Bully Documentary Given R Rating, Can't Be Shown in Schools
The Weinstein Company has lost an appeal to have the rating of its documentary Bully, a harrowing examination of the bullying epidemic in America, changed to PG-13 from R, which will prevent it from reaching its targeted adolescent audience.
The documentary, which will be released March 9 and follows five bullied kids during the school year, received the R rating due to language used by children in the film. The decision to uphold the initial R rating follows a plea made yesterday by Alex Libby (pictured), one of the children in the documentary, before the MPAA’s Classification and Rating Appeals Board. Libby stated that an R rating would prevent the film from reaching the adolescent audience that would most benefit from watching it.
Harvey Weinstein, cochairman of the company, released a statement, that read:"I have been through many of these appeals, but this one vote loss is a huge blow to me personally. Alex Libby gave an impassioned plea and eloquently defended the need for kids to be able to see this movie on their own, not with their parents, because that is the only way to truly make a change.
With school-age children of my own, I know this is a crucial issue and school districts across the U.S. have responded in kind. The Cincinnati school district signed on to bus 40,000 of their students to the movie – but because the appeals board retained the R rating, the school district will have to cancel those plans.
http://www.advocate.com/News/Daily_News/2012/02/24/Bully_Doc_Given_R_Rating_Cant_Be_Shown_in_Schools/
Bullying in schools allowed, showing a film about bullying in schools not allowed to be shown in schools. How appropriate. 
= new reply since forum marked as read
it is that the MPAA's decision has brought a level of controversy, and controversy is an attention getter. This may end up bringing more attention to the film than it would have received, and could even pique the interest of kids that may not have been interested before. I was such a child. 
If I had kiddos in their teens, I would take them to see it in a heartbeat, along with as many friends as they wanted to bring with them - but alone. Kids should see this in peer groups, IMO.
Simple child psychology will make quite a few kids want to watch it now that they have been told that they cannot. I know when I was a kid, nothing made me want to see a movie or listen to a band more than being told I cannot or should not do it. 
And controversy can sometimes be even better advertising than the regular advertising route.
It is very sad that the MPAA cannot see the hypocrisy in their decision. Do they really think that by giving the movie an R rating that they are really protecting children from language they already hear every weekday in school from other kids?
