LibAnswers: Debunk and Reveal - 2024

Why do the Movie Rating Systems work to help classify movies based on how they're designed to be appropriate for younger generations?

1. What is the Movie Rating System?

The Movie Rating System is designed specifically by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) to categorize movies based on their age rating for younger to older audiences. This is used to help categorize scenes from being safe to view for kids to any intense action or violence within movies for a younger adolescent's mindset. Many people believed or stigmatized the way how a person's mindset could view any extreme and intense violence/action and may reenact it in real life if their brain doesn't develop enough to know the difference between that it's a movie or imagination and real life. The Movie Rating System has many ratings ranging from "G" to "NC-17" where parents would notice the movie's rating they're seeing with their children if it's appropriate for them. The Movie Rating System was built through the foundations of the Hays Code where within the early 20th century, a team of religious groups and politicians started to enact certain restrictions on any violence, anti-authority, and sex to movie studios to follow to get it reviewed under a board from that same team to see if it gets passed in theaters.

• G: General audiences, suitable for all ages 
• PG: Parental guidance is suggested, some materials may not be suitable for children 
• PG-13: Parents strongly cautioned, that some material may be inappropriate for children under 13 
• R: Restricted, under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian 
• NC-17: Adults only, no one 17 and under admitted 

2. Why was the Movie Rating System Created in The First Place?

The Movie Rating System was established in 1968 by the MPA known as the Motion Picture Association. Revised from the original Hays Code, the Movie Rating System started to keep or pull back on prohibitions against depictions of interracial relationships, abortion, prostitution, and drug use but kept strict regulations on religion. This was created to advise and inform parents to make appropriate viewing choices for the material or movies they must watch. Within its fifty-year history, the Motion Picture Association had rated an average of 587 movies each year, with a high of 940 films rated in 2003, near the peak of the DVD boom. Since 1968, of the nearly 30,000 films rated where 1.4 percent have been appealed around 428, and 0.6 percent have had their rating overturned which is 165. 

3. What is the Meaning of Movie Ratings?

The MPAA created the meaning of Movie Ratings to tell them which movies may not be appropriate for younger audiences. The NPR Podcast states that multiple filmmakers argued that the criteria for ratings are biased and inconsistent where the rating system is too hard on sex scenes or sexual content but more flexible towards violence in movies. Child development professionals stated that families have little to no information regarding the content of the rating within the movie that is appropriate to their kids as movies could use as much violence whether it be comedic slapstick or extreme gore from limbs, blood, and bones. R-ratings and NC-17 films tend to get confused as they aren't for younger audiences, but the question remains how can an anonymous board of parents with completely different perspectives say this can be an R-rating or NC-17 film? The MPAA made this system specifically for them not for the public and filmmakers to keep serving the big studios that make up its membership.

4. How are MPAA movie ratings decided and enforced?

MPAA Movie ratings can be decided and enforced through states, for example in the video Tennessee has a law that specifically prohibits children from watching movies that are harmful to their development as a child. In the 1990s, a parent tried to sue a California movie theater for letting a 13-year-old boy see an R-rated film called "Dead Presidents", but the court dismissed the complaint. It was believed that it was the parent's responsibility to let him know about that movie rather than checking the rating of the movie beforehand. The Hays Code before the MPAA was redefined or reshaped into the modern-day version we know today in 1968 was stricter on content making fun of religion as lustful kissing, illegal drug use, and curse words that mention "God", "Jesus Christ", and "Hell" are frowned upon by religious groups and the society back then. The letter-based system that was created in 1968 using the first set of ratings were "G", "M", "R", and "X" to reinvent the aging Hays Code into a more modern system as a society with the late 1960s has changed dramatically from the 1920s as the public are used to watching TV of the news relating to the Vietnam War and Civil Right Movement which led to their taste of entertainment has changed to reflect a more anti-war, peaceful, and progressive era within.

5. How can future Movie Ratings improve their current categories to match the perception and views of labeling the appropriateness of the 21st Century?

