Enchanted and Hairspray

On Wed., Nov. 21, I saw Disney’s Enchanted in the theaters for the first time and Hairspray on DVD for the third time.   They’re two of my favorite films this year.  I feel that they are good movies to compare and contrast since they are both PG-rated live action musicals released in 2007.  (James Marsden also co-stars in both, but that shouldn’t have an effect on the ratings…) 

Both films are bright, fun, and enjoyable for all ages, but a G rating would be inappropriate.  PG is a much better rating for them.  They both definitely have adult elements, especially sexual innuendo, but not nearly as much as in most PG-13 movies.  However, I remember hardly any innuendo in PG movies of the ’90s, if any at all.  It seems that the PG rating may have become more adult since then. 

That said, the innuendo in both Enchanted and Hairspray is virtually invisible to children.  It is very subtle in both films.  In Enchanted, sexuality is viewed from the childlike perspective of a Disney princess lost in New York and learning about the “real world.”  In Hairspray, it is mostly present as double entrendre in song lyrics.  Sexuality is more integral to the plot of Enchanted than to that of Hairspray, but it isn’t offensive enough in either to merit a PG-13 rating.  

In the case of Enchanted and Hairspray, the ratings seem to be uniform.  The movies have about the same amount of adult content as well as the same overall feeling to them, so it seems right that they are both rated PG.