This Film Is Not Yet Rated

| February 12, 2007 | 11 comments

MPAA gives ratings to movies.

There are no guidelines.

What crosses the line from R to NC-17? A penis? Masturbating? Homosexual sex?

How does one group of parents without any guidelines or rules determine what a movie should be rated?

Last night we watched the documentary This Film Is Not Yet Rated, which is about the MPAA and the bureaucracy behind it. I never thought all that much about the ratings of movies other than the time I went to see The Bodyguard (as a teenager) and they wouldn’t let me and my friends in because we didn’t have a parent. Have you seen the movie? It ONLY has a few swears in it!

Basically, the deal is…it’s ok to blow someone’s head off with an ax BUT a lesbian scene makes it NC-17. So it’s dangerous for a teenager to see a sex scene but it’s fine to have a movie loaded with violence. What are they so afraid of? Their kids might have sex? Um…there is a very good chance they’ll have sex all on their own.

Here are some things the MPAA finds offensive:

  • A penetration scene in Love and Basketball
  • Liv Tyler’s character talking about masturbation in Jersey Girl
  • Using the term “feltching” in the movie A Dirty Shame even though they didn’t know what it meant
  • Showing pubic hair in The Cooler

In the movie Boys Don’t Cry they said the scene where the girl has a very realistic and drawn out orgasm has to be cut down but someone getting shot in the head was ok. I find this concept really disturbing but then I’m not a parent :dunno:

My parents let me watch almost anything I wanted be it PG-13 or R and none of it ever effected me negatively except the movie The Accused where Jodie Foster plays a woman who gets gang raped in a bar. After watching that movie at about age 13 I had nightmares for two weeks. I see how that is something we need to be careful about but a regular sex scene never hurt me.

Before there was Netflix some movies were really hard to find and it was a given Blockbuster wouldn’t have certain titles. I was trying to find the movie Bully and I couldn’t find it anywhere. So I bought it! Fuck you Blockbuster :whosnext:

Definitely check out the documentary if not just to find a bunch of really good movies that you’ve never heard of like But I’m A Cheerleader that is on my Netflix already :wink:

Rating: cafe-cup_24.png cafe-cup_24.pngcafe-cup_24.pngcafe-cup_24.pngcafe-cup_24.png — See this movie muthafucka! :fu:

This Film Is Not Yet Rated was posted on February 12, 2007 at 7:51 am in Reviews and tagged as , . It was last modified on July 31, 2009 at 9:35 am. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your site.

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  • http://hterry.com Blueyes

    Never did see that movie but I do think the MPAA needs to re-evaluate their guidelines because most of it is garbage. What they consider R I might consider PG or even go so far as PG-13. What they consider NC-17 should most likely be R. I just can’t seem to understand how, they will let women stand there butt nekkid and it be a R but you show a guy full frontal and your stuck at NC-17.

  • http://feastofcrumbs.com/blog/ Joefish

    That movie looks fascinating. I love a good documentary.

    What’s that picture in the sidebar? Is that you? Bunny slippers? Lightsabre?

  • http://www.heathersblog.com Heather B

    yea i hate that shit, i let brandon watch pg-13 movies and some r rated movies depending on it… I agree with the vilolance and sex thing…. the movie national lampoons vacation is rated r can you believe that….

  • http://www.taralynnjohnson.com/news.html Tara

    Gotta say, I’d rather have my kids, at appropriate ages of course, see people making love and enjoying themselves as adults do rather than seeing people shot in the head all the time.

    This damn Puritanical bullshit must STOP!

    So say I.

    :rock:

  • http://www.roadlessunraveled.com Robin

    Blue – Yeah no kidding…some of those “Scary Movie” movies are so disgusting and if I had children I would NOT want them to see that.

    Joefish – I love documentaries! Yes…that is me :cheesy: That is me with a drink in one hand and a lightsaber in the other.

    Heather – The National Lampoons stuff and American Pie stuff is insane…I don’t know how they can make them pG-13 and other things NC-17 :annoyed:

    Tara – Right on girlfriend :clap:

  • http://www.iliveunderarock.com Geeky Dragon Girl

    I agree with Tara, that is some puritanical bullshit going on! Someone getting disemboweled? Whatever. A group of people getting mowed down by machine gun fire? Yawn. Two girls kissing? Hold everything! We gotta censor that shit! What the hell?!

  • http://www.roadlessunraveled.com Robin

    I wish someone could explain the logic in it…really.

  • http://www.heathersblog.com Heather B

    BTW Robin..

    You’ve been tagged!
    http://www.heathersblog.com/2007/ive-been-tagged/ :poke:

  • http://pointless-drivel.com Mr. Fabulous

    Ooh, The Cooler…I loved that movie…

    And I love the new look!

  • http://www.roadlessunraveled.com Robin

    Heather – Damn you :twitchy:

    Mr. Fab – Thanks…I needed to get a little romantic.

  • http://geminibitch.wordpress.com Gemini

    I will have to check that out…. looks intersting…

    My parents got weird when a sex scene came on the TV they always Said something stupid like “Oh no that guy is biting that girl..” I mean really! did they think that I wouldn’t get it… that would have ment they bit eachother all of the time…

    I think that Blowing someones head off is much worse in this day in age with all of the kids killing other kids in schools. I would much rather my kids know about love and enjoyment then Death and distruction.

    As for the Move “But I’m a Cheerleader” is good… I caught it one time on HBO or Showtime in Maine at the Camp. You will like it it is kind of 50′s cheesy but it was still a good movie… I enjoyed it!

    Gemini (typing from the land of the Colts)