Friday, July 20, 2012

The thrill of an age restriction

photo credit: photodune


This past week when our International Conflict tutorial ventured over to the Imperial War Museum, the topic of media violence was relevant.  This time though, there was a noticeable awareness for violent content everywhere- and the museum did a great job advertising necessary and obligatory precautions that needed to be taken.  There were signs all over the museum with different variations of warning the public of some regions of the museum containing disturbing content which I found to be very effective and something I have not always seen in places that I have previously been to on my trip that have displayed disturbing content. 

One that particularly caught my attention was a sign in front of the Blitzkrieg experience.  It said no one was allowed under the age of 16 unless an adult accompanied them.  For one, I thought the age choice of 16 was quite random, and secondly I also thought this was a rather old age for a restriction.  This sign definitely prefaced me to believe the “experience” was going to be quite scary and thrilling considering the restrictions placed upon it.  The exhibit definitely wasn’t nearly as disturbing as other areas of the museum I thought and didn’t meet my expectations that the sign created.

How are age restrictions chosen? And do age restrictions preface us to actively seek a thrill of some sort in anticipation of reasoning why there is an age restriction in the first place?

1 comment:

  1. Well I also went on the trip and I don't know if that was the sign by the Holocaust exhibit but if so I think there should definitely be an age restriction.

    There were pictures of dead naked bodies piled up in pits and the victims' clothes which I'm guessing were burned from the gas chambers

    I agree that 16 was a little old I would say maybe thirteen but 16 is a universal maturity point. We get our license at 16 we can legally stay out until midnight, get emancipated, and I know some people's parents wouldn't let them date until they were 16.

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