These days, it’s nearly impossible to find media content that hasn’t received some amount of negative feedback. But when a movie drops the “F”-bomb within its first 10 minutes, it’s bound to be surrounded by controversy.
The movie “Deadpool,” was released Feb. 12 with a big, fat R rating. It seems many would-be superhero movie connoisseurs were shocked to see a Marvel character exist in such an adult context.
It’s true that Deadpool doesn’t act like your typical hero. In fact, he’s technically not even a hero. He’s an antihero. In the movie, Deadpool does fight bad guys to save the girl, but his motivation and methods aren’t squeaky clean, like Superman’s or Captain America’s.
While other heroes act to protect the public or prevent world domination, Deadpool goes on a manhunt for the film’s antagonist, Ajax, to satisfy his own desire for revenge.
As if his antihero traits weren’t enough to separate Deadpool from his superhero peers, he also regularly dabbles in vices such as drinking, sex and vulgar language. In reality, these actions and activities are consistent with the Marvel characters depicted in comic books.
Everything about Deadpool, from his questionable heroism, violence, profanity, promiscuous sex drive and tendency to break the fourth wall, was expected and encouraged by Marvel fans. Just because he’s a comic book character doesn’t mean he’s meant for children. This one’s for the adult comic book fans. As a Marvel fan, it felt good to see a hero movie geared toward my demographic.
Anticipating the inappropriate content, backlash came in the form of a petition on Change.org that asked Fox to release a PG-13 cut of the film.
It’s hard to blame children for wanting to see such a well-done movie. But there are so many reasons why the moms who signed the petition will gain no ground for their endeavors.
For one thing, calling for an additional cut of a film so late in the production process is not feasible. If the idea arose while content was still being filmed, it might have been different, but this wasn’t the case. The petition was created after the R rating was announced.
If Fox considered obliging, it would have two options for creating a PG-13 cut: Go back and film new age-appropriate content or delete all inappropriate content and release the leftovers.
The former would likely be too expensive and time-consuming, and the latter would result in a ridiculously short film with gaps in the plot, which wouldn’t be worth the price of a ticket.
Additionally, creating an alternate version of the movie doesn’t do the Marvel character justice. Toning down his dark humor, violence and vulgarity would create a false Deadpool. It would not be OK to change the character just to cater to a portion of the potential viewership. The character was already altered when he appeared in “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” with his mouth sewn shut. The character’s actor, Ryan Reynolds, detested that decision as much as fans did because it did not allow the character to be properly portrayed. Reynolds and fans don’t want Deadpool to be censored again.
The movie wasn’t created to be too inappropriate for kids because it seemed like a good idea to the producers. It’s inappropriate for kids because Deadpool himself is inappropriate. If children and young teenagers who want to see the movie have ever actually read Deadpool’s comics, they would know what to expect.
If parents are okay with exposing their children to adult content, that’s fine. It isn’t my place to judge parents for what they allow their kids to see. But the R rating should not come as a surprise to anyone who is familiar with the character.
It’s admirable that parents want to make a change to benefit their kids, but a change in the film is an unreasonable request for a number of reasons. Unfortunately for a child, if his or her parents do not approve of R-rated content, he or she will have to sit this one — and the already-confirmed sequel — out.
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