Wednesday, July 15, 2009
This Film is Not Yet Rated
I love this movie for what it does, and that is to call the MPAA and its rating administration (CARA) out on its biases and its unfair and inconsistent practices. The MPAA is the creation of the five major studios and it really only caters to them, a film created outside of these studios is going to have a hard time getting a fair rating. I also like that the MPAA says that CARA reflects the average American parent. They should really say that CARA reflects the average conservative parent. Its clear that they have a problem with sex especially when it comes to sex between same sex couples. I've never really gotten why sex is deemed more indecent than violence. Some of the CARA members weren't even parents or were older and their kids were already grown up. CARA really reflects the views of the MPAA's former leader Jack Valenti. This current ratings system is so corrupt and unfair and that is seen in its inconsistent practices. For example the most recent Harry Potter film is PG, the last two were PG-13. This current film has the same amount of violence if even a little more (a boy has a spell cast on him that makes him bleed from his chest, and its not subtle looking. I'm not saying that Harry Potter films should be rated PG or PG-13 but a better system could ensure that rhe ratings of films could be done much more consistently and in a more uniform matter.
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5 comments:
I'm in your COMM 229 class, just so you know. I agree completely with the notion of MPAA being biased. Thats a great word choice, because this organization doesn't allow outside constructive criticism. "Its unfair and inconsistent practices" are the main reason This Film is Not Yet Rated was made. "They should really say that CARA reflects the average conservative parent". This quote is the best from your post, stating EXACTLY what the MPAA is..conservative parents. The punishment for sex is unnatural in my opinion, and their allowance of Hollywood's extreme violence is despicable. The difference between sex and a decapitation is that one creates life, while the other takes it away. Good choice MPAA.
I love the split-screen showing heterosexual and homosexual sex acts, and their subsequent ratings. Also the animated breakdown of "naughty bits" for different ratings. It's weird, but even when folks watch this and read about oligopoly in the same week, a lot of folks have a hard time seeing that the MPAA is a means for the HW majors to maintain the oligopoly....
I wonder too if the factor of being uncomfortable with children seeing sexual situations because parents may then have to explain what is going on. I know many parents who cringe at the idea of explaining sex. With violence, parents do not have to worry about explaining anything to their children; they see someone get shot and that's all there is to it. I'm really not sure if this is a true factor but it seems to fit the framework of society a bit.
You know another thing that comes to mind when I read all of your comments is the idea of Groupthink. Which refers to a group of people who make risky decisions and who don't take in outside information that may dispute their own ideas. Seems as if MPAA has a lot of that going on.
I loved that too, the same exact scenes side by side the only difference is that the couples are same sex. The major studios have set up a system that mostly works for them. Their films will occasionally get the NC-17 but they get very detailed explanations on how to trim it to the R rating. The indie filmakers get an NC-17 and its tough luck figure it out yourself. The little guy gets screwed and the big boys live it up.
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