Many critics who viewed the current MPAA rating system which uses the symbols G, PG, PG-13, R, and NC-17 fails on both counts as neither fully informing consumers nor protecting cinematic creativity due to parents being so stigmatized in criticizing the rating of the movies after they watched it rather than ignoring the ratings in the first place on why the movie is rating in the first place. The MPAA System gave 65 percent of all movies within the 90s an R rating, which is used as an example to create a new initiative to ban younger kids from seeing R-rated films through publishing a new "adult" rating between R and NC-17. Well-renowned film critic, Roger Ebert wants to develop a new "A" rating between R and NC-17 which involves any adult content that doesn't include full nudity scenes. The "A" rating also known as the "Adults" rating will prevent children under 17 from viewing any films by themselves or having an adult as a kid can bring his/her adult to an R rating as it's perfectly allowed. Another solution from the magazine corporation, Variety, can help organize the Movie Rating System into two easier and more organized categories: adults and children. This helps in ruling on including symbols for nudity, violence, language, and drug use next to the movie's rating as well as adding qualifiers such as M for mild and E for extreme so that parents can make educated decisions for their children or teenagers on whether or not if they can approve the movies' guidelines for their choices.

References:

A look inside Hollywood’s ratings system. NPR. (2006, September 13). Accessed 6 Dec. 2024. https://www.npr.org/2006/09/13/6068009/a-look-inside-hollywoods-ratings-system

DO movie ratings need new categories?. Los Angeles Times. (1999, August 10). Accessed 19 Nov. 2024.

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-aug-10-ca-64212-story.html

Film ratings. Motion Picture Association. (2024, September 23). Accessed 4 Nov.

2024. https://www.motionpictures.org/film-ratings/

How are MPAA movie ratings decided and enforced?.YouTube. Davis, C. (2016, April 7). Accessed 14 Nov. 2024. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWSHIMuwp6I&pp=ygUeaGlzdG9yeSBvbiBtb3ZpZSByYXRpbmcgc3lzdGVt

It’s time to eliminate the present movie rating system. Los Angeles Times. (1990, July 23). Accessed 8 Nov. 2024. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-07-23-ca-578-story.html

Should screenwriters write with an MPAA rating in mind?. Miyamoto, K. (2018, March 26). ScreenCraft. Accessed 13 Nov. 2024. https://screencraft.org/blog/should-screenwriters-write-with-an-mpaa-rating-in-mind/

“The hunger games,” “bully” prompt MPAA ratings fight. Deseret News, & Steven Zeitchik, L. A. T. (2023, December 31). Accessed 21 Nov. 2024 https://www.deseret.com/2012/3/28/20403253/the-hunger-games-bully-prompt-mpaa-ratings-fight/

The meaning of movie ratings to be explained. Masters, K. (2007, January 20). Accessed 21 Nov. 2024. https://www.npr.org/2007/01/20/6931520/the-meaning-of-movie-ratings-to-be-explained

`Zorro’ slashes logic of movie ratings system. Chicago Tribune. (2021, August 22). Accessed 21 Nov. 2024. https://www.chicagotribune.com/2005/10/30/zorro-slashes-logic-of-movie-ratings-system/

Images:

Should screenwriters write with an MPAA rating in mind?. Miyamoto, K. (2018, March 26). ScreenCraft. Accessed 13 Nov. 2024. https://screencraft.org/blog/should-screenwriters-write-with-an-mpaa-rating-in-mind/

Links/Media:

NPR Podcast (4 Minutes): The Meaning of Movie Ratings 

The meaning of movie ratings to be explained. Masters, K. (2007, January 20). Accessed 21 Nov. 2024. https://www.npr.org/2007/01/20/6931520/the-meaning-of-movie-ratings-to-be-explained

2nd NPR Podcast (20 Minutes): A Look Inside Hollywood's Ratings System

A look inside Hollywood’s ratings system. NPR. (2006, September 13). Accessed 6 Dec. 2024. https://www.npr.org/2006/09/13/6068009/a-look-inside-hollywoods-ratings-system

How are MPAA movie ratings decided and enforced?

How are MPAA movie ratings decided and enforced?.YouTube. Davis, C. (2016, April 7). Accessed 14 Nov. 2024. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWSHIMuwp6I&pp=ygUeaGlzdG9yeSBvbiBtb3ZpZSByYXRpbmcgc3lzdGVt