Hit and Run: The MPAA
Finally there is proof positive of something I’ve suspected for many years. According to Reuters and the AP, Kimberly Thompson and Fumie Yakota at the Harvard School of Public Health conducted a study of films between 1992 and 2003. They concluded that the MPAA has become more and more lenient with its rating system.
I am Jack’s complete lack of surprise! Of course the MPAA has become more lenient over the years and while it might reflect a decline in moral values in this country over the past decade, I think it has more to do with the subjective nature of the screening process. While the Harvard study is based on cold hard data, I’d like to share some anecdotal evidence.
The most infamous of these has to do with the South Park movie. According to Tre Parker and Matt Stone, the MPAA originally slapped them with the dreaded NC-17 rating. They were given a chance to clean up their act and resubmit the film, but instead of cutting out some vulgarities and obscenities, they added even more and turned it back in. The MPAA returned an R verdict the second time around.
And who could forget Kevin Smith’s similar woes when his independent, groundbreaking film Clerks was given the dastardly NC-17. A few lawyers and an appeal later and they were able to get it changed. But Smith and his team must have felt a profound sense of déjà vu last year when Jersey Girl was saddled with an R rating early on because of a single word. Obviously it must have been the F-word, right? Wrong! The MPAA objected to the use of the word “masturbation.” This makes perfect sense to me. On the one hand, Smith has to fight to use a scientific technical term, but Mike Myers can use a variation of the F-word in his last Austin Powers Film, have an anatomical reference in the title, and still garner PG-13. According to the MPAA, a PG-13 film can only use the F-word once in a non-sexual manner. Just because Myers spelled it with two O’s in the middle doesn’t mean it suddenly ceased to be vulgar. But Myers can pretty much do what he wants and the MPAA doesn’t seem to mind.
Considering its storied history, the PG-13 rating just might be the problem. Screenplays that are rated R are routinely watered down in an attempt to get that precious rating and filmmakers’ block out more violent scenes in PG movies knowing that even if they cross the line, they’ll do no worse than PG-13. Most people forget this, but Forrest Gump was rated R. So was Braveheart. So were all The Godfather flicks. Each of these films would have been rewritten and/or re-cut in an attempt to get a PG-13 if they had been made today and now our kids are going to films that were never intended for younger audiences.
The MPAA has been caught red handed. They have been slowly letting more violence, sexual content, and language into films so maybe its time to consider another less subjective rating system.
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I am Jack’s complete lack of surprise! Of course the MPAA has become more lenient over the years and while it might reflect a decline in moral values in this country over the past decade, I think it has more to do with the subjective nature of the screening process. While the Harvard study is based on cold hard data, I’d like to share some anecdotal evidence.
The most infamous of these has to do with the South Park movie. According to Tre Parker and Matt Stone, the MPAA originally slapped them with the dreaded NC-17 rating. They were given a chance to clean up their act and resubmit the film, but instead of cutting out some vulgarities and obscenities, they added even more and turned it back in. The MPAA returned an R verdict the second time around.
And who could forget Kevin Smith’s similar woes when his independent, groundbreaking film Clerks was given the dastardly NC-17. A few lawyers and an appeal later and they were able to get it changed. But Smith and his team must have felt a profound sense of déjà vu last year when Jersey Girl was saddled with an R rating early on because of a single word. Obviously it must have been the F-word, right? Wrong! The MPAA objected to the use of the word “masturbation.” This makes perfect sense to me. On the one hand, Smith has to fight to use a scientific technical term, but Mike Myers can use a variation of the F-word in his last Austin Powers Film, have an anatomical reference in the title, and still garner PG-13. According to the MPAA, a PG-13 film can only use the F-word once in a non-sexual manner. Just because Myers spelled it with two O’s in the middle doesn’t mean it suddenly ceased to be vulgar. But Myers can pretty much do what he wants and the MPAA doesn’t seem to mind.
Considering its storied history, the PG-13 rating just might be the problem. Screenplays that are rated R are routinely watered down in an attempt to get that precious rating and filmmakers’ block out more violent scenes in PG movies knowing that even if they cross the line, they’ll do no worse than PG-13. Most people forget this, but Forrest Gump was rated R. So was Braveheart. So were all The Godfather flicks. Each of these films would have been rewritten and/or re-cut in an attempt to get a PG-13 if they had been made today and now our kids are going to films that were never intended for younger audiences.
The MPAA has been caught red handed. They have been slowly letting more violence, sexual content, and language into films so maybe its time to consider another less subjective rating system.
Advertise Here
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