Team America Sample Paper
Is Team America an Incontestable R?
The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) gave Trey Parker's puppet satire Team America (2004) the ‘R' rating after initially giving it the dreaded NC-17 stamp of disapproval. Dr. Kevin Sandler, Professor of Media Studies at the University of Arizona, associates the R rating with the motion picture industry's focus on producing ‘respectable' or ‘incontestable' films. Known as the “Incontestable R,” an R rating ensures audiences that the film's content cannot be confused with that of an NC-17 film. Parker's efforts to cut out portions of Team America's controversial puppet sex scene and its subsequent R rating, seem to have been fruitful. Team America generated little controversy with media critics in regard to its R rating.
The most frequently cited reason by critics for Team America's embodiment of an incontestable R rating has to do with the fact that the movie involves puppets and not real people. Bruce Westbrook points out in his review of the film for The Houston Chronicle that the “marionettes” have “no genitalia” and hence, make it difficult to depict sexual penetration—content characteristic of NC-17 rated films. Westbrook even makes fun of the MPAA for initially “slamming a[the] puppet show with an NC-17 rating” stating that “the film ratings board…just doesn't get it.” Furthermore, critics characterize the violence in the film as being awkward and unrealistic because of the fact that it involves puppets. Phil Villarreal from the Arizona Daily Star writes that “the fights, comical for their crass intentional sloppiness, consist of marionettes face to face, with the opponents jiggling appendages haphazardly flopping at one another”—hardly compara...
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...eing filled with shocking and witty humor . In general, critics of Team America think that the film's use of puppets, parody, comedic relief and it's inability to live up to South Park standards all support the film's rating as an “Incontestable R” and therefore, find no reason for the MPAA to have put the film through a ratings crisis in the first place.
Works Cited
LaSalle, Mick. “Team America: World Police.” San Francisco Chronicle, 15 October 2004.
Lowry, Brian. “Team America: World Police.” Variety, 9 October 2004.
Scott, A. O. “Moral Guidance From Class Clowns.” New York Times, 15 October 2004.
Thompson, Desson. “Puppet Masters.” Washington Post, 15 October 2004.
Villarreal, Phil. “ Team America Hangs Together.” Arizona Daily Star, 14 October 2004.
Westbrook, Bruce. “There's no South Park in Team America.” Houston Chronicle, 14 October 2004.
But unbeknownst to the world “The Washington Wife’s”, senate and the RIAA had made a side deal to have a modified label (Warning: Parental Advisory). But the PMRC wasn’t ending there, they also wanted content-specific labeling.
We are daunted by the idea that our movies in America are not going to be as successful as we hope. With that being said, many movies are made based around the same topic. According to one article, “Hollywood has made
The incident exemplifies a pressing issue in the ever-topical discussion of the oft-vilified film rating classification system in our country. Is the movie rating system, originally designed to assist parents in guiding the movie-going habits of their children, actually preempting parental choice?
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The MPAA rating system was once a good source for people to find out whether a movie would contain immoral or violent images; currently the system has grown to become ineffective in today’s society. Society changes as well as movies; content and subject matter has changed for movies of this generation. If the system is not changed it will not help parents to know what movies will be appropriate for their children to watch. Because of the influence and prevalence of movies in our society and culture today a rating system is important, if that system fails to do its duty the negative influence that the movies can have on the children and youth of tomorrow will be great.
Despite the critical misgivings about Simpson/Bruckheimer productions, audiences still tend to flock to their brand of mayhem, hyper masculinity, thunderous sound effects, and cutting edge special effects. And while they have had their share of bombs (like the dismal “Days of Thunder” or “Gone in 60 Seconds”) more often than not, they make movies the public seems to love.
Despite the fact that the ACB admits adults should be able to watch, play and read what they want, the sole criterion provided for RC classification is “content that is very high in impact and falls outside generally accepted community standards.” (Australian Classification Board, 19/5/2013).... ... middle of paper ... ...
