Thematic elements

"Thematic elements", or "thematic material", is a term used by the Motion Picture Association of America and other film ratings boards to highlight elements of a film that do not fit into the traditional categories such as violence, sex, drug use, nudity, and language, but may also involve some degree of objectionable content. This rating reason raises a warning to parents and guardians to learn more about a film before they allow their children to view it.

These thematic elements may include abortion, addiction, autism, child abuse, corruption, coming-of-age issues, crime, death, defiance, disability, discrimination, disease, driving under the influence, dysfunctional families, dystopian societies, disasters, existential crises, hate, hazing, homelessness, gambling, infidelity, miscarriage, mental illness, politics, poverty, religion, self-harm, social issues, STDs, teenage pregnancy, verbal abuse, war and other serious subject matter or mature discussions that some parents and guardians feel may not be appropriate for their young children.

Examples

There are many films with moderate to heavy thematic elements. Some examples include Life, Animated, The Cider House Rules, Zootopia, Frozen, Coco, Juno, The Aviator, The Color Purple, In Her Shoes, Storks, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, I Love You Phillip Morris, Finding Dory, My Girl, Hey Arnold!: The Movie, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Hunger Games, Warrior, A Beautiful Mind, Inside Out, Up, The Patriot, White Oleander, 42, Only Yesterday, God's Not Dead, God's Not Dead 2, God's Not Dead: A Light in Darkness, The Fault in Our Stars, Isle of Dogs, Wonder Park, The Lion King, Groundhog Day, UglyDolls and The Lizzie McGuire Movie. Mild thematic elements appear in many other PG and PG-13-rated drama and, primarily, documentary films.