Sydney Liles
Filmmakers have an idea of what they want to make a film about and then proceed to make one. However, when they are done they have to send the film in to get a rating on it. Based on the film This Film is Not Yet Rated, I find it difficult to agree with Franklin in that these filmmakers should know what their film is going to receive. Looking at the director for Big Girls Don’t Cry, she seemed shocked at what the raters were telling her that she needed to get rid of. Also the filmmaker for But I’m a Cheerleader expressed how she felt because her film was coming out the same time as American Pie. These films with different contexts seem to be held to a different standard. The films that portray gay sex are continually graded upon harder than those with consensual heterosexual sex. These filmmakers seem to greatly disagree with what their films received and the reasoning as to why.
A lot of the films set up a relationship between two people in the films, which when then lead to a physical relationship. Jason Biggs, while they talked about a pie, did not have this same type of get to know ya thing. The raters did send back papers saying this is what you need to fix in order to get a lower rating, but it seemed like this would change the intent of the film. These filmmakers were showing their characters and what they went through, Hilary Swank and her rape scene. This was meant to give the film more feeling and emotion and when they had to eliminate it, it took away from the the movie intended. These restrictions are changing what is the filmmakers wanted to show, all so they wouldn’t get a NC-17 rating.
Based on the reactions, and what the filmmakers say are getting through, these ratings do not seem to be justified. Certain types of romances, violence and language in certain contexts is looked upon more crucially. Some of the films are not getting as far of a reaction as others. According to Cipely, “…the board says its dozen or so raters, all parents, are expected to judge films according to ‘factors that parents consider when deciding whether to allow their children to view that motion picture.” These raters are supposed to judge the films as a parent. For the parents different types of sex is more risqué then others. Some is being used for humor, others for a relationship. The raters are biased in what they choose is acceptable and the filmmakers, while they may have an idea, would have no way of actually predicting what the raters would give their film.