Many Americans love films, the meanings behind those films and the impact some films have on people’s lives. Ever since films were created there have been people and organizations that have tried to censor and block what the public can and cannot see. Even to this day there are certain things that if put on film because of censorship, would never make it to the public. This is very sad. Film is one of this country’s great expressive outlets. Many filmmakers and the people who enjoy what these filmmakers put out are effected by the horrible concept of censorship. When a film is put out to the public it is first reviewed by a movie rating board who then assigns the film a rating to tell people what age groups the film is suitable for and what the film contains. Movie selection for minors should solely be the responsibility of that child’s parent, not some critic that watches films and then makes decisions for other people about who can watch it and who can’t. People just need to start to understand the real meaning of free speech and expression in this country. Too many people are taking it for granted. People who are for the censorship of films may argue that it’s for the good of our children, shielding them from violence and sex, and not exposing them to something that they claim may be mentally harm...
...ulture. Together the characters of Watchmen reflect an unflattering image of American identity. We sacrifice morals to defend principles rather than saving people. We sacrifice ourselves for commercial gain and for the fame that comes from the worship of strangers. We worship our own achievements, obsess over time and in the end we lose what makes us human as we continue down a path that takes us farther away from each other and deeper into ourselves.
Today, our society likes to take time off to relax and watch a movie. Do you think it’s relaxing to watch people die and constantly be injured? Well most of the movies out today are violent. Even thought here are strict rating rules put on these movies, children are still seeing them. For example, The Power Rangers Movie. In this movie, five teenagers take on the roles of fighters. When kids view this PG rated movie they see how cool it is to kill other creatures and human beings. About three weeks after this movie was released in Chicago, two kids were playing power rangers; they decided to take the game a step further by involving pencils used as swords. This game ended with one of the two kids with serious incisions from the pencil. This situation could have easily been avoided if some of these movies were not so violently oriented.
Violence in the media is getting way out of hand. Hollywood realizes that the more violence that it shows in its movies, then the more likely it will have a larger box office draw. Some movies need to start being rated NC-17, we have the rating but it seems as though the only reason it is there is for pornography. What is the point of having such a rating and never using it, several movies come to mind that I believe should have been rated NC-17. One in point, The Matrix, it's heavy gun scenes were not appropriate to the impressionable minds of some young teens around the nation and even to some adults capable of doing horrible things. The shooting at Columbine High School sounded eerily similar to a particular scene in the movie and it is impossible for me to ever see the movie again without thinking of the town of Littleton, Colorado.
According to imdb.com this film debuted at the Sundance Film Festival on April 14, 2000. At the time it was called a future cult classic, which seems to be the case. The film had originally acquired an NC-17 rating according to wikipedia, but cut out 18 seconds in order to get the rating changed to R. Later, in 2005, the DVD was released in two forms, an unrated uncut edition, which was the film in reference to, and a cut R rated film. Primarily the difference is confined to the shortening of the sex scene and slight dialogue alterations. According to Box Office Mojo, the film grossed 34,000,000 dollars at a production cost of only 7,000,000 dollars. A UK publication entitled "The Guardian" both Huey Lewis and the News and Whitney Houston has issues with how their music fit into the production. Huey Lewis refused to allow his music to appear in the soundtrack and Whitney Houston refused to let her song "The Greatest Love of All" be played in the film, even though it was directly referenced anyway. All of these problems were just a few of the issues surrounding the production of American Pyscho.
Since the first influx of Asian immigrants to the United States, Asian Americans were never treated as an integral part of the American population. Accounting for five percent of the US demographic, often times, they are still portrayed by provincial people as outsiders who do not belong in society. Over the years, this negative mentality has transformed into the way Asian Americans are viewed in media. Though there are many attempts of reversing the trend such as diversifying the cast members, stereotypical personalities such as “the human calculator” or “undesirable partner” are still utilized for writers to infuse racial slurs into comedy skits. However, in reality especially now that many Asian Americans are second generation, none of these stereotypes pertains to all them. As a result, directors and script writers have an ethical responsibility to best portray Asian Americans as human beings who can function normally without putting negative stereotypes as the primary focus of Asian characters’ personas.
Going to the movies is a favorite past-time event of American lives. A long time ago, however, there wasn’t any rating system. Making one seemed like a good idea at the time. Today, the system is still the same way and doesn’t fit today’s changed time. Therefore, the movie rating system should be revised because the current rating system is outdated.
...f this film include sexual content, violence and graphic details. But, when viewing this film we have to be aware of this and only let children see this movie if the adults feel that it will not affect them in any way, such as making them feel that this behavior is appropriate or any other thing that might be in their minds.