Oooooh! good points Miss JessL! I was hoping someone would argue back. Let's use the example of year 7's at our school - do you seriously believe that all of these kids are mature enough to watch the likes of 'I am Legend' (rated M) where a scientist is surrounded by “The Infected” – victims of the plague who have mutated into carnivorous beings who can only exist in the dark and who will devour or infect anyone or anything in their path! I would imagine this type of movie would cause nightmares for some time with MANY of our 7's!!
There are not many 12 yr olds that are mature to handle the grpahic, sometimes ridiculously obscene content that is often present in M rated films. Some of you say that it is up to parents? I say that I know many parents have NO idea about what is really in some of these movies BEFORE they let their children watch them. Do we allow all 12yr olds (by law) and just hope that paretns and children will be responsible, or do we set a law that DOES protect children regardless?? Tough choice isn't it?
Are you serious? This cannot possibly be allowed to become law - how ridiculous! !2 year olds still cannot go to bed at night without wondering what 'that' noise was. So let's face it, they are not going to cope with the mature content in M rated films and TV shows. 12 year olds watching M rated... I don't think so.
12 year olds are generally much more mature than we give them credit for. I know of some 12 year olds that are very aware of the dangerous messages that Hollywood portrays in movies these days. BUT, that does not mean that 12 year olds should be sheltered from 'real life' scenarios. It is up to parents to determine if their 12 year old is mature enough, NOT the Film and TV Classification board!