I have been compiling what I hoped to be my own litmus test of sites that give fair and even-handed descriptions of movie content for different categories like violence, profanity, crudeness, et al. Even though, I feel that I don’t need some site to push their moral assessments of what is right and wrong for my children to watch - I kind of feel it is probably a good idea for me to consider what is out there and then judge. My pre-judgment is that these sites are biased in some way — either pro-entertainment industry or anti-entertainment industry — in some vague or not so vague way — even though most claim not to be. I wanted to share with you a couple of the sites while trying to figure out which ones align with the views and opinions my wife and I share. We (me especially) are starting to realize that even though we consider ourselves media-savvy we don’t necessarily know everything there is to know what’s media appropriate for our kids.

Case and point: we recently rented some new animated kids movie (I have daddy-brain right now and can’t remember), we were very excited to establish a family “movie night” complete with homemade caramel popcorn and other consessions. I was sure to make sure the surround sound system was on and balanced (so as not to blow our hair off when a character went “boom”). Well things didn’t go so well. My oldest one lasted about two minutes into the film. Evidently, dark moody scenes of animated mice creeping around the sewers scare the cheese-and-crackers out of him. Thank goodness for Kipper, that’s all I can say. That British puppy equals pure sunshine for my son.

When studying the different entities out there that give good unbiased (even biased, who knows, maybe I agree with their biases) reviews I was looking at one thing when visiting their site - who are they and why they think they have the authority to give fair and honest criticism and more important what are their affiliations with the media they’re judging. I was able to quickly parse the sites into two main groups - those who are sponsored (mostly non-profit) and the non-sponsored or for profit sites that tend to require a fee or membership. The sites that bill themselves as non-profit break into two factions; those that are sponsored by the media and those that aren’t, that may seem “plain and simple” but things get muddy when the idea of “media” becomes dubious or otherwise unclear (as you will see).

CommonSenseMedia.Com has a relatively deep database of reviews on everything from movies and television shows to DVDs and video games. They fall in the category of non-profit entity that are definitely linked to the media industry (there Board of Directors include Marcy Carsey of Carsey-Werner Productions and Mike Tollin of Tollin/Robbins Productions but also has Gary Knell, CEO Sesame Workshop and Ramon C. Cortines, Former Superintendent of Schools - New York, San Francisco on its roster). Although they’re tied to the media industry it is clear to me that both in theory and in practice they do their best to offer information that ultimately allows the parent to decide what is best for them and their children.

I was pretty surprised to see that the Motion Picture Association of America (M.P.A.A.) actually has some bare-bones resources and links for parents. I must admit, they were not my first choice, closer to my last. You will find a small section geared at educating parents about their rating system and providing links to other like minded sites (CommonSenseMedia.Com is one of them). One of the few services it offers is a Weekly Red Carpet Review which is little more than an outline of their general ratings for new releases. I imagine this is good for those of us who are comfortable enough with how the system works and enjoys the one-sheet layout of their weekly service.

The one site the M.P.A.A. recommends is PauseParentPlay.Org which feels more like a well packaged (albeit self-referential) portal. It is laughable. Its partners are humongous industry leaders like Walmart (they sell the movies, and games), Viacom (media mothership), Comcast (cable service) and the list goes on. Who’s best interest do you think they’re looking out for? Really? It has headings like, “Walmart Mature Merchandise Policy” and “Block Programs from Entering Your Home: For Cable Subscribers” (for ComCast Subscribers).

Another site referred to me from an very popular Parenting Magazine (which will remain un-named), is ScreenIt.Com. The site makes it challenging to find out exactly who the people are that run it (here is a direct link), they’re just a husband and wife couple who saw a need for a site like this back in 1996 and started a subscription-based site. Another site that seemed to jump into the pool (read: internet) when it was just a puddle is Kids-In-Mind.Com which strikes me as another “Mom-n-Pop” type operation — albeit a successful profit making one — that started its affiliations the right way back in 1992 with a small growing company called AOL. While I think that is great, I prefer to rely on a well-established foundation like ParentsChoice.Org. It is the online destination for the Parent’s Choice Foundation which has been reviewing movies, books, games and other forms of children’s media and toys since 1978. They seem to be steeped more in academia than industry, and have a refreshingly transparent mission and purpose.

Of course, there is a plethora of other sites that cater to a specific moral, political or religious bias worth mentioning - if only to balance the playing field and share with you all the different resources out there. Organizations, like the 11-year-old Parents Television Council - whose board of directors includes singer Pat Boone, Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., and conservative commentator Bill Bennett offers television and movie reviews but seems to use its political power and advertiser pressure to “clean up” television. The group is urging supporters to contact advertisers and network executives of various programs deemed “unacceptable” like the FX Network’s “Nip/Tuck,” which it describes as “one of the most profane, sexually explicit and violent shows in the history of television.”

There is also the ChristianAnswers.Net which feels like the Entertainment Tonight for the Christian set. Of course it offers up reviews on popular programs and movies through the lens of the Bible and evaluate its “moral rating”. What is interesting about this site is it seems to have a very active participation (CommonSenseMedia.Com does this as well) from its Viewers - like in this review of the movie “300″ the site gives it a very negative review but under Viewer Comments you will see an equal number of positive, negative and neutral reviews, including comments “from Young People”.

In the end, it is up to you, the parent, to check out these sites (see what best aligns with your belief and opinions) if you feel they can help you wade through the rising sea of media that your young ones have access to and will potentially be exposed too.

Resources:
Motion Picture Association of America
CommonSenseMedia.Com
PauseParentPlay.Com
ParentsChoice.Org
ParentTelevisionCouncil.Org
Kids-In-Mind.Com

Related Links:
San Fransisco Chronicle | Media Guide Offers Reviews for Parents