MPAA: "Fair and " - By Nyssa Shawstad
The MPAA is portrayed as an ambiguous judge and jury in This Film Is Not Yet Rated. While Franklin states that the MPAA rating system provides for “some fairly well established guidelines to the assignment of ratings, [and thus] filmmakers can now predict with a fair amount of certainty what their films’ ratings will be. In addition, it is a fairly simple matter to edit a film to conform to a particular rating’s requirements,� the testimony from film makers seems to contradict this statement (153).
In general there are some standard taboos that will automatically earn a highly restrictive rating such as explicit sexual content or extremely realistic and graphic violence. However there also seems to be a bit of a split between ratings for sexual content. While male focused heterosexual sex is frequently given lower ratings for humor or character development many interviewed suggested that female pleasure and homosexual sex earn higher ratings. Though the MPAA denies this is a deciding factor in ratings the various film clips from PG and NC-17 films suggests that it is.
There is also a marked difference in how independent production companies and big studios are treated. This is unequivocally demonstrated in the response from the MPAA to Matt Stone’s two films. While the one submitted from an independent firm was essentially rejected outright, with the MPAA suggesting that they would have to cut virtually every scene to receive a marketable rating; the South Park movie submitted via major studios was rejected but given step-by-step guidelines on how to make it suitable. Other artists interviewed suggested similar experiences.
Overall the film indicates that the MPAA is dishonest and unnecessarily secretive when it comes to film ratings. Ratings seem aimed toward placating the religious right and established corporations rather than morally protecting the average American child as the MPAA claims.
WORKS CITED
Franklin, Daniel P. “Movies, Censorship, and the Law� in Politics and Film: The Political Culture of Film in the United States (Rowman & Littlefield, 2006) pp. 143-160