Abstract

Abstract:

The Federal Trade Commission’s investigation into Hollywood’s marketing of violent content to children spotlighted the Motion Picture Association of America’s self-regulatory Classification and Rating Administration (CARA). Yet the heightened scrutiny coincided with the decline of R-rated blockbusters and an increased level of violence in their PG-13 counterparts. To contextualize such “ratings creep,” this article demonstrates how one PG-13 franchise employs stylistic methods originally developed to satisfy Production Code requirements, including coded, substituted, and displaced violence. Using The Lord of the Rings trilogy as a case study on film violence, ratings creep, and the economics of film ratings, the article examines how Hollywood marshals legitimized means to deliver screen violence to underage groups.

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