Campaign to Reduce Bully Rating to PG-13 Intensifies in Light of Hunger Games' Success

"Apparently, bullying is more shocking than outright murder."

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Like a great many other American teenagers, high school junior Katy Butler saw The Hunger Games last weekend. Unlike many of them, however, the experience didn't really make her happy. Butler has been leading the charge to get a rating change for the documentary Bully, a movie which seeks to shine a light on the problem of bullying among American youth. Says Butler, "Because the film is rated R - for language, of all things - the film won't be shown in American high schools or middle schools, which is precisely where a film like this could do the most good. I mean, it's an important and timely film, but it's not like kids are going to pay to go to see it in theaters, not when they could go see escapist fare like The Hunger Games."

And speaking of The Hunger Games, says Butler, "I don't care how much blood they did or did not show. They made a movie about kids literally murdering each other, and they made damn sure that the audience was rooting for one kid to slaughter the rest. That shit is twisted, and the MPAA was still happy to slap a PG-13 on it. The result? A staggering $155 million on the first weekend, all to spread the message that killing is wrong while simultaneously glorifying said killing by making it a lynchpin of the film's excitement. Makes sense to me. No wait - it totally doesn't."

[No, none of this is true. Well, except for the part about Butler lobbying for the rating change. And the huge opening weekend for Hunger Games.]