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From G to R
A Parent's Guide to Movie Ratings
By Jill Eggleton Brett
Parents who desire to go beyond the rating and delve into content before making a decision have a number of options open to them.
The Dove Foundation in Grand Rapids, Mich. is a non-profit organization devoted to wholesome family entertainment. It offers a monthly newsletter called "The Hollywood Update" which contains reviews of newly released movies. The reviews concentrate on content and theme, and profanity, nudity and violence are each evaluated separately for each movie.
Nicole Yugovich, corporate services director for The Dove Foundation, encourages parents to view any movie first before allowing their children to see it. "It's our intent to arm parents with information about the content of the movie, not just the rating," Yugovich says. "The ratings are helpful, but not always reliable for parents who want to limit their child's exposure to profanity, sex and violence."
Another resource for parents is the Movieguide, which offers an online subscription or a bimonthly magazine through the mail. The Movieguide concentrates on evaluating a movie's quality and moral acceptability, and also gives specific details about the amount and frequency of profanity, sex, drug use and violence in a motion picture. Also, The Movieguide evaluates each and every film that is released, whether mainstream or independent. Jennifer Cole, managing editor at The Movieguide, says "Of course the target audience for PG-13 movies is teenagers. It's important to be aware and knowledgeable about the movies teens want to see. If parents decide against a certain movie, I urge them to discuss the decision with their teenager."