The group wants the MPAA to change the current rating to something else for the film's content that 'promotes female inequality, glamorizes and legitimizes violence against women.'
- January 14, 2015
AceShowbiz -
Anti-pornography watchdog group Morality in Media once again slams "Fifty Shades of Grey", this time for the movie's R rating. In a newly-released statement, the group's executive director Dawn Hawkins voiced her disagreement over the rating, saying it "severely undermines the violent themes in the film and does not adequately inform parents and patrons of the film's content."
The R rating for the film was given last week by the Motion Picture Association of America for "strong sexual content including dialogue, some unusual behavior and graphic nudity." Hawkins took issue with the term "unusual" which according to her "does not account for is the coercion, sexual violence, female inequality, and BDSM themes from which the entire 'Fifty Shades' plot is based."
"Such a vague evaluation puts viewers at risk, sending the message that humiliation is pleasurable and that torture should be sexually gratifying," she continued before criticizing the film's new trailer.
"The new extended trailer for the film calls it a 'fairy tale' which just further misleads the public into thinking this is simply a love story. The MPAA ratings and 'fairy tale' label mask the true themes of humiliation, manipulation, abuse, and degradation of women," she went on. "Sexual violence and sexual exploitation are at an all time high, permeating our culture by way of hardcore pornography and now praised by films like 'Fifty Shades of Grey'."
Hawkins then argued that the MPAA should change the film's current R rating to something else for its content that "promotes torture as sexually gratifying, graphic nudity, encourages stalking and abuse of power, promotes female inequality, glamorizes and legitimizes violence against women."
"Fifty Shades of Grey" officially opens in U.S. theaters on February 13. A new TV spot was released on Tuesday, January 13, offering more glimpses at the steamy scenes between Jamie Dornan's Christian Grey and Dakota Johnson's Ana.
Morality in Media previously slammed the movie following the arrival of its first trailer back in July.
