My feelings on the MPAA.... Sarah Osborne
After watching This Film is Not Yet Rated I was shocked to see how much control the MPAA has over movies. Although there is still the freedom to create and release any type of material one wants, it isn’t possible to get the amount of exposure needed to be successful if you are given a NC-17 rating. Cieply’s article that discusses Valenti’s achievements and struggles makes an interesting point by calling Valenti’s malleable rating definitions “genius”. Although Cieply claims that it is genius in the means that it changes its definitions at will and serves the motion picture industry by changing for the climate, I think this actually does a disservice to filmmakers. I think it might seem “genius” in the fact that he got away with it, but at the same time it is completely against what our country stands for. This room of anonymous people are allowed to determine which films are going to be successful and marketed in our supposedly “free” country. Who are these people to say what is morally right or wrong? And beyond that, how is it fair to involve religion in this process? I was appalled that there are clergymen present on the appeals board for the MPAA. How do priests and a select group of parents of 20+ year-old children have any expertise on what it going on in the United States today? Also, I couldn’t believe that military movie scripts need to be approved by the pentagon first, and there has to be “military assistance” while making the movie. This sounds a little bit along the lines of the OWI during World War II, and it’s just not fair. Giving an inaccurate vision of the truth to create a false image of the military is unjust and wrong on so many levels.
I think having a malleable system would be appropriate to a degree – there are some things that are more common these days that weren’t socially accepted on most levels 20 years ago. I think this country is still so young and continues to evolve, and the regulation should be transforming with the times. However, I think the concept of not using precedence as a guideline is absurd. This is how our entire judicial system works, as it establishes a consistency and equality across the board. Just as all citizens are given equal rights, I believe that all film makers should be given equal rights to display their ideas. I thought we had come much farther than the times of the Office of War Information regulating all public forum, but really there is still heavy regulation going on behind the scenes and I think the MPAA system needs to be re-evaluated!