This film is not yet rated -- Dillon Aretz
After watching this film, I began to reconsider some past movies to try to understand how they got the ratings they did. Forrest Gump came to mind immediately, because I first saw it when I was about six or seven. Of course, on that viewing, much of the humor and some references slipped by me because I was too young. The movie was rated PG13, but contains some nudity, language, inappropriate jokes, and an entire war sequence in Vietnam. How could this be? But then I considered the context of all of these things: when a protest speaker (possibly Abbie Hoffman) says the "F word" in front of the Washington memorial, it sounds like the words were edited to be incomprehensible; in Vietnam, none of the soldiers are shown being wounded on-screen (except Forrest, in his buttocks); and when Jenny sings nude, the guitar covers most of her body. By considering this example, it is easy to see two things about the MPAA: first, that there is no firm rule as to what makes something Restricted or Adults only; and second, that context matters the most. When violence is not used, but simply occurs, it is not exploitive. When nudity appears, but doesn't bare all, it isn't distracting. Etc. The MPAA, though flawed, still understands that some movies deserve to be seen, and though the parts--had they appeared in altogether different movies--should garner more restrictive ratings, when put together in the right context, they can still be PG13. This is not a topic discussed in "this film is not yet rated" probably because most of the speakers are censored filmmakers. Their judgment is biased, as are those of the MPAA raters, who--as the movie tries to show--see themselves as representatives of the family unit. The most important undressed question brought up by the film, however, is whether or not the "traditional family" should be outdated; is it a good thing that we continue to push the limits and boundaries simply for art's sake, or to prove that we can? This conflict is behind the entire movie, and yet it seems neglected because the filmmakers would probably have a hard time realizing that maybe they shouldn't have gone so far; and that the raters might realize maybe that their telling-others-what-to-do is something that inspires them to break the rules.