Fear and violence---maybe you shouldn't watch

[rusty spike]

When watching the series on netflix, the G rating pops up with the words Fear and Violence.

Has anyone else noticed this?

FYI- Netflix has an onscreen notice that TAGS will be leaving their lineup 7-1-2020.

[GentlemanJim]

Originally Posted by rusty spike

When watching the series on netflix, the G rating pops up with the words Fear and Violence.

Has anyone else noticed this?
.

I guess that Floyd's brutality with those scissors has finally been construed as intolerance?

[Torgo]

Aunt Bee is scary.

[cbikle]

There were a few episodes that involved criminals and the potential of violence and I think I remember a few episodes with actual violence.

[GentlemanJim]

Whenever Briscoe Darling and the boys are around, I guess there is an implied threat that things could turn for the worse with just one careless comment.

[vitoscotti]

Originally Posted by GentlemanJim

Whenever Briscoe Darling and the boys are around, I guess there is an implied threat that things could turn for the worse with just one careless comment.

Never got that impression. The show is an escape from political correctness, and hyper monitoring of what people say to use against them like in today's crazy world.

[GentlemanJim]

Originally Posted by vitoscotti

Never got that impression..

Perhaps the threat is just below your threshold of detection?

Darling is the only character* in the series who dictates to the Sheriff "the ways things are gonna be" where the sheriff actually humors him....and there is always that panned shot that shows the sheriff would be dealing not only with Briscoe, but the entire clan.

I think the threat is real.

Of course, I have lived on the brink of Applachia before, so i know first hand how quickly those smiles can "go Deliverance" on you, if you fail to go with the program.

I don't believe that they sent Aunt Bee to the Darling household in "Briscoe declares for Aunt Bee" just to keep from bruising feelings. There is definitely an air of forced compliance.

* (edit add) other than the mayor

[GentlemanJim]

Additionally, I don't recall the episode name, but there is a sequence where Andy and Barney are trying to undo some omen by sneaking out and burying something under a tree.

The Darlings catch them, and it is definitely a sphincter-clenching moment for them when they get caught. There is definitely some intimidation there. People don't sneak around afraid of their own shadows for personal amusement.

[vitoscotti]

Originally Posted by GentlemanJim

Additionally, I don't recall the episode name, but there is a sequence where Andy and Barney are trying to undo some omen by sneaking out and burying something under a tree.

The Darlings catch them, and it is definitely a sphincter-clenching moment for them when they get caught. There is definitely some intimidation there. People don't sneak around afraid of their own shadows for personal amusement.

You do realize it's a sitcom? All always turns out well? They're always welcome at the Taylor home in the end. The Darlings are harmless.

[GentlemanJim]

Then, of course, there is the ethnic-fueled vendetta of Ernest T against Malcom Meriwether (Malcom at the cross roads)

Not to mention every soccer mom's nightmare: Opie and the Bully. With the sheriff actually encouraging a fist 2 fist show-down and ending with battle damage.

And then there was that decades-long pugilists show-down "The case of a punch in the nose" with even mild mannered Floyd caught up in the heat of the moment.


And who can forget that brute Al in Mt Pilot who blackened Andy's eye in "Barney mends a broken heart"?

And the two farmers selling illegal produce in "Lawman Barney" with their serial threats.

"Barney's Uniform" with the deft ringer Andy hand selects to administer a beating?

Scary Luke Comstock and his suspect motives in giving a "gift" to Andy?

The electrified cash register at Wally's garage.

The hostage in the mobile home in the episode "Jailbreak"

While none of these episodes threatens my personal sense of decency, considering the likelihood that children might be in the viewing audience there does seem to be an element that crosses with modern day thinking that "violence can never be the solution"

I don't think the rating lies with the show being dangerous so much as it simply reflects the quivering mass of sensitivities that our society has become, "don't blame me for not teaching my child right from wrong, blame TV violence".

[GentlemanJim]

And the legend of old man Rimshaw and his axe definitely would have the Fred Rogers crowd spilling their marshmallows and hot co co all over the floor

[GentlemanJim]

And, I'd just like to add, that the "electrified cash register" likely gives the series a deserved rating for violence all on its own.
I remember that looked like an absolutely brilliant solution to my young mind the first time I saw the episode. I wanted to employ that technology myself, except at 7 years old, I don't think I had the resources or know how.

So yeah,put the "V" rating on the entire series, just to shield from parents who might otherwise claim that the failure to warn them was negligent.

[GentlemanJim]

And then there is Luke Ranier

[Mr. Television]

Ernest T shouldn't have thrown those rocks. I don't know how I survived such violence.

[Hazel Anyday]

Oh, my shattered nerves. Just listening to all the horrors that the Andy Griffith Show portrayed. How, oh how, could I ever have survived "The horror", as Marlon Brando says in Apocalypse Now. I hope all the little delicate flakes of today will be told to hang on to their beanies as Andy is now going to have to be Rated X by those that know so much better than we, the unwashed.