make a huge secret out of their reefer affection. Every kid knows the truth about pot thanks to D.A.R.E.'s indigestible hysteria on the subject. People can hardly pass a movie theater without there being a film on the marquee that includes a marijuana scene. BTW, check out the nicely done pot theme in the new Coen Bros. movie, A Serious Man, Rated-R.
The MPAA is screwing up because they're depicting normal behavior as abnormal. The MPAA doesn’t get to decide what is normal. Normal people decide that.
Giordano
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