A reader of mine noticed that the USCCB film review for Brokeback Mountain is now rated O ( morally offensive) and wondered if that had been a change. Yes indeed, they updated the rating from L (limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling.) At least the new rating is better, but the sympathetic review is still the same.
Update: Jimmy Akin guest posts on Mark Shea’s blog about the review and the ratings change and what Jimmy call their non-retraction retraction as noted below.
"Originally rated L (limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling), ‘Brokeback Mountain’ has been reclassified O — morally offensive — by the USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting. This has been done because the serious weight of the L rating — which restricts films in that category to those who can assess, from a Catholic perspective, the moral issues raised by a movie — is, unfortunately, misunderstood by many. Because there are some in this instance who are using the L rating to make it appear the church’s — or the USCCB’s — position on homosexuality is ambiguous, the classification has been revised specifically to address its moral content."
So we only misunderstood the review and it is our fault that they had to change the rating. This unfortunately is about par for the course when it comes the the Unites States Catholic Conference of Bureaucrats – oh I mean Bishops.
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Perhaps I am mistaken, but last I checked, the ONLY reason the USCCB put any classification on movies was to address the moral content of a film… Am I mistaken?
Brokeback Bishops
Joey posts satirical review of the movie Brokeback Mountain, a story about homosexual cowboys, here. My favorite line is: “It’s not so much a gay cowboy love story as a gay cowboy love story with gay characters who just happen…
…And the catcher guns him down trying to steal second!
Hello.
The USCCB’s stance on homosexuality IS ambiguous. Even though the Church’s stance–if the Bible, the CCC, the Pope and all of tradition are to be believed–is not.
The ambiguity of the USCCB’s stance is no one’s fault but their own. They, after all, are the ones who spew these kinds of screwed up statements–in this case, movie ratings and followup statements. In the past, the corruption of Boston, the silly “Always Our Children,” etc. They only have themselves to blame.
If they want the outcome to be different, they will have to be different. After all, if you keep doing the same thing, you’re always going to get the same thing as a result. Duh.