Screen It!

In doing some back research on reviews for Brokeback Mountain (Ang Lee, 2005) I came accross a website that has detailed reviews of films for families. Typically these sites cause the hair on the back of my neck to stand up as they pan films because they don't uphold biblical values. I have seen too many websites that tell God fearing Christians that they will be on an express bus to hell if they see a film, particularly Brokeback Mountain, and have admittingly developed a quick reaction to such sites. However, Screen It! doesn't seem to be one of them.

The website profiles films and lists points of concern that parents may have about a film for their children. While I find the lengths they go to a little frightening (more because who has enough time on their hands to figure out how many times "ass" is said in a film) their overall approach to the film seems to be fair. It even lists potential "talking points" for parents to be able to talk to their children about what is happening in the film.

I have long been an advocate of providing parents fair information about the media their children will potentially consume. If we are able to give parents the tools to investigate on their own, then we can stay away from censorship, which is never good. The only problem is, when certain groups gain total control over the bodies that decide ratings, warning labels, etc. they can bring with them an agenda that skews their warnings. It is commonly know that gay content will always receive higher rating warnings than similar or even more tame straight content. Male nudity treated differently from female nudity and such.

In a web world of CleanFlicks (which was recently shut down go us!) and Christian Spotlight on Entertainment it is refreshing to see a site that gives parents tools not answers to their media choices.