The LA Times has an informative new article on films getting PG and PG-13, much like AOTC and Spider-Man this year:

In "Spider-Man," a goblin is impaled, a cable car full of children hangs from a bridge, and a father and a father figure die. In "Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones" a mother dies in her son's arms; a father is decapitated and his boy finds the severed head in a helmet.

Does this sound like appropriate fare for young children? To some parents, the answer is a resounding no.

"I've never had so many e-mails about a movie as I have about 'Spider-Man,'" said Nell Minow, a Washington, D.C., mother whose 5-year-old Web site Moviemom offers alternative movie ratings. Her second-largest number of queries concerned "Attack of the Clones," she said.

Part of the problem, as parents are well aware, is that "Spider-Man" and "Attack of the Clones" aren't just movies. They're also cultural phenomena, and the child who isn't throwing a "Spider-Man" or "Star Wars" birthday outing will undoubtedly be invited to one. There's no escape from avenging heroes, superpowers or the battles of other galaxies, no matter how far away.

Mark Applegate, a father of two from Torrance, said his 4-year old daughter Amanda saw commercials on television for "Spider-Man" and started begging to see it a week before it opened.

"I wasn't sure if it was a good movie for her or not," said Applegate, who had heard that some scenes might be too intense for children. "I said we couldn't go, and she started crying," he said.

Compounding the problem, some parents say, is that they can't always trust the MPAA ratings to tell them what they need to know. A number of media critics have pointed to what they refer to as "ratings creep," a belief that films are given less restrictive ratings than previously.

Another problem is that the MPAA offers only "opaque" explanations for the ratings, according to Minow, who has written a book on the subject. "My favorite [ratings warning] is for 'mild thematic elements.' I don't know what that's supposed to mean. You need a degree in semiotics to understand it," Minow said.

The MPAA rates the "Star Wars" prequel PG (parental guidance suggested) for "sustained sequences of sci-fi action/violence" and "Spider-Man" PG-13 (parents strongly cautioned; some material may be inappropriate for children under 13) for "stylized violence and action." Media critics also blame ratings creep, believed to have resulted in downgrading movies that would have formerly been R-rated to PG-13, and PG-13s to PG.

For example, "Midnight Cowboy," which was rated X in 1969, would surely be an R-rated film today, said MPAA chief Jack Valenti. The "Star Wars" film's PG might not be the same sort of PG that parents recall from the earlier films, due to ratings creep, according to media critic James Steyer, author of "The Other Parent." "For parents, it's a big problem," Steyer said.

Ratings creep is also evident in language, Minow said. "It's stunning. Words that would get [a film] an automatic R now get PG-13."