PG-13 Movies Have As Much Gun Violence As R-Rated Films Nowadays

Major PG-13 films are often at least as likely as R-rated films to depict gun violence, according to a new analysis published in Pediatrics, the official peer-reviewed journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics. And increasingly often, they are more likely to do so. What led to this phenomenon? Researchers behind the study believe that the reason for the rise of gun violence in PG-13 films is best attributed to the recent popularity of superhero movies, which scrape by with a PG-13 rating because they exist in fantastical worlds that make violence seem less serious. But troublingly, academics still aren’t sure how any violence portrayed in this kind of film might influence a child’s behavior when compared to the more realistic violence that earns a film an R rating. The analysis, which was performed at the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania, is an update to a previous look into gun violence in film. For the study, the researchers dissected top-grossing films, determining the rate of gun violence per hour in each of them. They found that in six of the last 10 years, the rate of gun violence in PG-13 films exceeded the rate in R-rated films.  “We were interested in seeing if the trend might have stalled or even reversed,” Dan Romer, research director of the center and lead author of the article, said in a release. Instead, “that trend now seems to be getting worse,” he told The Hu...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news