When the second installment of adult comedy “Ted” opened in theaters, some moviegoers were surprised by presence of little children in theaters for the raunchy, R-rated comedy.
The latest Seth MacFarlane blockbuster has brought a debate online over whether movie theaters in Thailand should check IDs for adult films. “Ted 2” is rated 18+, and under the law, theaters are not required to limit access based on age.
The comedy has climbed to third place in global ticket sales after “The Jurassic World” and “Inside Out” since its release last month, but the naughty teddy bear hasn’t received an entirely warm welcome in Thailand since opening Thursday.
“I saw Ted 2 today and saw children younger than 10 years old. After that, another family rolled in with two toddlers, a grandma and grandpa,” said user Noina Anion, who started the thread Sunday.
Noina wondered how parents could not know what to expect from the film.
“Ted 2 is full of F-words and profanity not including drinking, drug abuse, and weed smoking. Maybe the parents don’t know what this movie is about, but should they do a bit of research?” Noina wrote.
From the poster, Ted looks like a fluffy teddy bear everyone wants to hug, and at a glance the movie could be about how he survives in the human world, much like Paddington the British bear. Ted in fact is a midlife stuffed animal who uses the F-word as a full stop, smokes pot from a big bong, gets horny regularly and is American.
“Did you hear that? You’re covered in rejected black men’s semen. You look like a Kardashian,” Ted says in one representative moment.
The thread quickly drew hundreds of responses from netizens as many condemn the big-named theaters for allowing children to see the movie, which is rated 18+ in Thailand.
“Parents see the teddy bear, so they think the movie is family-friendly. The ticket sellers should advise the customers. The theaters would not go out of business,” Sangatsu wrote.
According to the film rating system in Thailand, there is no restrictions for Ted as the film is rated “suitable for those over 18.” The theaters do not need to check IDs unless the film is rated 20+ or “prohibited for those under 20.”
That’s why when one Pantip user went into the cinema to watch “Ted 2” on Sunday, it was crowded with kids and grannies; like a family reunion party.
Whether it was the parents’ blindness to the situation or the ticket sellers’ devil-may-care attitude, Ted 2 isn’t for children. Some argued that it’s a parent’s responsibility to check the movie out in advance in these internet-everywhere days.
User TwinkleBaby said the same thing happened when the first installation of the movie was released. She described hearing a girl innocently asked her mom out loud “Mommy, what’s the teddy bear doing right there?”
No parent should have to explain a teddy bear fucking.
