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What constitutes a mature theme?

Griff4815

Griff4815

No. 1 Grovyle Fan
I was looking at the fan fiction rules just now and I came to what each rating stands for. Distinguishing between PG-13 rated violence and romance and R rated violence and romance is pretty easy to do since it's straightforward. However, when I started reading about mature and adult themes, I became a bit confused since its so broad. Moreover, certain people have a different tolerance level for different topics.

From the rules:

PG 13/14/15

Really intense topics won’t be present, but general controversies and more mature themes will be here.
Click to expand...

R

Will include scenes of more graphic violence, Lime sex, relatively frequent use of profanity, themes intended for adults, drug/alcohol use and so on.
Click to expand...


So to my questions. What makes up a theme that would be deemed "mature" and what mature themes would be considered PG-13/14/15 as opposed to rated R? Is it the topic of death? Politics? Religion? Morality? Idealism versus cynicism? Etc.
 
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Dragonfree

Dragonfree

Just me
I think you're taking the word "themes" too literally. Generally "mature themes" means that while drug use/sex/etc. are not explicitly shown, they're thematically present in an obvious way. Obvious would be for instance if the characters repeatedly discuss getting high or the plot revolves around somebody's desperation to lose his virginity, as opposed to vague one-time innuendo that would probably just fly over a kid's head or a connection that adults will make but kids simply won't, like forced marriage suggesting rape. The very brutal murder of innocent people, torturing or other very severe implied violence would also count even if not explicitly shown, especially if committed by protagonistic characters.

Remember that what ratings mean is "The average parent probably would not want their kid watching this" (or reading, as the case may be). I really wouldn't think there is anything generally objectionable about something like the subject of politics that would warrant specifically keeping kids away from fiction that includes it; they'd probably find it boring, but it's hardly about to scar them for life. Meanwhile, even if nothing is shown, you probably wouldn't want your six-year-old watching something with sex as a major topic of discussion even if it's just talking, because if nothing else it will probably lead to some very awkward questions.

I suppose some of what you mentioned might warrant a bump from G to PG, but to be PG-13/14/15 it would have to be, as I said, themes of sexuality, drugs or some extremely serious implied violence. The MPAA says it won't rate a movie R just for thematic elements (i.e. in order to get an R, something has to be actually depicted), but in writing the border between depiction and nondepiction is a lot less concrete than in a visual medium, so depending on how it's written you could get R-worthy stuff that's still not showing per se.
 
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A

Azurne

~ ♥ ~
PG-13/14/15 'mature' themes are essentially everything you described above; death, politics, religion, morality. That's because these are all things teenagers are exposed to and can grasp freely as they grow up. It's a step above PG because kids younger than 13 might not quite understand yet.

Adult themes on the other hand, are very detailed and graphically shown violence, sex, blood, etc. This is because while teenagers can very much understand the concepts, they may or may not be familiar with the obscure little details and it might not be something they are mentally prepared for. Everyone differs on an individual basis of course, and that's why each of us has our own personal responsibility to know what we can handle and what we can't.

What we really don't want is impressionable people clicking on a clearly rated R fiction and seeing graphic things like sex, and drug/alcohol abuse. While it might not be detrimental to their mental health initially, it's still something that may or may not have an impact later on. Kids (and some teenagers) have a habit of 'monkey see, monkey do' and experiment when they really don't know any better. For example, teenagers are told over and over again that abusing drugs is bad for you, but they still do it anyway even without the help of a rated R book. If they pick up the book beforehand and decide to try, even if the repercussions are clearly defined in said book... yeah. Not good.


Basically, 'mature' means things you wouldn't want to show very young kids, and is okay to teenagers. Something like politics in a PG rated fiction would be okay since it's not mentally scarring, but children wouldn't understand it at all and find it boring, so it's normally something you'd only find in a PG-13+ story.

In a nutshell:

Mature = Something teenagers can understand, relate to, talk about freely whereas anyone younger would not understand or find it possibly scary.

Adult = Graphic details of some mature themes, can be discussed in depth. Sex, copious blood and violence are also common, etc. Probably not something early teenagers should be exposed to.

Again, it all differs person by person. The key difference is details, IMO.
 
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