Nudity vs. Violence

Okay, I have devised a quiz. There is no right or wrong answer.

Setup: Your child, who is very young (age 4 to 8), walks into the living room and looks at the television. One of these two things is playing on the television, which one would you rather your kid accidentally see?

Scenario 1: Topless woman walking on the beach, OR

A guy getting shot in the chest (no blood).

Scenario 2: Full frontal nudity of woman or man, OR

A guy getting stabbed (with some blood shown).

Scenario 3: Couple, naked, having sex (NC-17), OR

A guy getting hanged.

Ok, so my goal in this quiz is too see what you think is more harmful to kids (or what is more morally wrong). If you answered the first one on most of them, then you think that the violence or death is more damaging to kids than nudity or sexuality. This is what I think. If you don’t agree, then read my rant and see what you think.

Alright, so here is my rant. How could nudity possibly be worse than the violence? The MPAA would rate the nudity in my scenarios at a higher rating than the violent scenes. Is this right? Shouldn’t we be worried that we live in a world where violence is tolerated more than sexuality? This is wrong. (In my opinion, of course)

Why, when I was 12, did my dad feel uneasy about letting me watch a movie with a topless scene (A Boy and His Dog) and, yet, felt it was perfectly okay to watch a movie where a guy gets chopped up in an airplane propeller (Raider of the Lost Ark)? Doesn’t it seem like the violence would cause much more damage to the kid than the nudity? Don’t get me wrong, I am not going to completely eliminate either from my child’s television programs. Kids are going to have to encounter both sex and violence at some point. I just think that our gut reaction to violence should be stronger than it is to nudity. This, unfortunately, is not normally the case.

I just read a news article stating that the FCC is going back to an episode of NYPD Blue from 10 years ago and they are thinking about fining the network thousands of dollars because they showed some guy’s butt. Really!? You have got to be kidding me? How can this possibly be legal? And why would we, the people, let this corporation do that? First of all, they shouldn’t be able to go back in time and change the rules of what they consider indecent. When the show first aired, nobody thought it was illegal. They should not be allowed to revisit shows that aired many years ago and reevaluate what they think is indecent. Secondly, I think the FCC has gotten completely out of hand and should be shut down. They have too much power that was not voted in by the people. In fact, nobody voted on what should be indecent. The FCC just made up some rules. I do not understand the taboo on nudity and sexuality we have in this country. Why are people scared of nudity? In Europe, nudity on television is not a big deal at all. I think we need to start moving towards this morality view. Thank you for listening. Feel free to comment.

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Summary: Fairy Tale/Fantasy movie about trying to impress a girl in a strange new land.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10

Review: The movie started out pretty weird and it took me a few minutes to actually believe the fairy tale world. But, once you start believing in the world, this becomes an excellent movie. The plot is just a setup to start the adventure, but it works. Good movie overall, just give it a few minutes to draw you in. Oh, and Claire Danes does a very good job in the movie.

Movie Review: Juno

Summary: Witty high school teenager gets pregnant. Hilarity ensues.

Rating: 9.5 out of 10

Review: Movie of the year (my prediction). I can not believe how good this movie was. The entire movie was great. The girl (Ellen Page) was fantastic. She was witty, funny, and real. She turned this movie from a great one to an award winning flick. Her partner in crime is Michael Cera, one of my new favorite actors. He plays his usual character that we have seen before: awkward, sincere, and very likable. The acting is fantastic, the one-liners are witty, the script is smart, and the emotions feel real. I can not say enough good things about this movie. Go see it.

Movie Review: Superbad

Summary: An exaggeration of high school, partying, and relationships.

Rating: 6.5 out of 10

Review: This movie wasn't as good as I thought it might be. The plot was way too over the top. Oh, and it was pretty crude humor. Not bad, though. I liked the message and the acting. I just think that they tried to hard. I do like Micheal Cera, though. He is really funny.

Movie Review: Infinity

Summary: The life and love of Richard Feynman (world famous physicist).

Rating: 5.0 out of 10

Review: More of a love story than a science flick. Really, the only reason I kept watching was because they kept throwing in some interesting science bits. And Richard Feynman was one fantastic physicist. Listen to his lectures on science. They are very good.

Movie Review: Waitress

Summary: Middle of nowhere waitress has some serious pie making skills, but no skill in picking men.

Rating: 5.5 out of 10

Review: Chick flick. Kind of boring. I think this got so much attention because the new writer/director/actress Adrienne Shelly was murdered shortly before the release of this movie. Sad, but it didn't help make the movie better. There was a lot of good pie in the movie. It actually gave me some good ideas.