The MPAA Ratings System

The current voluntary movie rating system—the model for the advisory labels for music, television, and video games—developed in the late 1960s after discontent again mounted over movie content, spurred on by such films as 1965’s The Pawnbroker, which contained brief female nudity, and 1966’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, which featured a level of profanity and sexual frankness that had not been seen before in a major studio film. In 1966, the movie industry hired Jack Valenti to run the MPAA (the Motion Picture Association of America, formerly the MPPDA), and in 1968 he established an industry board to rate movies. Eventually, G, PG, R, and X ratings emerged as guideposts for the suitability of films for various age groups. In 1984, prompted by the releases of Gremlins and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, the MPAA added the PG–13 rating and sandwiched it between PG and R to distinguish slightly higher levels of violence or adult themes in movies that might otherwise qualify as PG-rated films (see Table 16.1).

“An NC-17 rating is seen as box-office suicide by the film industry. … In the 20 years since its inception, NC-17 has been unable to shed its smutty image.”

RACHEL SCOTT ,THE GUARDIAN, 2010

565

The MPAA copyrighted all ratings designations as trademarks, except for the X rating, which was gradually appropriated as a promotional tool by the pornographic film industry. In fact, between 1972 and 1989 the MPAA stopped issuing the X rating. In 1990, however, based on protests from filmmakers over movies with adult sexual themes that they did not consider pornographic, the industry copyrighted the NC–17 rating—no children age seventeen or under. In 1995, Showgirls became the first movie to intentionally seek an NC–17 to demonstrate that the rating was commercially viable. However, many theater chains refused to carry NC–17 movies, fearing economic sanctions and boycotts by their customers or religious groups. Many newspapers also refused to carry ads for NC–17 films. Panned by the critics, Showgirls flopped at the box office. Since then, the NC–17 rating has not proved commercially viable, and distributors avoid releasing films with the rating, preferring to label such films “unrated” or to cut the film to earn an R rating, as happened with Clerks (1994), Eyes Wide Shut (1999), Brüno (2009), and Blue Valentine (2010). Today, there is mounting protest against the MPAA, which many argue is essentially a censorship board that limits the First Amendment rights of filmmakers.

TABLE 16.1

THE VOLUNTARY MOVIE RATING SYSTEM

Source: Motion Picture Association of America, “What Do the Ratings Mean?,” http://www.mpaa.org/FlmRat_Ratings.asp, accessed May 1, 2009.

Rating Description
G General Audiences: All ages admitted; contains nothing that would offend parents when viewed by their children.
PG Parental Guidance Suggested: Parents urged to give “parental guidance” as it may contain some material not suitable for young children.
PG–13 Parents Strongly Cautioned: Parents should be cautious because some content may be inappropriate for children under the age of 13.
R Restricted: The film contains some adult material. Parents/guardians are urged to learn more about it before taking children under the age of 17 with them.
NC–17 No one 17 and under admitted: Adult content. Children are not admitted.