This Film is Not Yet Rated (Sharmeen Mahmood)
I’m definitely one of those people who Moira Hodgson says “find the ratings so vague - 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.” I definitely think that often times it is difficult to truly assess why a movie was rated the way that it was. This is probably because of the fact that the ratings are based on the “contemporary opinion of parents”, as the chairman of CARA has said (Hodgson). This statement shows how very open these rules/regulations are. It doesn’t seem that there’s a “set” of rules, rather everything seems very subjective. Depending on the movie, the context of the act and how “censored” it really is, a movie can get varying ratings.
Hodgson also makes a very interesting point when she talks about how a movie on homosexuality received an automatic X while another film with “steamy sexual gropings” did not earn an X. This is a clear example of when a rating may go behind what’s simply pictured on screen. Rather than assessing the film solely on its content, it seems in this case that the film was also judged based on the ideas it brings forth (homosexuality being taboo at the time). This shows the extent of context on the ratings of films.
It’s also interesting that producers use this system to sell more copies of their films. Hodgson sums up this stance of many producers when she says that they “actually manipulate the system to gain the ratings which they believe will be most helpful in the marketing of their films.” She discusses how sometimes a movie maker will add just one harsh word in their film which will give their film a higher rating. For example, among the 154 films that were rated R in 1980, 38 contained “one single element, such as a word, that netted this rating.” Getting a rating of R is something that many audiences see as attractive. Lower ratings such as PG are often associated with kid movies and may not appeal to the greater audiences. This is perhaps one reason that filmmakers will throw in a harsh word to get a higher rating. This, I think, is a great example of how the MPAA can manipulate the rules to serve the motion picture industry.