Listening – Section 4 No.03

以下のリンクからGoogle Documentを閲覧することが可能です。

書き込む場合は、[ファイル] > [コピーの作成]をクリックしご自身のGoogle Driveにファイルを保管して使用してください。

また、PDFのダウンロードをご希望の場合は、[ファイル] > [ダウンロード]をクリックすることで指定するファイルの書き出すことが可能です。

Listening Section 4 No.03 (Google Document)

MP3 – Youtube

Answer

popularity
bad outcomes
trade association
realistic
community
scary scenes
society
viewership
graphic
independent

Transcript

Professor:	One of the most popular pastimes all over the world is watching movies, whether that be at cinemas, at homes on the TV through commercial channels or DVDs, or Internet downloads. Given this popularity, it is clear that movies can influence the way people think and act, which is why there must necessarily be a motion picture rating system, so that people are made aware in advance of the movie’s content. The factors involved are bad language, and the cinematic portrayal of sex, violence, drug use, and anti- social or criminal behaviour.
	For example, virtually all countries will ban movies outright if the scenes involved glorify crime, or show criminals getting away with their goods. Imagine, for example, a bank-robbery film where the criminals end up retired in Brazil, living lives of luxury with their ill-gotten gains. Such a message may encourage impressionable young men to go and rob banks themselves, since it seems so easy. Thus, in all movies, crime inevitably leads to bad outcomes, in one way or another, be that prison, unhappiness, or death.
	Yet there are still variations among countries. In Australia, for instance, it is the government which decides on the rating, through a special review board, whereas in America, it is the movie industry itself which decides this through a trade association representing the major studios. Furthermore, different cultures may view movies in different ways. Sexual content is viewed more leniently in Europe but frowned upon in the West, yet Western cinema often permits levels of violence which European cinema would never allow. And further complications come in when judging a movie within its historical context—for example, a war movie, designed by its makers to be realistic, will necessarily have graphic violence, which will often be permitted, providing it is not glorified in any way.
	Since America produces the bulk of the world’s most-watched movies, why don’t we look in detail at their movie rating system? It begins with the innocent ‘G’ rating, standing for general audience, allowing all ages, even very young children, into the cinema. The films are fun and community-oriented, with nothing which would be objectionable. They are often released for the summer holidays — when children are free from school. But if these movies have a mild element of violence, or inappropriate and lewd humour, or some scary scenes, then it would be a PG movie, standing for Parental Guidance needed. This PG rating comes in two forms, though: the weak version, a simple PG, or the strong version, PG13. Most American movies are issued with this latter rating, since it allows the greatest proportion of the population to watch the movie — by which I mean children alongside their parents — while still allowing the movie itself to show society as it really is. Any rating higher than this will restrict children —and limit viewership. In fact, if a movie, when shown to the trade association, fails to be issued with the PG13, the offending scenes are often removed by the movie makers in order to secure this lower rating and ensure the greatest viewership. What all movie studios want to avoid is the ‘R’ or restricted rating. This means that younger children can only watch the film if accompanied by their parents, and many young teenagers simply don’t want do this. These films might have swearing, drug use, or horror scenes with blood and gore. And if these images are particularly graphic, the rating is lifted to NC17. NC means no children. In other words, the movie is for adults only. Since it is the younger market who are particularly intent on paying to see movies, many big cinemas simply don’t bother showing NC films. There is simply little to no profit involved, meaning that such films, often made by smaller independent film companies, are similarly released by independent theatres. Even then, these films only have, what is known in the business as a ‘limited theatrical release”. So. go see these movies quickly, or you may miss out.