15 August 2015

While some welcome it, others loathe this "unexpected" R-rating for The Battle of the Five Armies. their main issue seems to be something that has to do with the childish nature of the book. The Hobbit was, after all, a children's tale and it was expected to keep its innocence and magic intact on screen.

However, when you have brutal deaths, war and tragedy, it's pretty much impossible to translate it on screen without qualifying for a different "rating". There is no point in being scandalised by what The Hobbit has become. It's always been like that. Only that, as a book, you don't see the violence, you just read about it.

I will argue in defense of this R rating for the Extended Edition.



You can't see The Hobbit through pink lenses. It's as gruesome as the next fairytale. The Little Red Riding Hood anyone? There's a little girl who gets eaten by a wolf, then the huntsman cleaves the animal's belly to free her, along with her grandmother. There's all sorts of horrible, violent things happening in so-called fairytales. There are bloodthirsty monsters, horrible death, evil characters, mutilations, torture etc. You read that stuff to your children, but if you were to watch a screen rendition, you'd be hesitant to show it to your kids.

Therefore, there is nothing surprising, nor outrageous about this R rating. It's perfectly fine. Besides, it's not like this film can't be watched by the younger ones. If they're with an adult, as far as I know, it should be alright. It's hard to understand the complaints that the rating limits the views. I'm not worries about how violent this extended edition is. We've already had the best loved (and quite innocent) characters die in such terrible ways. How far can it get, can it be worse than that? It seems that they will add some more "imaginative ways to kill orcs" that that would worry me. That would be the only thing that feels more like Hollywood than Tolkien.

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