Content and Trigger Warning Guides (CTWG) Introduction

From VidAngel to Disney+ choosing to omit certain things from their history, censorship of film is a hot topic. I don’t agree with forced censorship or releasing an “edited” or “clean” version of films without permission. But I do think that there are certain things people should be aware of when they are watching films. Everyone has a right to skip certain scenes that they don’t want to see for their own personal reasons. No one is entitled to know someone else’s reason for not wanting to see a certain part of a film. Introducing…Content and Trigger Warning Guides: a new series posting every Wednesday exclusively on sambairdconsulting.com.

What Makes These Guides Unique

These guides will be posted for films with MPAA ratings of PG13 or R and will include the following content and trigger warnings: Nudity, Blood, Graphic Violence, Abuse (Sexual, Physical, Verbal, Child, Domestic, Drug/Alcohol, Animal), Miscarriage/Abortion, Self-Harm/Suicide, Eating Disorders, Slurs (Racist, Sexist, Homophobic), and Intense War Scenes. This may sound like the parent guides that IMDb releases for films. What is different here is that these guides will include where exactly these scenes take place in the film. They will also include what major plot points you may miss by skipping that scene. That being said, these guides will include spoilers.

Why This Platform

You may be wondering, “Sam’s a theatre person, why is she getting herself involved with film?” Great question! I am a theatre person, by career, but watching films was (and is) a huge part of my life. Besides just simply enjoying films, my brother is a filmmaker. The purpose of these guides is to continue to allow filmmakers and artists (like my brother) to create and share their work without forced censorship, while allowing viewers the opportunity to self-censor sensitive content if desired. There are so many films that I want to see, but can’t (for personal reasons). These guides are made for people like me, and you, and everyone who wants the big picture of the film but may be adversely affected by content or triggers in the film.

The first guide will be released next Wednesday. Enjoy!