Opinions on the MPAA rating system

[Jay Beezy]

After reading this thread, I'm more worried that if the MPAA ever thought about this issue, they'd try to make it harder to have violent movies, as opposed to relaxing their attitudes towards sex in movies. I don't really need to see sex in movies, since I'm an adult male who can watch porn when he pleases. However, I do want to see violence in movies.

 

Is that so much a bad thing, to be easier on sex and harder on violence?

 

Sometimes I prefer to see genuine lovemaking, instead of sex for sex's sake which is all that porn is.

Edited April 14, 2013 by Jay Beezy

[bed005]

Is that so much a bad thing, to be easier on sex and harder on violence?Sometimes I prefer to see genuine lovemaking, instead of sex for sex's sake which is all that porn is.

I think he is worried they will get tougher on violence but keep their stance on sex and nudity.

[Alpha]

After reading this thread, I'm more worried that if the MPAA ever thought about this issue, they'd try to make it harder to have violent movies, as opposed to relaxing their attitudes towards sex in movies. I don't really need to see sex in movies, since I'm an adult male who can watch porn when he pleases. However, I do want to see violence in movies.

 

In reality it's the opposite. The MPAA is tougher on sex and language, but violence gets off scot-free. If they were tougher on violence, then movies like The Ring which got a PG-13 rating would be hard R movies.

[Jay Beezy]

In reality it's the opposite. The MPAA is tougher on sex and language, but violence gets off scot-free. If they were tougher on violence, then movies like The Ring which got a PG-13 rating would be hard R movies.

I think he's saying he doesn't want it to change.

[Alpha]

I think he's saying he doesn't want it to change.

 

I'd change it to what it should rightfully be.

[Jay Beezy]

I think he is worried they will get tougher on violence but keep their stance on sex and nudity.

He said he prefers violence over sex in mainstream movies and gets enough sex from porn.

[Webslinger]

I just got back from Evil Dead.

 

My thought, about 75 minutes in: Okay. Seriously, now. If the MPAA isn't going to use the NC-17 on this, they might as well just get rid of the rating altogether.

 

My thought, about 80 minutes in: Hang on a second. This and The King's Speech have the same rating. 

 

The friend I went with didn't know the film had been cut down to receive an R until I told her after the movie. We're now both very curious to see what exactly the MPAA deemed too extreme amid... 

a box cutter slicing a tongue open, a head getting split in half with a chainsaw, a possessed character giving herself a Joker smile, nails shot into characters, black slime implicitly penetrating the protagonist in the rape tree scene, and detailed close-ups of a couple of limbs coming off of their owners.

[Jay Beezy]

 

I just got back from Evil Dead.

 

My thought, about 75 minutes in: Okay. Seriously, now. If the MPAA isn't going to use the NC-17 on this, they might as well just get rid of the rating altogether.

 

My thought, about 80 minutes in: Hang on a second. This and The King's Speech have the same rating. 

 

The friend I went with didn't know the film had been cut down to receive an R until I told her after the movie. We're now both very curious to see what exactly the MPAA deemed too extreme amid... 

a box cutter slicing a tongue open, a head getting split in half with a chainsaw, a possessed character giving herself a Joker smile, nails shot into characters, black slime implicitly penetrating the protagonist in the rape tree scene, and detailed close-ups of a couple of limbs coming off of their owners.

 

 

Whatever it was that got cut was likely more strictly sex related obviously.

[Jay Beezy]

Yet another tragedy of violence has struck our nation. Yet another incident that won't make the MPAA reconsider their position on violence.

[Ozymandias]

 

I just got back from Evil Dead.

 

My thought, about 75 minutes in: Okay. Seriously, now. If the MPAA isn't going to use the NC-17 on this, they might as well just get rid of the rating altogether.

 

My thought, about 80 minutes in: Hang on a second. This and The King's Speech have the same rating. 

