Censorship - Jordan Swan
Franklin’s statement that the MPAA’s rating system has well established guide lines that allows the creators of films to estimate their potential rating is a claim that is shown to be flawed in the film This Film is Not Yet Rated. In the film Kirby Dick made great strides in showing that film raters where not trained in how to do their jobs and that no real system was devised for them to base their judgments upon. These facts show that the there is little devised in the form of a guide for rating but simply the opinion of a few untrained individuals, with potential biases. The film also bring up the point that the film reviewers are not comprised of or were never exposed to the opinion of professionals trained to understand the impact on exposure specific material to the mentality of the population. The overwhelming similarities between the heterosexual and homosexual sex scenes shown in the movies with different ratings shows an inconsistency in what is considered morally corrupting. The concept of the intent of the directors is something else that is not taken into consideration by the reviewer. The director of the film Love and Basketball, Gina Prince-Bythewood, is a perfect example of how confusing the rating system can be when the artist intent is overlooked. The sexuality is meant to help the audience understand the potential tenderness of the loss of virginity to one you love, in the eyes of the reviewer it is an extended scene of insertion, a meaning completely different from the intent. I really isn’t hard to see why the director had a hard time understanding the reason for the rating. If there are no direct guidelines as to what is acceptable for each rating intent must be considered, because it is not it is simple to see the rating system is flawed,