A conversation I had with Lyle over at Times and Seasons made me want to officially visit this issue at Sons of Mosiah. Now, people who know me, know that I've been quoted as to saying that you can tell a lot from a Mormon based on whether or not they watch rated R movies. In reality this is only partially true. There's more to the rated R dilemma than the simplified Mormon stereotyping on the surface.
First, some background information: Lyle mentioned he had a friend who wanted to arrange an advanced screening of Mel Gibson's upcoming movie The Passion of the Christ. I was excited to arrange a group of LDS bishops and stake presidents to watch the screening but then found out that the movie was going to be rated R. This changes everything. But Lyle suggested otherwise saying, "...I don't see this as being an obstacle. The R rating is simply a very very rough marker for how to avoid nudity and violence. While this is just my op, but a member who decided not to see the Passion just cuz it is rated R seems to be just a tad pharisaic. The atonement is a beautiful and sacred thing, but our Savior def. had to pay a price. Should the LDS movie "the Lamb of God" also have an R rating then for its violence?"
Those of you who know Lyle, know that he has a very Black and White personality in regards to the Church. It's interesting then, to see him back a Gray standpoint so intensely. Although I agree with the principle he is trying to illustrate, I think we need to look at both sides more closely to better understand the rated R dilemma.
Non-R-watchers (NRWs) often deserve respect for the choices they make. For example, I have a sister living in SLC who is a NRW but I respect her immensely. It is true that by a movie being rated R, this opens up the possibility for graphic violence/nudity and/or extreme language that can be offensive to many. Thus, some people (Mormon or not) choose to generally stay away from R movies in order not to risk seeing something they could regret. But this group has made a decision by themselves. Now, my sister trusts me. And if I were to pick a R-rated movie and assure her that it would not offend her (or just tell her to close her eyes a couple times), I'm sure she'd agree to watch it with me if I really wanted her to. Unfortunately, I feel this group is a minority in the NRW Mormon category but needs to be equally recognized.
Now for the non-R-watchers group that we, at Sons of Mosiah, disagree with. This is the group that monopolizes the following stereotypical Mormon quote "that one prophet/apostle that I can't remember said that I shouldn't..." in this case, watch rated-R movies. Well, I'll help this group out by giving the quote they're looking for. It comes from a talk entitled "To the Youth of a Noble Birth Right" by President Benson: "We counsel you, young men, not to pollute your minds with such degrading matter, for the mind through which this filth passes is never the same afterwards. Don’t see R-rated movies or vulgar videos or participate in any entertainment that is immoral, suggestive, or pornographic." There it is, the reason (at least I think) this group of Mormons doesn't watch rated R movies. There are a couple of problems here:
1) For being a quote that backs up NRWs, it's ironic that this was counsel specifically for "young men" and that the talk was not meant for some sort of new pseudo-Church policy but rather, for the youth of the Church specifically.
2) Also, as I've mentioned in earlier posts, my wife is not from this country and being a convert to the Church, did not understand the rated R dilemma one bit. When she came to Utah it took her nearly a year to figure out this American-Mormon phenomenon. Ironically, she was part of the majority of Mormons (those living outside the U.S.) who don't even know about the American-based rating system. Maybe at the time President Benson gave this talk, this was not so. But now, definitely, using this term in a General Conference is a mistake, as the majority of Mormons don't even know to what it is referring.
3) I have written two research papers on censorship in the 20th century and the MPAA rating system. These topics fascinate me. If you were to follow the rating system from its creation in 1968 to the birth of the PG-13 rating in 1984, to its present day form now, you'd notice many, many inconsistencies. For example, showing female breasts used to merit only a PG rating (now that's an automatic R except for the controversial "non-sexual" scene in the PG-13 Titanic). What I'm saying is that this system is far from flawless. Furthermore, men outside of the Church created it. It never did make much sense to me to use a Gentile system to live a Mormon life. The classic reply to this is "if it's bad enough for them, then it's definitely bad enough for me". Well, that would be a fine response if R-rated meant "bad". But the truth is that it doesn't. Many movies are rated R based on intensity or adult content (a term that to certain Mormons automatically means pornography; but sometimes adult content can mean, well, you know, adult content - something not for children).
In conclusion, I just want to disprove another myth... that rated R watchers such as I aren't offended by any content in a given movie. This isn't true. I look to other rating systems that I have found on the Internet, which are much more thorough. I have walked out of PG-13 movies as well as R movies. I take it on a case-by-case basis. But to blindly follow a quote that isn't even addressed to me... How sad that could have been. I have seen many powerfully good movies that I would have never seen otherwise.