 

The friend I went with didn't know the film had been cut down to receive an R until I told her after the movie. We're now both very curious to see what exactly the MPAA deemed too extreme amid... 

a box cutter slicing a tongue open, a head getting split in half with a chainsaw, a possessed character giving herself a Joker smile, nails shot into characters, black slime implicitly penetrating the protagonist in the rape tree scene, and detailed close-ups of a couple of limbs coming off of their owners.

 

 

Lmfao!  I haven't seen the movie, but one of my friends who saw it said one of the first things that she thought about when leaving the theater was whats the limit on for an R-rating.

 

Thats pretty crazy though if the film had to be cut and edited to avoid the NC-17 rating.  I'd love to know what was scrapped as well.

 

Yet another tragedy of violence has struck our nation. Yet another incident that won't make the MPAA reconsider their position on violence.

 

I really don't understand this kind of thinking.  Violence in film doesn't make you go out and blow shit up or shoot as many people as possible.  People who are actually capable of that shit are already really, really fucked in the head for other reasons(take your pick).

[Jay Beezy]

I really don't understand this kind of thinking.  Violence in film doesn't make you go out and blow shit up or shoot as many people as possible.  People who are actually capable of that shit are already really, really fucked in the head for other reasons(take your pick).

 

Yeah, I usually don't like to be that guy who blames the movies. Truth be told, a person's upbringing as a child has a lot to do with his mentality as an adult. When he's a child, his mind is like a sponge and will absorb whatever he sees and hears. It all boils down to responsible parenting, which includes refraining the child from seeing things he shouldn't.

[JohnnY]

You guys were talking about the "1 fuck rule" and I just remembered they cut almost all curse words here in Brazil. Brazilian movies sometimes have a lot of swearing (has anyone here seen City of God?), but they cut all of them when dubbing american movies. Not even the films rated 16 (kinda equivalent to R-Rating) have curse words, all the "fucks" just turn into something like "shit" or "geez". Many people think this is ridiculous, but I guess most of people are pretty used to this and would actually be surprised to hear a curse word in a dubbed movie. I don't even think it's because of rating and stuff, it's just not common to dub these words.

[Dementeleus]

Devin Faraci has a new piece about how PG-13 is broken:

 

http://badassdigest.com/2013/07/24/2013-the-year-pg-13-broke/

[Ozymandias]

E - Everyone. This would replace the G rating. It’s not much of a rating, as G movies are essentially death (even animated films try to get PGs so as to not seem too much like movies for babies), but changing the lowest rating signifies a shake-up of the whole system.

PG - Parental Guidance Suggested. Let’s keep this old standby.

T - Teen. Replace the PG-13 with this rating, lifted from comics and video games.

R-15 - Restricted - No one under 15 without parent or guardian. Here’s where we make the big changes. This rating applies to the softer R movies, the movies like last year’s documentary Bully or this year’s The Dark Knight Rises. These are films with some violence and sex and language, but not terribly much more than you would see in an evening’s AMC TV viewing. I think the MPAA needs to give up on the language stuff, so this rating would have all your fucks and everything.

R - Restricted- No one under 17. And now we have a top of the line adults rating that still has the same name as the old rating. Shame would be R. 300 would be R. Saw would be R. NC-17 goes away, we’ve created a middle ground for less explicit, less heavy movies, and now movie studios can make films for adults without worrying about stigma.

 

So his only real change is the R-15 rating, basically just splitting the 4 year age gap between PG-13(which he wants to replace with T) and R in half.  Yeah, thats not gonna happen...  How could something be appropriate for a 15 year old but not a 13 year old?  That age difference is just way too small and over complicates the rating system.  Plus, if you enforced that R-15 rating, it would hurt a lot of movies at the boxoffice.  No thanks.

[Deathlife]

The MPAAs system of rating is pretty odd especially regarding violence. I'm firmly of the belief that both graphic sex and hardcore violence should receive equal weighting. It's pretty silly that the NC-17 rating has been restricted to "sex movies", it has already defeated its purpose. I also don't know why so many cinemas in the U.S refuse to carry movies with the NC-17 rating. It's as if the NC-17 has already been equated to the X rating previously restricted to hardcore porn movies. In other parts of the world, cinemas carry movies with 18 and above ratings with ease.

