Oh, for the Love of God

From the AP: Republican politician Roy Blunt has decided that the policies of the Motion Picture Association of America should be investigated because a Christian football movie called "Facing the Giants" got a PG rating instead of a more family-friendly G.

Let's count the empty gestures.

Is it a fake-out to prove that the MPAA is no longer as connected to the American government as it was under Jack Valenti, and thus willing to buck the tide by -- oh, I don't know -- treating an independent film a little more harshly than a studio release? (Oh, wait; the movie's being distributed by Provident Films, the new religious arm of Sony Pictures.)

Is it Blunt's transparent attempt to pander to religious voters in an election year, and make it look like he's doing something to protect Christianity from its sworn enemies in Hollywood? (What's the new MPAA guy's name? Glickman? Doesn't sound like an Episcopalian name, does it?)

Or is it just proof that openly Christian filmmakers can invent a media controversy just as well as secular filmmakers? Funny how this issue has exploded with nearly three months to go before the movie opens in late September ... why, that's plenty of time to get churches and politicians talking about it as if it's an immediate concern, building that crucial brand awareness among the faithful.

Not that a PG rating is terribly harsh ... I mean, it's a football movie, and an innocuous locker-room scene is probably enough to merit one these days. Or maybe someone gets hit really hard. Anyway, bottom line, it's only a PG; all the rating does is suggest that parents exercise a little guidance.

The new Republican party, folks -- providing upstanding moral leadership and interfering in personal decisions since, oh, Tuesday.

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