Gladiator, a movie graphically depicting the violent forms of entertainment of ancient Romans, opened on May 4th, 2000 to a huge opening weekend gross of 32.7 million dollars. Much of that money was spent by people not legally allowed to see it.

How is this possible? All people under the age of seventeen who saw the movie without a parent did so illegally. This is because of a rule introduced by movie theaters early last summer to prevent under age children from seeing R-rated films. The rule provides t hat an adult accompanying a child must actually watch the R movie, not just purchase the ticket. The change in the rule was meant to help parents by forcing them to see what their children are watching.

The change was not embraced by all. In fact, it was hardly embraced by anyone- children and parents alike. Most children, including Freshmen Drew Vincent, Gordon Lippencott, and Sophomore Katie Grubbs think that is “stupid” and that they should be allowed to see what ever movie they want. Many adults, including Middle school civics teacher Dick Kittle believe that “It should be the parents choices what movies their children see” and that “if are planning on using this rule, then they should be more consistent enforcing it.”

This is another major problem with the revised rule. Many students commented that it is much easier to see any R rated film at Painters Crossing 9 in Pennsylvania than the megaplex Regal Cinemas in Delaware. At Painters students can simply have the parents buy tickets and then just go in, where as at Regal they “are much stricter” says Sophomore Zachary Darvish. I have tried many times myself, and succeeded admirably. For instance, my father has simply bought an extra ticket for himself and then just left the theater without seeing the movie.

Many people would argue that although some films should be restricted to youth, “some R-rated movies are very valuable for mature children under the age of seventeen to see.” Saving Private Ryan is one such film. Dick Kittle stated that “although [Saving Private Ryan] is extremely violent, it would be beneficial for some people under seventeen to see it.”

The actual rating system is yet another problem with the new rule. Major film critic Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun Times observed that “there is something wrong with our rating system... Coyote Ugly, which glorifies girls who dance on top of bars to sell more drinks gets a PG-13 rating because it doesn’t have any real nudity, while Almost Famous, a film about a young boy trying to make it in the real world gets an R rating because of brief and insignificant nudity.” Another example is the British feel-good-R-rated film of the year, Billy Elliot. It is the sweet story of a young English lad who wants to become a ballerina despite his father’s wishes. This too gets slapped with an R-rating because of its language. It has no violence, no drugs, not nudity, and no sex-- just adult language. The rating system itself may need to be revisited.

Many people believe that such violent mediums like R-rated movies and rap CDs are the cause of violence in children. Ever since Columbine-- the Colorado high school where several students were gunned down by two classmates-- people have argued this side of the coin. This startling event, plus the concerned voices of many parents have forced the government to do something.

Trying to restrict the flow of objectionable material to America’s youth, new rules have recently been enacted in almost every form of entertainment. One example is the parental advisory labels on CDs. These labels are a very recent invention, brought to light by Tipper Gore, Vice President, and Presidential candidate Al Gore’s wife. They were created as a service to parents to warn them that a certain CD contains “explicit lyrics”. The rule is still in effect today. No person under the age of 18 may purchase a CD with this label. Students find this rule to be much more strictly enforced than the movie rule. “They actually do something about this rule. But it doesn’t even matter because my parents let me get them anyway. They just buy them for me,” says Freshman Gordon Lippencott. Another hole in the plan is the highly disputed Napster. Any under age child (possessing an internet connection and a CD burner) can easily download ANY song from Napster and copy to a blank CD. In music, as well as in the theaters, more and more loop holes can be found as technology advances.

After the Columbine incident, news venues were inundated with headlines offering an answer as to why this happened. One of the more frequently used of these suspicions were those pointing a disappointed finger at the media. It was said that the killers were influenced by the type of music they listened to, as well as the type of television shows and movies they watched.

Does the media affect our children? Does on screen violence lead to real life violence? Do lyrics about killing and sex control our youth’s actions? These are the questions you need to ask yourself.