On Sunday, I celebrated Mother’s Day by taking the day off. Actually, I accepted (with deep gratitude) my husband’s gift of the day off.
He woke up early, took the kids to church and let me sleep in and stay home. I heard the ruckus while they prepared to leave but feigned sleep. Then, when they left, I snoozed little and woke up slowly. I read for an hour, then got ready and left the house.
I went to a movie. Which leads me to my pet peeve.
Doesn’t anyone understand the MPAA movie rating system?
For our purposes, let’s discuss PG-13.
Here’s what it means:
PG-13 — Parents Strongly Cautioned. Some Material May Be Inappropriate For Children Under 13.
Somehow, people seem to interpret that as, “Parents Strongly Cautioned. Some Material May Be Inappropriate for Children Under 13 but GO AHEAD AND BRING YOUR BABY AND YOUR TWO YEAR OLD.”
What is wrong with people? Seriously?
So, I went to see “Iron Man 2” which had a rating of PG-13. So did a ton of families including very young children, leading me to wonder if people don’t understand child development, if they don’t realize that you can’t “unsee” something. Furthermore, it’s rude to bring young children to a movie that is inappropriate because the children are distracting to other paying customers.
But you know what was worse? I hesitate to say this because I’m not sure how to communicate it in writing without sounding like a jerk.
As I sat waiting for the movie (and reading a book in the near darkness), I heard a moaning yell. I looked up to figure out what was happening. In walked a young man escorting another young man who had some difficulty walking. I’m not sure if the second man had an injury or brain damage or a developmental delay, but what was obvious was his inability to communicate other than by bellowing. I suspect his companion was his caregiver who brought him to a movie.
I nearly called the theater to complain–before the movie began–but decided not to since I knew the movie would be loud anyway. Sure enough, I only heard the non-stop moans during the few scenes of dialogue. So, it was only a minor annoyance even though the man yelled during the whole movie.
So I know it seems insensitive of me to complain about a person with an obvious disability. But I thought it was incredibly rude for his “friend” (companion? caregiver?) to bring this man to a movie where he knew he’d be loud and vocal and distracting. If I’d been sitting near these people, I would have moved to another seat–or left if there were no more seats.
When I came home to describe the situation to my husband, he declared that’s why he dislikes going to movies in the theater. Personally, I enjoy the community experience of watching a movie with other people. I suppose I shouldn’t complain about people who have no sense, people who insist on exposing their children to material that is obviously inappropriate for them.
Generally, I love the whole experience.
I just don’t understand what the hurry is to take children to movies made for adults.
Why the rush to expose children to violence and adult situations?
I have never heard an acceptable reason. And “it doesn’t give him nightmares” is not a good enough reason. Nor is “he doesn’t understand it anyway.” Please.
As for the movie itself? I thought it was good–I love Robert Downey, Jr.–but it was not as good as the first movie. Not even close.
(My favorite movie of late? “Date Night.” It was laugh-out-loud funny. Not a perfect movie, but very funny.)
Actual Unretouched Photo 
You need to come to the movies with me! We saw Date Night last night and had the ENTIRE theatre to ourselves. (At one point I whispered to my hubby “why am I whispering??”)
steph
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Well said. I agree, I love the community experience of seeing a movie, too. I don’t think you’re being insensitive about the young men that were there. It reminds me of when my aunt and I used to go to the local philharmonic and there was a woman who would sit right behind us with an oxygen tank that clicked and wheezed the entire performance. It was a huge distraction, and luckily there were always empty seats in another section where I would move.
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I don’t think you’re being insensitive, either. When we pay as much as we do to see a movie, we should be able to enjoy it without distracting noises.
I rarely disagree with you on things, Mel, but I LOVED Iron Man 2, and thought it was a good or better than the first one. I really liked Don Cheadle (much better than his predecessor), but would have liked to have seen more action from the Black Widow. She did kick serious booty in her one action scene, though. 🙂
And I agree that it was wholly inappropriate to bring a young child to that movie, or to any PG-13 movie. The only time I did that, my dd was a newborn, and I HAD TO GET OUT OF THE HOUSE. She nursed throughout the entire flick (I don’t even remember what it was). 🙂
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