Dr. Strange Writer Defends Pushing The Boundaries Of The PG-13 Rating

Did you know that, while movie ratings were introduced in 1968, the PG-13 rating wasn’t added until 1984? All of the movies released into the Marvel Cinematic Universe so far have been rated PG-13, but some moviegoers are saying that Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is pushing that rating to its absolute limit, which writer Michael Waldron defended this week in a new interview with io9.

The Motion Picture Association reviews submitted films and rates them based on content, but these ratings are set by subjective people using evolving rules. Two people might rate a movie on the edge PG-13 and R, and two PG-13 films from two different eras might land very differently for a single viewer. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness takes our mystical hero and a new friend, America Chavez, on a multiverse-hopping journey that has them meeting other Doctors Strange and visiting other versions of Earth, some quite different from ours.

During their adventure, the characters witness a swarm of angry souls attacking a character missing half their face. One hero is literally shredded to ribbons, ending with a genuinely shocking pop, and another is chopped in half, though the other half admittedly happens off-screen. Waldron pointed to both the film’s director and past examples of PG-rated films as reasons why that PG-13 rating fits.

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