Are we in the PG-13/middle of the road age for blockbusters?

I  have now come to accept that the age of the R rated blockbuster is over. Most, if not all, of the blockbusters are rated PG-13. I understand why this is so because it’s clearly a strategy to reach more of the market when a film is released but I still have some issues with this trend. My problems stem from the fact that the release of PG-13 rated blockbusters deny us the opportunity to get a real sense of dread. A lot of momentum is lost when we don’t get to appreciate the gruesome nature of  certain situations that characters normally find themselves in when the action is ramped up. I am not particularly caught up in seeing gruesome episodes but it actually helps us to relate to the struggle of the protagonists. If it’s overdone it can be absurd but when done right the sense of dread is ever present especially when you know what the villain is capable of. It not only applies to violence because R-rated blockbusters would give you the chance to view things in unadulterated  form. You don’t have to concern yourself with seeing things off screen when it can be viewed directly such as a disfigured person or someone mutated without special effects.

Some of the most seminal blockbusters have been R-Rated and they benefitted tremendously from the R-rating. Films like The Exorcist, Alien, Aliens, Predator, Blade Runner, Terminator, Terminator 2: Judgement Day, Speed, Total Recall(1990),  Blade, The Matrix, The Matrix  Reloaded,  The Matrix Revolutions etc have all benefitted from  being R-rated. I recently watched Total Recall and then saw Guardians of the Galaxy and the differences could not be more stark. Firstly in Guardians… there is a scene where Gamora is stranded in space and the atmosphere seems certain to kill her until Quill/Starlord comes along and gives her support. I noticed that there was little struggle. Yes it seemed like their flesh was disintegrating but I never got a sense of a violent or intense reaction to this disintegration. Most people would respond violently to such a situation when they encounter in naked form the atmosphere of space which does not support life. Instead they tried to make it appear like a beautiful scene with nice colours and no blood etc. Contrast this with Total Recall (1990) when the protagonists are confronted with the harsh atmosphere of  Mars particularly in the final scenes where their eyes start to bulge and their flesh begins to swell as if they are about to pop. That is much more realistic in terms of coming to grips with how you would really act when the environment is not conducive to supporting life.  

Because of this lack of dread that comes when you cant show everything a lot of the PG-13 films have to rely a lot on your imagination or something heartfelt to bring the message of dread across. It can come across as lukewarm or sleep inducing when done wrong. The best PG-13 blockbuster films are those that introduce a sense of dread that have an R-Rating feel. Look at the scene in The Dark Knight w4hen the joker plans to do a magic trick by making a pencil disappear. He smashes the man’s head into the pencil and voila it disappears. If it was not a PG-13 film then we would have seen all of it and the dread about the joker would be increased especially as he likes to use his knife to burst the mouth open with the idea of making that person smile. Because it is PG-13  it is all done in a flash. It is those dreadful episodes that made the joker menacing in that film although we could not see the actual act in slow time or upfront.  The technique of the Joker using the knife to burst the mouth open was nothing new because it was seen before in Pan’s Labyrinth and in the scene where the rebel posing as a maid in the vile captains house got a chance to inflict damage she took the knife and to cut the mouth open. The difference in that R-rated film is that we actually saw it and it looks quite painful but certainly not enough to kill. This is the reality and so because what the joker did is so mysterious or hidden from view we cannot see how he could kill someone in an instant (Gambol) by bursting their mouth open with a knife. An R-rated film would have shown you in more plain terms and highlight why it was not as gruesome or dramatic as once thought. In The Dark Knight Rises the fight between Batman and Bane ends with the former’s back being broken. It is that crunching element that made you realize that all is over for Batman for awhile.  When the aid in Bane’s prison tells him that there is a bone protruding from his back and it has to be put back we are to imagine the severity of the injury but in a R-rated film it would have been easier to show it and so the audience would know if it was so severe that he could not possibly be healed and fully fit in less than a year or if it was not so severe and so explain why he could recover in time to save his city. The mystery of the injury did not help the film. R-rated films would not take such a risk with the protagonist. The most they would allow is for a shot in the leg or a broken hand or foot. Breaking a man’s back is a bit risky.

The presentation of creatures in the classic blockbusters benefited from the R-rated experience. In Alien and Predator the threat of these two characters is enhanced because of their destructive effect on human beings and the dread of what they actually look like. It made them seem more fearsome and threatening. The chest bursting scene in Alien is so unique in its brutality which is all explained by how that particular biological organism functions. You don’t get a sense of that with the creatures presented in these PG-13 blockbuster films because most are digitally created. Watching Godzilla brought out  nothing when I saw the bloated CGI creations in full flight. In the PG-13  King Kong (2005) the R-rated elements were there particularly in that brutal fight between Kong and the T-rexes. A lot of biting and jaw  snapping and tongue biting. It probably was not given R because of the CGI element and because  it was a animal fight. We see it all the time on discovery or national geographic.. It bordered on the R-rating territory but not much brutality was done to humans apart from a spear through the chest. In Total Recall (1990) the design of the mutants are so detailed and realistic that it deserved it’s R-rating but don’t expect to see such fantastic creations now. In that film it made more sense because it showed you how people could be disfigured by the environment and this made the reality more believable.

In the PG-13 blockbuster profanity is limited and this denies us a lot of reality particularly when you have to interact with ordinary people caught up in the ramped up action. They start saying the least offensive words such as shit or asshole. In Guardians… what is asshole becomes a-hole for comedic effect. In r-rated blockbusters when the person says fuck out of frustration or anxiety I feel it. Obviously it has to be acted well. I don’t feel it when they have to say ‘freakin’ or ‘what the hell!’.

In the age of PG-13 blockbusters we have to contend with what is fantasy and reality on a gut level. On a gut level the R in R-rated stands for reality (according to me) whereas PG-13 and PG and G blockbuster films deal primarily in the realm of fantasy. With all these blockbusters rated PG-13 how can I relate to the struggles of the characters on a gut level. Even when Star Wars IV premiered in 1977 and was rated PG men were being shot straight through with lazer beams, leaving a hole, and the jedis hacked off limbs with their sabers. E.T would definitely fit well in this day and age. A lot of elements from the old Indiana Jones films would not be with us if released to day. In those days however at least there was a definite demarcation. People had more of a choice in choosing kiddy fare or adult fare and now we are middle of the road for all which is much worse. It seems that the calls to tame the violence have won out and the remakes of famous R-Rated films such as Robocop and Total Recall have become sanitized, fantastic representatives of the gritty originals. No wonder they flopped.  No wonder a lot of the action stars of the 80s and 90s are expendable in such an age of freewheeling CGI. When the first two The Expendables were released and featured the violence that was customary in the 80s and 90s it was written off by many critics as over the top or showboating. They would rather engage in a more cerebral experience that looks at all these characters as ideas instead of people. In this day and age a blockbuster must have the proper decorum before it can be released.  Blockbusters have become more academic and emotional instead of testosterone or more dreadful as it was in the past. It seems that everyone wants to get past that and create more sanitized blockbusters for the whole family.  

I only like the PG-13 blockbusters that border on what an R-rated film would bring to the table.

LOL @ pic below 

(photo courtesy of highschoolhumorblog.com)