There should be a way to avoid this without revealing the entire
plot or asking around for people who've read it.
People should be able to pick up a book and know what to
expect without any potentially offensive surprises appearing. This would be
much easier with a rating system based on content rather than genre. A system like we use for movies today. Such offensive content could be . . .
- Sexual innuendos and situations
- Language
- Violence
- Drug, smoking, and alcohol references
- Racism
With this, a person could look at the back of a book they’re
thinking about reading and see the content they can expect, rather than
scouring the internet for a review of a book that they may not be able to find.
There are already sites on the internet that rate books
according to the content in them, basing their ratings on the categories listed
above. These sights are . . .
- Common Sense Media
- Rated Reads
- Compass Book Ratings
- Novel Book Ratings (shown below)
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Screenshot. “The Hunger Games.” Novel Book Ratings. Web. 2013. http://novelbookratings.com/book.php?mode=home&bookID=3347
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Common Sense Media deals almost exclusively with children’s books, movies, TV shows,
music and other forms of media. Many popular children’s and young adult books are found on the sight. Each of these books receives a thorough rating, based on many of the types of content listed above, that allows parents of young readers or the readers themselves to determine the kind of content in the book and whether or not it’s worth reading. Below is an example of Common Sense Media's book rating system.
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Screenshot. “The Hunger Games.” Common Sense Media. Web. 2013. http://www.commonsensemedia.org/book-reviews/the-hunger-games
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Unfortunately, this site doesn't cover adult books that
could be read by children or young adults, so parents and readers have to look
elsewhere for information about books that they might want to read.
To fix this problem, I propose that a content rating system
for books be instituted. Books would be reviewed during the publishing process,
just before their release, and would contain a small label on the back. This
label would have a rating and would also contain an advisory as to the questionable
contents, allowing readers to determine what books they wanted to read and
ensure that people had a knowledge of what they were about to read.
Hmm, I find this really intriguing. Why? Because I never really thought about having a rating system for books. However, this rating system seems rather, subjective. Subjective because in LDS environment, we'd totally love to have a rating system so we're not tempted to read something we're not supposed to. Compared to the rest of the world, they have different ways by judging a book. Books such as the Game of Thrones series, some Stephen Kings book, and other more morally-questionable books are best sellers. I think the way books are separated at libraries/book stores are fine as they are.
ReplyDeleteI would like to point out that the ratings system for movies falls into a similar category. There are no concrete definitions as to what constitutes an R or PG-13 movie and as such are subjective. In this same category, morally questionable R rated movies are still best sellers and some are considered art. All of these things fall under a subjective category and a rating system for books would be no different.
ReplyDeleteWhile reading this I thought of the same things that MattWagstaff pointed out. You referenced having a rating system like that of movie ratings, but how well do movie ratings really work? In your paper definitely make sure that you talk about the problems with ratings and how they can't always be perfect. But I like your ideas. It's not something that I've ever thought of before, and if you can figure out a way to make it work then I'm all for it.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the advice Paige. While writing this, I realized that there are definitely flaws in the movie rating system we use. After all, what kind of system allows so many sexual innuendos and situations in a PG-13 movie? In my paper I definitely think I will also talk about the ways that our movie rating system could be improved so that it could be implemented correctly for books.
ReplyDeleteI like the comments that have already been talked about, but I would be careful about talking about rating systems for movies, music, and TV shows too much because your main idea of the paper might get lost or overlooked. Make sure to stay true to your topic while also adding info that adds to your paper not subtracts. All in all it was a good paper it just needs a little touch up like has already been mentioned.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comment. And I realized that the important part may have disappeared in this discussion. I would like to say that the whole reason for writing this paper is to create a way for books to be rated on their content and allow the readers to see the potentially offensive material before it appears. Thank you everyone for your comments.
ReplyDelete