Teaching Towards Tomorrow

thedailywhat:

Another Follow Up of the Day: The National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO) has sided with the MPAA in its decision to reject The Weinstein Company’s request to lower the rating of the film studio’s bullying documentary from an R to a PG-13 so it could be used as an educational aid.

Bully received an R rating from the MPAA for “some language.”

If The Weinstein Company makes good on its threat to set aside the rating system, NATO’s President and CEO John Fithian said in a statement, “I will have no choice but to encourage my theater owner members to treat unrated movies from The Weinstein Company in the same manner as they treat unrated movies from anyone else.”

The would mean branding Bully an NC-17 movie, prohibiting anyone under the age of 18 from viewing it.

Responding with its own statement, The Weinstein Company called the treatment of Bully as an NC-17 film “unconscionable, not to mention unreasonable.”

The statement continued: “In light of the tragedy that occurred yesterday in Ohio, we feel now is the time for the bullying epidemic to take center stage, we need to demand our community takes action.”

A petition posted to Change.org by a teenage victim of bullying calling for the MPAA to reverse its decision has racked up over 100,000 signatures since it was launched a three days ago.

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