 

Movies like the aforementioned Evil Dead and Hostel should NEVER have been released with just an R rating. Both those movies are pure NC-17 material. Heck, I would argue that most "gore" movies these days are actually taking advantage of the fact that the MPAA is more focused on sex than on violence to include some pretty sadistic stuff.

 

Another example (this might be controversial though) was the Justice League: Flashpoint Paradox animated movie. I actually watched this with my niece of 13 and she was rather horrified by the violence in the movie. For those who haven't seen it, there's tons of people getting holes blown in their heads, a decapitation with the head being displayed, dismemberments, human beings burnt to ash and a child being murdered (off camera but we see his body dropping to the ground with his eyes open) and this was all "superhero on superhero violence". I was surprised that this movie passed with a PG-13 but since its only "violence" it doesn't mean much. That's just a ridiculous and unnecessary double standard.In most other parts of the world, the movie would get at least a 15+ rating that would make it easier for unsuspecting adults to determine when and who they will allow to watch it. 

 

I think the MPAA might need to review the rating system particularly as it applies to NC-17. It makes no sense whatsoever that Blue Valentine (a movie that should receive no more than a 15+ rating) should be NC-17 while stuff like Saw, Hostel,Evil Dead and The Last House on the Left get R-ratings.

[mahnamahna]

Not to mention that too many kids movies today are rated PG for absolutely no reasonThe Muppets (2011) is a big one. Nothing in that movie aside from the "fart shoes" could be misconstrued as remotely "mild rude humor"Examples:Despicable Me 1 & 2 (nothing salty)Tangled (the blood was in it for 2 seconds)Alvin 1 & 2 (they're TV-G on FX yet PG by MPAA)Smurfs 1 & 2 (just mind numbing)Yogi Bear (nothing too scary or inappropriate)Enchanted (barely PG - cut out the two offenders and it's G all the way)Flushed Away (that was about as intense as WereRabbit - a G film)Parental Guidance (nothing really offensive at all)Odd Life of Timothy Green (it may be sad but that doesn't mean PG IMO)Planes looks G rated all the way but whiny soccer moms thought their sweet 2 year old couldn't handle a somewhat compelling spy movie so the tame Top Gun knockoff is getting a PG... ughNever mind you shouldn't really take kids to the movie theater until they're 3 or 4 lol :)Honestly the only true PG kids movies of the last 15 years:AntzShrek 1 & 2Marley and MeRangoWe Bought a ZooHarry Potter 1-3, 6ParaNormanCoralineFrankenweenieThose all warranted some parental guidanceIn my mind PG means Star Wars, Gremlins, Goonies, BTTF, Big, Twins, Uncle Buck, Home Alone - movies that actually required some parental guidance!! I don't see how a fart joke or a mild action scene warrants a PG

[lab276]

We have basically the same problem in Australia. Wolverine is definitely on the very edge of being rated MA. It's intense and impactful and surprisingly bloody. But because it's a tentpole superhero film it gets to be M. I have no idea how they gave it a PG-13 rating in the US.

[Kvikk Lunsj]

We have basically the same problem in Australia. Wolverine is definitely on the very edge of being rated MA. It's intense and impactful and surprisingly bloody. But because it's a tentpole superhero film it gets to be M. I have no idea how they gave it a PG-13 rating in the US.

What is the Australia rating like?

[lab276]

What is the Australia rating like?

It's basically the same as the American system:G, PG, M, MA, RThe only difference is that nothing can go unrated. If it's a really foul film (or game), it'll be "refused classification" and is effectively banned.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Classification_Board#Film_and_video_game_classifications

[CoolioD1]

Devin Faraci has a new piece about how PG-13 is broken:

 

http://badassdigest.com/2013/07/24/2013-the-year-pg-13-broke/

The system he wants in place is very similar to the UK one. We have U, PG, 12A, 15, 18. Except the difference is that no one under 15 can see a 15 film whether accompanied by an adult or not.