Penny Nance, President and CEO of Concerned Women for America, co-wrote the following piece with Tim Winter, President of Parents Television Council which ran in the Washington Examiner Sunday February 9. The piece is about how films are becoming more explicit and profane in nature and how content filtering would help us better protect our children:
“Tonight, an estimated 30 million Americans will watch ABC’s annual telecast of the Academy Awards, sharing Hollywood’s celebration of outstanding achievement in motion picture entertainment. Not only is it Hollywood’s greatest night of the year, it will likely be the second-most-watched program on television this year, following last Sunday’s broadcast of Super Bowl LIV.
For most of Hollywood’s glorious history, Oscar-nominated films were accessible to Americans of all ages. But these days, that is becoming more of a rarity. Dark, disquieting storylines with increasing levels of violence, profanity, and sexually explicit content have become the norm.
This leaves parents with a Hobson’s choice: Either they can allow their children to watch those films despite their objections to potentially harmful and age-inappropriate content, or they can opt out of watching them altogether.
A review conducted by the filtering service VidAngel found that three of the titles nominated for Best Picture — The Irishman, Marriage Story, and Once Upon A Time … In Hollywood — together included nearly 600 instances of profanity, 30 instances of sex or nudity, and almost 50 instances of graphic or gory violence. Add in the films nominated for their outstanding acting and other production elements, and those totals spike even higher.
The Motion Picture Academy has never used “family-friendliness” as a qualification for their award nominations, nor should they. But American families also have the right to enjoy these movies as cultural touch points. That’s why, for two decades, a number of innovative companies have crafted content filtering technologies, allowing viewers to enjoy Hollywood’s iconic filmmaking free from the explicit material that many parents feel is harmful to their children.
You’d think that Hollywood would promote a product that secures their artistic freedom while simultaneously delivering greater choice for consumers. You’d think that Hollywood would herald a remedy that immediately expands the potential marketplace for their product. You’d think that Hollywood would celebrate a technology that helps their films make even more money.
But if you thought those things, you’d be wrong.”
Read more of Penny and Tim’s article in the Washington Examiner here.
