H.Getachew
The filmmaker of This film Is Not Yet Rated and the people interviewed in the film would disagree with Franklin statement “some fairly well-established guidelines to the assignment of rating, [and thus] filmmaker can now predict with a fair amount of certainty what their films’ rating will be. In addition, it is a fairly simple matter to edit a film to conform to a particular rating’s requirements” (153) The film explains the MPAA rating guidelines are not disclosed to filmmakers. There is some basic understanding of what kind of films get an R rating vs. an NC-17. The MPAA are lenient on violence compare to sex but for the most part filmmakers don’t really have any guideline, they have to submit their film and wait for the rating. “There are those who find the ratings so vague- there is not indication whether an R rating is for sex, violence or language, and no indication why a PG has been awarded.” (Maria, 1)
Some films could be edited to getting certain rating but for some film editing is not an option. For example the movie America Psycho got an NC-17 rating because the MPAA did not like the tone of the entire movie, thus the film maker wasn’t able to go back make entire movie to get an R rating.
The assessment of the MPAA is very inconsistent. Films with similar content receive different rating, for example films like But I am a Cheerleader received a NC-17 rating because the sexual content in the film was with same sex and films like American Pie got R rating. This rating is based on what the MPAA considers to be normal for all Americans.
Overall I really enjoyed the film, I wasn’t aware that there was so much politic with the film rating system.