“Parents must recognize their responsibility in choosing appropriate films with and for their children, and in discussing the messages in films with children to mediate any potential adverse effects and reinforce any potential beneficial effects,” the study said.
Valenti pointed to the success of the 1969 X-rated film Midnight Cowboy, which won the Academy Award for best picture, as evidence that perceptions about how much violence and sex should be shown on screen are always changing.
“What was considered to be grossly offensive in 1969 is less offensive today because of what’s going on in the media,” he said. “For example, what you see on television today is quite a bit different from what you saw 15 years ago.”
Valenti said it would be impossible for one rating body to review all forms of media.
“If the Harvard group had really studied this with the depth that I and others have, they couldn’t have recommended that,” he said. “There’s about 2,200 hours of television time [per day]. In one year, we will rate 600 pictures, 2 hours apiece—that’s 1,200 hours.”
The MPAA can review that many hours of film, Valenti said, but it is “logistically impossible” to rate the hundreds of thousands of hours of television programming each year.
Thompson said such a system was possible and that “clearly there could be a board set up with representatives from all of the existing boards that would create standards and ensure their consistent implementation.”
Dan Glickman, director of Harvard’s Institute of Politics, will succeed the 82-year-old Valenti when he steps down from his MPAA post on Sept. 1. Reached by telephone in Washington, Glickman said he has not yet read the study.
When asked if he has considered expanding or completely overhauling the MPAA ratings system, Glickman said, “I am in a steep learning curve right now so I’m not thinking of reevaluating anything in this job [or doing anything] except learning about it right now.”
Thompson, creator and director of the Kids Risk Project at HSPH, said she hopes the results of the study bring the attention of parents and physicians to the role that media play in the lives of children.
“Kids today spend more time consuming media and learning from them than they spend in school,” she said. “Given the media as teachers, I think it’s very important to understand the messages in media and to encourage parents to talk with their kids.”
—Brittany Darwell and Joshua Fleer contributed to the reporting of this story.
—Staff writer Andrew C. Esensten can be reached at esenst@fas.harvard.edu.