Silly Little Country

A Service I Don't Need

E. Frank Stephenson has found an hilarious service offered by Netflix as part of its DVD ratings.

"Marley and Me" is the next item in the Stephenson queue and I wondered if it might be suitable for Pee Wee (my impression, apparently correct, is that the film is relatively clean) so I clicked through to see the content info. Most of the categories on which the film is evaluated are unsurprising--sex, language, violence, drug use, etc. But there is also a category for "consumerism" and here's the evaluation of "Marley and Me":

Jenny and John pursue the American dream: a nice house in a good neighborhood, a nice car, a big trip, etc. But the pursuit is also a struggle, and viewers see how John and Jenny sacrifice to gain the material pleasure that they eventually achieve. Specific products/brands shown/mentioned include Volvo, the Philadelphia Enquirer and the New York Times.

For this consumerism content, the film earns a red dot indicating "Not appropriate for kids of the age most likely to want to see it." How awful--two people want a nice house and they sacrifice and struggle to obtain it. Then again, maybe Paul Krugman, Frank Rich, and the rest of the NYT warrant a red dot.

Sactimonious twitheads!

posted by Alan Adamson @ 6:50 AM