I loved Victoria's
post about Fandoms. I am a little embarrassed to admit that I, too, have my various fandoms. I was really interested by Victoria's comments about shipping and how things can get super inappropriate at times.
I first stumbled upon fandoms when I was in junior high school. I used to love reading Harry Potter fanfiction (don't judge me! It was like 10 years ago!) Something that I noticed straight off and have remembered since is that almost every single story had a rating on it. The ratings would generally come with an explanation of why the story got that particular rating: for example, language or sexual content. I remember thinking that it was really helpful to have that rating system as a guide so I could know which stories to stay away from and which ones would be okay for me to read.
As I think about it, many other things around us are assigned ratings as well. Movies, obviously, go through quite the process to be assigned ratings. Video games and some music CDs are also assigned ratings. Online content is interesting in that the author is the only person to assign a rating. Movies, video games, and the like are assigned a rating according to an existing system by authority figures.
The most notable exception seems to be books. I remember as a young girl wondering why books weren't assigned ratings like movies are. I read through many of the books in our small-town library very quickly, but I was nervous about branching out to "adult fiction" because I was worried that I would come across inappropriate material by mistake. A rating system for books would have been very helpful to me as an adolescent.
I personally think that ratings are very helpful. I think that there are a lot of benefits to having a ratings system in place. What do you think? Why don't we assign ratings to books? What are some of the pros/cons to a rating system that is assigned by the creator vs. an outside source? I would love to hear some of your thoughts.
I'm glad you posted about this. I've thought about why there isn't a rating system for books as well. As it turns out, though, all I had to do was Google "rating system for books" and I came up with this site: http://ratedreads.com/book-review-ratings-guid/
ReplyDeleteI looked at a few of the ratings for books I've read. I agree with some and not with others, but they always give a reason for the rating, so you can decide for yourself.
I think this is so perfect! My husband and I actually talk about ratings for video games and books all the time. I feel strongly about not playing rated M games, but he often points out that I have read books that are far worse than games like "Halo" or "Diablo." (He often points to the Gone Series, which is kinda gory and disturbing.) I think a rating system for books (one that's standardized) would be helpful, but I wonder if I would feel as strongly about letting it decide which books I could or could not read. . .
ReplyDeleteI also wonder how much a rating system would influence what I decide to read. It's interesting that we are more comfortable reading more "mature" books, where we hesitate when it comes to digital culture. For example, I don't watch rated R movies. But I do read books, such as the Gone series, that would likely have an R rating if they were made into movies. It's interesting how the medium (whether it's a movie/video game vs. a book)influences our willingness to watch/read certain things.
DeleteI think a rating system for books would do wonders for helping people pick out quality books to read. I just finished reading a novel for an English class that used the F word at least 10 times in addition to the other swear words it liked to throw in. There was sexually explicit stuff in it too. The author was talented, and the use of language was really brilliant most of the time,but I still would have rather not read that other tasteless stuff. Since the book was required though, and I had to read it, I at least wish I knew that it was coming.
ReplyDeleteSo, pros of a rating system: You know exactly what you're getting into.
Cons: You might miss out on some brilliant writing. But really, it's likely you can find brilliant writing that is also classy.
I like the fact that ratings haven't touched books yet. I went through a similar reading issue when I was younger. I started looking in the adult section because I was running out of interesting juvenile titles.
ReplyDeleteI liked testing out a book and deciding for myself whether or not it was okay to read. I liked it because those books weren't treating me like a 9-year old. They treated me like an adult and asked me what I believed was okay to read. It taught me how to make decisions when no one would know the outcome but me.
I don't like the idea of ratings for books because I feel like it would be difficult to create definite standards and I think youth might be cut off from books that might be full of good things because their parents look at a rating and say, "this isn't for you" without considering anything else about the book.
I think what's more problematic than creating a rating system is wrongly categorizing material in the system that we have now. The system now is to divide books into categories by genre and age. What is appropriate for teens in literature now has become increasingly sexualized. Even though these books are in the young adult or teen fiction genre, they may not be appropriate for teenagers. Some of them perhaps are well written, but I've seen a lot that seem like trashy romance/sex novels. Of course it could be argued that the young adult section should be subdivided further by age. What is appropriate for a 12 year old is different than for a 17 year old. But still, it is frustrating to look through books in a genre designed for teenagers and find material that is more suitable for adults.
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