Justin Kaplan- Ratings and Censorship
This weeks film really amazed me. I never knew that there were so much politics involved in the film rating system. This film shows how the MPAA has created an uproar with the movie producers. It shows us the inconsistencies that they have for rating films and how picky they really are when looking at how the films should be rated. Hodgson explains, “there is no indication whether an R rating is for sex, violence or language, and no indication why a PG (parental guidance suggested) has been awarded.” It's amazing the difference that a rating of NC-17 compared to one that is rated "R" makes. Franklin makes the point that “it is certainly true that many theaters will simply refuse to screen a movie with the rating NC-17” (153). In the long run this could mean the difference in millions of dollars at the box office. A film maker could make a film that he thought should be rated PG-13 and ends up being rated NC-17 and the producer can not go back and change scenes so that it fits into the PG-13 class. This could end up ruining a producers movie and make it drown at the box office. I think that it is ridiculous that only a few people can speak out for the World as a "whole" when rating a certain film. I think that the MPAA's ratings should not effect a film and therefore I believe that the way that they critique the films is not totally accurate and they should come up with a new rating system. This film showed how the MPAA picked different aspects of movies to create their rating and it showed that you never really can tell what type of a rating any certain film is going to receive.